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Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday defended the Kishtwar Deputy Commissioner's order regulating donations during Ramadan, saying it was issued after consultations with Muslim community leaders to prevent fake NGOs from collecting money.
He added that the directive has been welcomed by local clerics and urged political leaders not to politicise the matter. Speaking in the Assembly, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the order was issued after consultations with Muslim leaders in Kishtwar. "In the Assembly yesterday, Bandipora MLA Nizammudin Bhat and Ahmed Mir raised the issue of an order passed by Kishtwar DC regarding donations during Ramzan. It was said that the government is interfering in religious matters. After an investigation into the matter, I found that Kishtwar DC did not pass the order randomly, but after discussions with leaders of the Muslim community, who asked him to pass an appropriate order to prevent fake NGOs from popping up during Ramzan and taking money. This order has been welcomed by the Imam of the Jama Masjid of Kishtwar, other Muslim clerics and religious leaders. We should not do politics on every issue," Abdullah said. However, Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary expressed concerns about the decision-making process. He said, "I think the Deputy Commissioner should not take his own decision. There is an elected government, and the decisions of the elected government will be followed... If somewhere a donation is being misused or being used wrongly, then that should not happen... But as far as collecting donations is concerned, that happens in every religion.I don't think this should be the decision of the Deputy Commissioner; this should be the decision of the elected government." Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition and BJP MLA Sunil Sharma welcomed the DC's move, highlighting the local Muslim community's support. "The order issued by the Deputy Commissioner in Kishtwar is welcome, and yesterday it was a big deal that even the head of the Muslim community there welcomed it. Unfortunately, some local leaders were questioning it... The Muslim community also believes that law and order should be maintained properly where these things are happening. Some people here, who don't even know where Kishtwar is, what is happening, what the matter is, or what order the Deputy Commissioner has issued, start commenting from here... They should remain silent about something they don't know," Sharma told ANI. The remarks came after the administrative order issued by the Deputy Commissioner of Jammu and Kashmir's eastern Kishtwar district to regulate Zakat donations during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. (ANI)
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