By Sidra Fatima
The Jammu and Kashmir police have introduced a large-scale exercise to gather the information on mosques in the area. The exercise includes collecting information on the mosque, the imams, the muezzins, and members of the management committees. The information is gathered through a four-page-long form including the section for the information including the personal details like social media profile, village, address, ideological sects. The form has been verified by the FoEJ Media.
Police also seek information on the mosques’ monthly budgets, bank account details, and management structures, as well as the legal status of the land on which they are built—whether state-owned, privately held, or classified as shamilaat.
A local journalist, on the condition of anonymity, told FoEJ Media that “the policemen have been tasked to profile every mosque and the people associated with it.”
“They first ask the details of the mosque, the sect it belongs to, how much its construction cost, and how you sourced its funds,” he added.
The form has raised questions about the format. The local journalist who conducted the ground survey told FoEJ Media that the people are visibly annoyed by the exercise.
“It is not just profiling but seems to have a different intent to control the mosques in the valley,” people said.
Several people contacted for this report also agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity. One of them said “police personnel approached seeking detailed information about a local mosque, including its sect affiliation, construction cost, and sources of funding.” They said the officials also asked about the mosque’s monthly expenses and how these were met.
This story was originally published in foej.in. Read the full story here.
