Jammu, Feb 20: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday said the decision to issue an order regulating NGOs receiving donations during the holy month of Ramzan was taken by the Kishtwar district administration after consultations with local religious leaders and the matter should not be politicised.
Kishtwar district authorities issued an order on Wednesday, regulating the collection of donations during the holy month, citing concerns over unauthorised fundraising.
Responding to concerns raised by Congress MLAs Gulam Ahmed Mir and Nizam-ud-Din Bhat in the Assembly on Thursday, Abdullah said he has looked into the matter and found that the deputy commissioner in Kishtwar did not issue the order arbitrarily.
He said all deputy commissioners were instructed in advance to engage with local communities and make necessary preparations for Ramzan.
During one such meeting, religious leaders from the Muslim community in and around Kishtwar met the deputy commissioner and highlighted the issue of individuals setting up fake non-governmental organisations (NGOs) during Ramzan to collect donations, the chief minister said.
“They informed the administration that money is often collected in the name of charity or patients whose existence cannot be verified, and there is no clarity on how the funds are actually utilised,” Abdullah said, adding that genuine NGOs suffer as a result and are deprived of much-needed support.
He said the religious leaders had specifically requested the deputy commissioner to intervene and put an end to the practice. “Based on these genuine concerns raised by clerics and community representatives, the deputy commissioner issued the order,” he said.
The chief minister further said the imam of the Jamia Masjid in Kishtwar, along with other clerics and religious leaders, has welcomed the move.
Appealing for restraint, he said not every administrative decision should be viewed through a political lens. “We should sometimes go into the details. Many decisions are taken after consultations with people and not on political grounds. Such matters should not be dragged into politics,” Abdullah said.
Criticising the deputy commissioner’s order, Mir and Bhat demanded its immediate revocation in the Assembly on Thursday.
In the order, Kishtwar Deputy Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Sharma said it is the administration’s statutory obligation to ensure that public contributions intended for relief, welfare or religious purposes are not misappropriated, laundered or diverted for extraneous or subversive activities.
“There has been a tendency of unauthorised collection of donations by certain individuals and organisations during Ramzan, necessitating immediate regulatory intervention,” Sharma said.
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) MLA Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi termed the Kishtwar administration’s order an “overreach by the administration”.
“There is no legal authority in these matters. If we talk about Articles 25 and 26 (of the Constitution), they are purely religious matters, and the law itself states that these are religious matters and religious people will deal with those in their own way…. The state should have no involvement in those.” However, Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma welcomed the order issued by the Kishtwar deputy commissioner. “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,” the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA said.
He said some people who do not even know where Kishtwar is, what is happening there or what order the deputy commissioner has issued are commenting on the matter. “They should remain silent about something they do not know,” Sharma said.
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