Occupied Karbala land: Okhla resident writes letter to Rahul Gandhi

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The illegal occupation of some two acre of Karbala land at Soth Delhi’s Shah-e-Mardan (one of the holiest shrines of Shias in North India) is at the centre of attraction with some Shias mounting pressure on the Congress government to resolve the dispute.

President of Shia Point Zaheer Zaidi has approached Rahul Gandhi to interfere in the matter. In a letter written to the Congress strongman, he has urged Rahul to address the issue before February 1 so that the party can get the community votes. Also, more than 50,000 devotees are going to flock the venue to pay their homage to the martyr of Karbala.

Zaidi is optimistic of a positive response as all parties are working overtime to woo Muslims with assembly elections in five states just round the corner.

In the letter, Zaidi has trained his gun at Moeed Khan, resident of Okhla. He has been accused of occupying the land for long and running a nursery Gulzar-e-Haidri (Rajdhani nursery) and making a windfall.

“When ever we ask him to vacate the land he drops names of some senior Congress leaders like Salman Khursheed and Ahmad Patel. It appears that he has backing from these leaders and hence he is not even willing to talk to us. If the Congress wants to get Shia votes in the UP elections then it should clarify its stand. Also, Salman Khursheed should come forward and disassociate himself from his neighbour Khan. Shias rever Imam Hussein and Karbala and any party found hurting our sentiment will be taught a lesson. We will approach other parties too,” he added.

Efforts to contact Moid Khan failed as he didn’t pick up the phone.

The agreement between Anjuman-e-Haidri, managing committee of the shrine, and Moeed Khan, the gardener turned owner, expired in 2000 and since then the Shias have been trying hard to get the land vacated but with no avail.

Also, Shias have asked the government to erect boundary walls around the shrine so that its remaining lands are not occupied by others. The Shia community in Uttar Pradesh too has been fighting to get their occupied lands back with backing from Shia Central Board of Waqfs.