The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) on Sunday condemned the demolition of Masjid-e-Ali situated in Eidpugalu village in Kankipadu mandal of Andhra's Krishna district.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said that he called up the state's Chief Secretary, and registered a protest against the demolition in the name of road widening, by revenue officials.
"No mosque can be shifted or demolished as it becomes the property of Allah and no one, even the one who built it, has the right to agree for its shifting or demolition," he said in a statement.
“Since May 2016, revenue authorities have resorted to arbitrary demolition of mosques, dargahs and graveyards in Krishna district and the centuries-old Masjid-e-Abu Bakr, Hazrat Hussain Shah Quadri and Syed Shah Quadri dargahs and masjids, Jame masjid, Hazrat Shah Zahoor Musafir dargah, Tarapet masjid and Jannatul Firdous graveyard were demolished under utter violation of laws for protection of religious places ignoring the stay orders of courts and AP State Wakf Board,” he alleged.
Stating that he had written to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in 2016 and 2017, Owaisi demanded that such 'arbitrary' demolitions of places of worship should be stopped.
The AIMIM also demanded that the mosques, dargahs and graveyards that were demolished so far, had to be reconstructed.
In August last year,A delegation of MIM legislators in Telangana led by Ahmed Pasha Quadri met Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary S.P. Tucker in Hyderabad and submitted a memorandum addressed to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
It drew his attention to unfortunate incidents of demolition of the centuries-old Abu Bakr Mosque at Ramavaradu on Vijaywada-Eluru Ring Road in May and the partial demolition of other mosques, dargahs and graveyards in Vijayawada city and outskirts in the name of road widening works and construction of flyovers and bridges.
The memorandum said Krishna district authorities, with the active support of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation and police, have been resorting to arbitrary demolition of mosques, dargahs and graveyards of the Muslim community in utter violation of laws for protection of religious places and ignoring the pleas of the Andhra Pradesh State Wakf Board authorities and protests by the local Muslims.
IANS inputs