By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
A group of Muslims leaders on Tuesday asked the Uttarakhand government to take strong action against all those people who are allegedly preventing burials of “outsiders” in the Turner Road graveyard in Dehradun.
The delegation met state Social Welfare and Minorities Minister Khajan Das and sought the government’s intervention in the matter. “Some people who are managing this graveyard are stopping burials of all those people who reside outside Dehradun,” said Razia Beg, former Chairperson of the Dehradun Bar Council, who was part of the delegation.
“Such malicious acts clearly indicate that certain elements seek to pit one section of the Muslim community against another and are actively working to disrupt social harmony. It is plausible that those who have encroached upon Waqf land may be utilizing the Waqf Act as a pretext to further their illegal land-grabbing activities,” a memorandum submitted by the Muslim leaders said.
“No individual, regardless of their religious faith, would find it acceptable that—following a death—their grieving family is forced to wander from door to door just to perform the final rites or burial,” the leaders said in their memorandum.
Later, the Muslim leaders said Khajan Das has taken this matter with the utmost seriousness and has assured that he will promptly convene a high-level meeting to ensure a definitive resolution to this issue.
“Instructions have also been issued to the District Magistrate of Dehradun to submit a detailed report regarding this matter,” the leaders said.
The delegation included Haji Yaqoob Siddiqui (Former State Minister, Government of Uttarakhand), Kumari Razia Beg (Member, Uttarakhand Bar Council), Latafat Hussain (Executive Member, Uttarakhand Kranti Dal), Inam Ali (Retired Deputy Director), Imran Ahmed (Retired Superintending Engineer) and others.