RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government has decided to provide 2.5 kanals of additional land to Taleemul Quran Madressah Raja Bazaar to expand Madina mosque and the market. All associated expenses will be paid by the City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR).

The market will be constructed on additional land on the ground floor and Taleemul Quran seminary clerics will receive rent from the new market as owners of the land.

The CDGR also intended to take nine marlas from lessees of Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) but they have refused to give the rights to the mosque despite pressure from CDGR.

Residents claim they are lessees of ETPB, CDGR says lease is fake

The Taleemul Quran Madressah, mosque and 130 shops in Madina Market were burnt during sectarian violence on Ashura in 2013. After this the Punjab government started reconstruction of the complex at a cost of Rs340 million in March.

A senior official of CDGR told Dawn that the clerics were informed about the decision to provide land to Taleemul Quran Madressah during the meeting of District Coordination Officer (DCO) Sajid Zafar Dall and Hafiz Sadiqque of Taleemul Quran Madressah on Tuesday.

He said that after the meeting, the DCO directed the District Officer-Building, Shaukat Ali to prepare Project Concept-I (PC-I) of the new market.

“The CDGR will construct shops on the ground floor and the roof will be connected to the mosque and Madressah on second and third floors,” he said.

He said that it was also decided that the Taleemul Quran Madressah administration would collect the rent from more than 200 shops including the new market and 150 shops of Madina Market.

Seminary administration managed to buy one private shop worth Rs15 million to expand the front of the mosque. It also managed to acquire two shops from ETPB for the construction of a back exit on Hamilton Road.

They are still trying to acquire two houses constructed on nine marlas owned by ETPB adjacent to the mosque for the expansion. However, the lessees Muhammad Shabir and Jannat Bibi are not willing to hand them over.

While talking to Dawn, Muhammad Shabir said: “I held a meeting with the DCO and he tried to force me to give the rights to the seminary. However, I refused to accept this as my aunt Janaat Bibi and I have been giving rent to the ETPB for the last 50 years,” he said.

“We also refused to pay the rent to the seminary administration as demanded by the DCO. I contacted ETPB and the officials assured me to take up the issue with the Punjab government as the board is the custodian of the land and CDGR and the DCO are not in the position to decide,” he said.

The custodian of Taleemul Quran Madressah Raja Bazaar, Maulana Ashraf Ali, told Dawn that the seminary administration neither contacted the people who lived in the private house adjacent to the mosque nor requested them to give the madressah the rent.

“Construction work on the mosque and Taleemul Quran Madressah, Raja Bazaar is the responsibility of the Punjab government as promised and it is making all arrangements in this regard,” he said.

District Coordination Officer Sajid Zafar Dall told Dawn that the provincial government had started construction work but it has been slow due to problems being created by three self proclaimed lessees of the ETPB.

He said that additional land belonged to Maulana Ashraf Ali of Seminary Taleemul Quran and the government will construct the mosque as per the building plan approved by it last year.

“After checking, we know that the documents provided by the lessee of six marlas of property transfer is fake as the ETPB issued such deeds in 1964 but the lessee provided the deed from 1974,” he said.

He said that some people approached him and made a claim that they were tenants of the ETPB and lived in the residences constructed on the nine marlas but they failed to prove it. However, he said the seminary administration had record of property transfer in 1948.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2014