On April 7, 2023, the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Pushkar Singh Dhami reiterated his Government’s stance on illegally constructing Mazars on designated forest land mushrooming all over the state.
This includes the Jim Corbett National Park, one of the oldest and most famous wildlife sanctuaries amidst the Himalayas’ foothills in Uttarakhand’s Nainital District.
According to a tweet shared by Dhami, the CM is seen vowing to do whatever it takes to eliminate the presence of land jihad from his state which is often referred to as “Dev Bhoomi”.
It has been observed that one thousand illegal Mazars (mausoleums) have been built on forested land in Uttarakhand and the government will take strict actions against such structures.
He further stated that the Government is law-abiding and is not targeting any particular religion or community but they would not spare anyone in land jihad or Mazar jihad.
This menace of this illegal land encroachment is slowly enveloping the entire state of Uttarakhand.
In May 2022, CM Dhami announced actions on Mazars mushrooming everywhere and called them encroachments.
It is to be noted that on March 13, in a major crackdown, the Uttarakhand Government rolled bulldozers over illegal mazars which were built by encroachment on the reserved forest land. This is after Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami directed the state authorities to clear forest land of encroachment.
According to the, the Government authorities demolished 26 mazars that were illegally constructed on the government’s forest land. The authorities conducted a survey and identified around 1400 religious structures built illegally on Government land.
As per reports, some of the illegal mazars did not even contain any human remains.
Reports says that some people of the Barelvi Muslim community are actively involved in encroaching Government land and have been intentionally building mazars in forest areas, eventually erecting permanent structures and claiming a larger portion of the forest lands.
Notably, the Chief Minister had given top Government employees specific instructions to conduct a special examination for illegal mazars, temples, and churches built on Government property. 15 of the 17 illegal mazars have been razed in Dehradun alone, as per reports.
CM Dhami had also specifically noted that illegal mazars were being built on the government land and had said that any kind of land encroachment would not be tolerated. “The government will not tolerate encroachments of its land and action will be taken against these Mazars,” he had said.
How does Mazaar encroachment start?
According to the information received from the police and forest department, illegal tombs are not built in a day, for this Reiki is done; first, such a deserted place is seen in the forest, which is not visible from the main road, first clothes are tied on the roads visible from the road, then the way is made by placing stones on the way and applying lime.
Where the tomb is to be built, an earthen mound is made, and stones etc., are placed on it, sheets are put on it, incense sticks, lamps are lit, when no one opposes it, then a hut is first put up, one or two people come and start living. People of the Barelvi community come to Uttarakhand to build illegal shrines; when the hut is not removed, slowly, a platform for the shrine is made, and then the hut turns into a concrete building.
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