Religious Affairs Adviser Dr. AFM Khalid Hossain. File photo

DHAKA, Aug 10, 2025 (BSS)- Religious Affairs adviser AFM Khalid Hossain has said the government will conduct drive across the country to recover the occupied Waqf properties.

The drive will begin from my own district Chattogram next week and then it will be operated in phases across the country including Jashore, Brahmanbaria, Sylhet, Kishorganj and Sunamganj, he said in an interview with BSS on Wednesday.

Police and the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) with the support from the local administration will participate in the drive, he said.

The government has already recovered 52 bighas of occupied land in Naogaon district in the northern region, he added.

The adviser said devout Muslims, out of their love and affection for the community people, donated their properties. The government will never allow those properties to occupy by any quarters.

“Waqf properties are a sacred deposit of the devout Muslims to the government, the adviser said adding that the government will protect those properties at any cost.

According to a report of the Standing Committee on the Religious Affairs Ministry about 85,572 acres of Waqf properties remained occupied illegally.

Now there is nearly 22,000 registered Waqf estate across the country having 4,24,074 acres of land under the estates.

The Waqf activities are being operated in the Muslims society for decades based on trust, according to the religious affairs ministry sources.

The mosques and madrasas under the Waqf estate are controlled by the descendants of the donors and social committees despite the donars verbally declared their properties Waqf.

To utilize the Waqf estate for peoples welfare, the first Bengal Waqf Act was passed in 1934 during the British era. The act was first amended in 1962 and then in 2013.

Regarding the occupied Waqf property of the mosque and madrasas, the religious affairs adviser said there are many Waqf property of different mosques and madrasas in the country and many people are illegally occupying those properties.

A digitalized process will be introduced for Waqf properties along with reorganizing of the Waqf administration so that nobody can occupy the Waqf properties, he said.

The deed of many Waqf properties were destroyed or kept in hide by the beneficiaries, which is difficult to trace out, he noted.

But we are hopeful about bringing a large number of mosque and madrasas under Waqf property regulations.

Many people have been keeping the Waqf properties under their control year after year by take court order. 

“But they will not get the opportunity for more time as a separate bench has been constituted in the High Court to settle the lawsuits of Waqf properties,” he said hoping that all cases filed on the Waqf properties will be resolved quickly due to this initiative.