‘Isn’t it a religious body?’: Zaira Wasim questions Waqf Board’s role in August 15 celebrations

Srinagar: Zaira Wasim has questioned the Waqf Board’s involvement in the 15 August celebrations in Kashmir.

The former actor, who quit the film industry in 2019, saying the profession “threatened” her relationship with her religion, said she came across a clip from a school in Kashmir showing 15 August celebrations held for or by the Waqf Board.

“I have a question. Isn’t waqf board a religious body entrusted with serving the Muslim Community? and ideally doing so while upholding Islamic Values?”

She questioned what she described as something “almost comical” about the institution, saying that an organisation built around a religious and communal purpose was sitting comfortably through something one would expect a religious institution to at least question.

“It lends its name to celebrations that reduce our children to stage props and performers,” she said.

“Why is the default way of involving children — and particularly girls — in public celebrations to make them dance to irrelevant songs? Why aren’t our institutions giving them something to think about, create, learn, discuss, build or contribute?”

She said the question was especially important “in a place like Kashmir”, which, according to her, has had a remarkable legacy of people who understood education as a means to enlighten minds, cultivate character and equip people with knowledge and spirituality.

“What about the intellectual and cultural legacy of wonderful scholars of the past,” she asked.

Wasim said that if an institution’s very existence is tied to a religious purpose, it is tasked with the deeper work of strengthening communities spiritually, morally and intellectually.

“And to be clear: the point is not the children. Children are often simply made to participate in whatever schools and institutions put before them,” she said.

“Perhaps that is the real tragedy here.”

“The question is what an institution chooses to facilitate, endorse and place under its own banner.”

Zaira Wasim made her Bollywood debut with Aamir Khan-starrer Dangal in 2016, for which she won the National Award for Best Supporting Actress.

She later appeared in Secret Superstar (2017) and The Sky Is Pink (2019). In June 2019, she announced her decision to leave the film industry, saying that acting was interfering with her faith and religious beliefs.