Catholic leaders have urged the Kerala government to review a state panel’s report favouring a Muslim charity’s claim over a piece of land, which threatens to evict some 600 families, most of them Catholics. Archbishop Joseph Kalathiparambil of Verapoly has urged the state government to review the Justice M. A. Nissar commission report. In an Oct. 26 statement, the archbishop said these families in a coastal village in Erna-kulam district legally bought the land decades ago and built their homes on it. He said the commission “arbitrarily inclu-ded” these lands as part of properties donated for Muslim charity (as waqf land). The archbishop’s statement said that the government should review the report and restore the ownership of the land to the original owners. The govern-ment appointed the commission in 2008 to examine the “irre-gularities” in the functioning of the state Waqf board. The commission submitted its report to the government in 2009, and the cabinet approved it the following year. The Arabic word “Waqf” literally means detention, and in Islamic Sharia law, it denotes the permanent submission of a person’s wealth or property for charity. The Central Waqf Council and State Waqf Boards manage waqf in India. The prelate asked the government to review the commission report to help the families in the neighbouring Kottapuram diocese, a suffragan of his archdiocese. “None of the victims knew about the inclusion [of their land and homes]” as Waqf properties, noted Father Antony Xavier, the parish priest of Valankanny Matha Church, which is part of the disputed land in Muna-mbam village. Among the 600 families, 400 are Christians, and others are Hindus. He said they started a relay hunger strike a fortnight ago deman-ding to restore their land ownership rights. The families claimed they legally purchased the land, which belonged to a local Muslim institution, Farook College, between 1988 and 1993, paying the prevailing market price and through registered land deeds.