KUWAIT: The committee in charge of demolishing encroachments on state property is working on razing non-licensed mosques in several areas . Recently, residents protested against the demolition of a mosque in Ardiyah.

According to the demolition committee the mosques weren't licensed by the Ministry of Awqaf or by the Municipality. "All these so called mosques made of corrugated steel (shacks) are praying places without basic services and utilities and were built by the residents of the area without being officially licensed. These are mostly built in new residential areas," Colonel Dhafer Al-Sayegh, Public Relations and Media Coordinator with the demolition committee, told the Kuwait Times.

The committee never demolishes any of these temporary mosques unless there is another big mosques built nearby. There are two to three mosques in each block in the different residential areas. Those who claim that any of the demolished mosques were licensed are talking about mosques with temporary licenses. The Ministry of Awqaf aims to gather the residents of the area in one place and that's why they build huge mosques. Also, most of these temporary mosques take electricity from the road lights, which is
illegal," added Al-Sayegh.

Six months back, the demolition committees formed a tripartite committee consisting of the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, the Kuwait Municipality and themselves. "We have been working for six months on this issue and currently there are about 80-90 temporary or unlicensed mosques that will be soon demolished by the team," he further said.

The main reason for demolishing these mosques is for security reasons. "There are doubts that some of those who financed these temporary mosques will collect into certain groups and not be monitored by the Ministry of Awqaf. They will divide into sects and it could lead to many conflicts. The Ministry of Awqaf spent about KD 200 thousand to build a mosque and it is empty with only tens of people coming to pray in it," he explained.

According to Al-Shayegh, the demolition committee has photos of these illegal praying places turning to other activities. "These praying places at night turn into diwaniyas for men to play cards, or serve as housing for Asian laborers. This is not the purpose of a mosque," he concluded.

The Mubarak Al-Kabeer committee in charge of demolishing encroachments on state property is continuing its demolishing work to remove various violations in the governorate. As part of their work the team demolished a tire repair store in the governorate built illegally on 950 square meters of land.

The licensed area for this shop is 120 square meters only. It is located near a co-op, in a very crowded area. The team removed the shop after sticking a warning letter on it without any action of the owner. He spread on the parking lot to enlarge his shop, and this also affected the safety of the residing people in this area," said the Head of the Mubarak Al-Kabeer team Mishaal Aba Safi.

Such a huge shop with eight holes in the ground for repairing cars and storage space for car tires can only exist in an industrial area such as Shuweikh and not in such a crowded residential area as Sabah Al-Salem," Aba Safi added. - Kuwait Times