The National Commission for Minorities has slammed the Goa government’s “failure” to grant a burial ground for Muslims in a Catholic-dominated area.

“It is a clear case of discrimination,” the federal body that looks after the interests of India’s religious minority groups said in a report released on June 9.

Muslim groups in Margao, Goa’s commercial capital, have been demanding land for a kabrastan (burial place) for the past two decades.

“The state government has failed completely to carry out its statutory duty and constitutional obligations for the allotment of suitable land for a Muslim kabrastan even after passing a resolution in the legislative assembly in 1999,” the report noted.

The federal commission called the delay “harassment and illegal deprivation” and called on the state government to complete the land acquisition process within six months.

The government also has to submit an action-taken-report every month. If not, the state chief secretary has to explain why, the commission said.

Its directive follows a petition submitted by Abdul Matin Daud Carol, general secretary of Masjide-Gaousiya, a Goa-based Muslim organization.

The issue came to a head during Goa and Daman archdiocese’s Mission Congress in February 2009. A Muslim leader alleged Catholic civic authorities in the state often discriminated against him because of his religion.

He also accused a Catholic-dominated village council in Margao of passing a resolution barring the selling of land to Muslims.

In Goa, Muslims account for only 7 percent of its 1.3 million population, whereas Christians, mostly Catholics, number 26 percent. The rest are Hindus.

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