Mysuru: Islam and terrorism are irreconcilable with each other, and terrorists are not Muslims, said food, civicl supplies, consumer affairs and minority welfare minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan here on Wednesday. “There is no space for terrorism in Islam,” said Khan.Khan, who participated at an event in Hunsur, said the Allah would never countenance any act of violence or terrorism. “Allah preached love and non-violence. All Muslims in this country are Hindustanis, not Pakistanis,” he said.The Congress leader said that he would like to see both a mosque and a mandir (Hindu temple) being built at the disputed site in Ayodhya , where the Babri Masjid stood before its demolition. “In the past four-and-a-half years, the issue was never raked up. But, with elections round the corner, the issue has been given a new lease of life. No Muslim in India opposes the construction of the Ram Mandir . We will construct a mosque and a mandir,” said Khan, asking people to pledge their support to secular forces in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.Khan, also the Wakf minister in the Karnataka cabinet, said that property belonging to the Wakf Board would be utilised for building houses for underprivileged Muslims, and dialysis centres. He said that the plan was to utilise the land parcels for welfare programmes. “Recently, in Bengaluru, we cleared encroachments worth more than one thousand crore rupees on Wakf properties. This property that we have recovered from encroachers will be used to build houses for 20,000 people. However, this plan ran into trouble after a few people approached the chief minister to complain against me. But I have settled the issue after a discussion with HD Kumaraswamy,” he added.Khan pointed out that allocation for minority welfare rose exponentially when Siddaramaiah was chief minister. “Earlier, around Rs 400 crore was allocated for minorities, but it rose to Rs 3,150 crore when Siddaramaiah became the CM,” said Khan, adding that he had sent a proposal seeking Rs 1,900 crore for minority welfare to the CM. “Outstanding payments to the tune of Rs 55 crore to more than 33,000 applicants under the Shaadi Bhagya scheme need to be settled,” the senior leader said.Khan said that property of the Wakf Board belonged to God, and requested citizens to bring any encroachments on these land parcels to this attention. “It is my responsibility to protect them,” the minister said.Former MLA HP Manjunath called Khan an exemplar of communal harmony. “He is the troubleshooter of the government like water resources minister DK Shivakumar . Khan is realising the dreams of former CM Siddaramaiah,” said Manjunath.

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