12 ownership because they were established under royal, ancestral, waqf, or other arrangements that pre-date present registration systems. Some possess only waqf records, utility documents, or other evidence of longstanding religious use. Permit processes that require formal land maps and recognised religious-land status can therefore exclude historic mosque properties from repair or reconstruction.26 A construction professional described a Yangon mosque on land recorded as residential property that could not obtain renovation permission because the site lacked religious-land status. The community instead carried out painting and minor repairs on its own.27 Myanmar’s historical land rules include procedures for granting land for religious purposes. Rule 50 of the Lower Myanmar Town and Village Land Rules provides for revenue-free grants of unoccupied government land for a religious edifice, while the Upper Burma Land Revenue Manual contains procedures for grants of state waste land for religious purposes.28 Following anti-Muslim violence in Htan Gone Village in 2013, a committee applied for religiousland status for 37 mosques in Sagaing Region. The applications obtained approval through the regional level but were rejected at Union level in Naypyidaw. More than five years of efforts resulted in none of the 37 mosques obtaining religious-land status. Obtaining required land documents could involve multiple approvals without guaranteeing permission to proceed. A lawyer said an applicant seeking a Form 105 land map might need recommendations from neighbouring households, an Islamic religious organisation, the Township Administrator, and an engineer. “Even after all these recommendations have been obtained, however, it does not necessarily mean that permission to proceed will be granted,” he told BHRN. He also described a 2022 case in which Minhla Sunni Jamae Mosque sought a land map for renovation after the Land Records Department refused to issue it. The mosque unsuccessfully sought an order from the Supreme Court requiring the department to provide the map. BHRN did not obtain the judgment or case file and could not independently verify the case.29 26 BHRN Interview 11, Myanmar, 16 May 2025. 27 BHRN Interview 10, Myanmar, 13 May 2025. 28 Rules under the Lower Myanmar Town and Village Lands Act, 1898, Town and Village Land Rules, rule 50. Upper Burma Land Revenue Manual, 1939, directions concerning revenue-free grants for religious edifices, including Direction 32. 29 BHRN Interview 11, Myanmar, 16 May 2025.