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Muslim bodies divided on verdict
New Delhi/Lucknow The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) said on Saturday it was considering seeking a review of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Ayodhya
New Delhi/Lucknow The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) said on Saturday it was considering seeking a review of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Ayodhya title dispute case that allotted an alternative five-acre land to the Sunni Waqf Board, even as leaders from the community appealed for calm following the highly anticipated court ruling.
Delivering the verdict in the dispute regarding the 2.77-acre land in Ayodhya, the SC’s constitutional bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi gave full possession of the contested property to a trust that will oversee the construction and management of a Ram temple.
The AIMPLB said it would go through the SC order and then take a call on filing a review.
“We are dissatisfied with certain findings of the Supreme Court... We respect the Supreme Court verdict and respectfully disagree with certain aspects of it,” said AIMPLB secretary Zafaryab Jilani, who is also the counsel for the Sunni Waqf Board, one of the parties in the title dispute case. He later clarified that he was speaking in his capacity as the AIMPLB secretary.
“Whatever legal recourse is possible, we will take… We will file a review petition if our committee agrees to it. It is our right and it is in Supreme Court’s rules as well,” he said.
Jilani repeatedly appealed for peace and tranquility, while underlining that the verdict was not a victory for any side. He said that some parts of the judgment will be “beneficial to the nation”.
Shortly after Jilani spoke at a news briefing, Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board chairman Zufar Faruqi issued a statement that said the body will not go for a review of the verdict or file a curative petition. “If anyone is saying that a review petition will be filed, it should not be taken as a statement on behalf of the board, it may be an individual opinion,” he said.
Faruqi has previously differed with the AIMPLB’s stand on the Ayodhya matter in the past when he participated in the court-ordered mediation process in October.
“We have always maintained that we will honour and abide by the court verdict, whether it is in our favour or against us. How can we deviate from that stand now?” he said on Saturday. On the SC decision giving a five-acre alternative piece of land to the Sunni Waqf Board, Faruqi said: “I will discuss the matter with the board members and only then will be able to comment,” he said.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi, meanwhile, said the judgment on the Babri Masjid-Ramjanmabhoomi land dispute was a “victory of faith over facts” and suggested a rejection of the alternative five-acre plot.
He quoted former Chief Justice of India JS Verma that the “Supreme Court is supreme... and final but not infallible”. “This is a victory of ‘faith over facts’ judgment,” he said.
“I endorse the AIMPLB’s stand on the judgment. Our fight was for justice and legal rights. We don’t need 5-acre land as a charity,” he said in a tweet.
The constitution bench headed by CJI Gogoi has heard a batch of cross-appeals against a 2010 Allahabad high court judgment. The original verdict ordered the division of the disputed 2.77 acres of land in Ayodhya into three equal parts to be divided among the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara, a religious denomination; and the Ram Lalla Virajman, which represents the child deity Ram.
On Sunday, the SC said the HC order was “legally unsustainable”.
The Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Waqf Board, whose appeal was dismissed by the SC in the case, welcomed the verdict.
“The Shia Central Waqf Board… congratulates people of the country, especially those who fought the legal battle in a dignified manner,” the board’s chairman Waseem Rizvi said. “The dismissal of the Shia Central Waqf Board claim is not a big thing. It had only said the Ram temple should be constructed in Ayodhya and, therefore, today’s verdict is a victory for the board,” he added.
Flanked by other lawyers and Muslim leaders at his news briefing earlier, AIMPLB secretary Jilani said that Shariah laws don’t permit for a mosque or its land to be gifted or be given to anyone else. “We have 30 days’ time to file a review petition. We are likely to file a review petition, as we are well within our rights to disagree with the judgment. We don’t think it is just to give them the entire land,” he said.
Jilani and Syed Sadatullah Husaini, president of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, said they expected that the SC ruling would not have any impact on other mosques in the country. “This is our expectation that mosques in India will remain safe. And if anyone wants to rake up Mathura or Kashi, then the court’s doors are always open for us,” Husaini said.
He said that the AIMPLB will meet soon and the people of Ayodhya will also be consulted before the board’s next step.
MR Shamshad, another counsel for the Muslim parties, said the alternative land was never the issue. “We can buy much more land on our own. Even if one gives us Rs 500 crores, we can’t sell the land or the mosque as it is the property of the almighty,” he said.
“The judgment is to be respected because it is final. Despite all findings in favour of mosque and statements that title cannot be on the basis of faith, faith of one religion has prevailed to declare title. This will remain one questionable judgment in history of India,” Shamshad later tweeted.
With inputs from agencies
