Sunni Central Waqf Board chairman Zufar Farooqui on Sunday said the decision on whether to accept the five acres offered for a mosque in lieu of the disputed site in Ayodhya will be taken on November 26, PTI reported. A day earlier, Farooqui had said that the board will not file a review petition against the Supreme Court’s Ayodhya verdict.
The top court judgement had instructed five acres at a separate plot to be allotted for a new mosque, while giving the 2.77 acres at the disputed Ayodhya plot to a government-run trust for a temple.
The Sunni board is one of the main litigants in the case.
Farooqui told PTI that there were differing voices within the community on whether to take the land offer. “Board’s general body meeting is expected on November 26 in which it will be decided whether to take five-acre land as directed by the Supreme Court or not,” he said.
The meeting was earlier scheduled on November 13. “I am getting diverse views on taking the land but I personally feel negativity can be won only with positivity,” Farooqui added.
Won’t challenge Ayodhya verdict, says Farooqui
Farooqui on Saturday said the board welcomed the judgement and had no plans to challenge it, The Indian Express reported.
The Indian Union Muslim League also said it respected the verdict, according to the English daily. The league will have a meeting on Monday to discuss the judgement.
However, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board has not decided whether it will challenge the verdict. Its counsel Zafaryab Jilani said, “You cannot exchange land for a mosque,” and on Saturday expressed unhappiness over the judgement.
Politician Asaduddin Owaisi, another member of the personal law board, also criticised the judgement on Saturday. Owaisi said Muslims should reject the offer of five acres at another site and said that the Supreme Court was not “infallible”. “We don’t need five acres of land as donation,” he said. “We should reject this five acres land offer, don’t patronise us.”
The Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid, and Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind president Arshad Madani also accepted the verdict. All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat chief Navaid Hamid dismissed the verdict, calling it a “consolation prize”. “The judgement sets a dangerous precedent because it is not the duty of the government under our secular Constitution to involve itself with the construction of a temple or a mosque,” The Indian Express quoted him as saying.
A majority of political leaders and parties have also accepted and welcomed the verdict, including the Congress. Owaisi attacked the Congress for its stand, saying the party had “shown its true colours.”
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