'Self Contradictory': Muslim panel to seek review of SC verdict on Ayodhya dispute

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'Self Contradictory': Muslim panel to seek review of SC verdict on Ayodhya dispute

The AIMPLB also decided not to accept the five-acre land for the mosque at an alternative site

Sunday November 17, 2019 5:25 PM, ummid.com with inputs from IANS

Lucknow: The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Sunday declared that it will file a review petition against the Supreme Court verdict in Babri Masjid title suit in Ayodhya.

The AIMPLB also decided not to accept the five-acre land for the mosque at an alternative site since it is against the tenets of Islam.

Senior AIMPLB member and convener of the All India Babri Masjid Action Committee (AIBMAC) Zafaryab Jilani said that the case had been filed in court on behalf of all Muslims and the board was representing the sentiments of the community which wanted to exercise its constitutional rights and file a review petition.

Jilani in reply to a question said that senior lawyer Rajiv Dhawan would continue as their lawyer and they would try to file the petition within 30 days of the judgment which came on November 9.

Zufar Faruqi, chairman of the UP Sunni Waqf Board had earlier stated that he would not file any review petition.

However, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind President Arshad Madani, who attended the board meeting, told reporters that the Jamiat approved the decision to file a review petition.

"We must file a review petition. It is our right," he said.

Reacting to Babri plaintiff Iqbal Ansari's refusal to file a review petition, Jilani said that the board was exercising its constitutional right and there was no politics in the issue. He said that Ansari was probably being pressured by the district administration not to file a review petition.

The board spokespersons said that the Supreme Court verdict was self-contradictory.

"The court has accepted the fact that namaaz was offered on the site and that idols were forcibly placed at the site on the night on December 22-23, 1949. The SC judges also ignored the fact that under Waqf rules, the place of mosque cannot be shifted. There was also no proof of any temple under the domes of the demolished mosque," they said.

They said that they had not contested the case for an alternative land.

Earlier in the day, the venue of the board meeting was changed from Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama to Mumtaz Degree College in Lucknow.

Regarding the change in the meeting venue, Jilani told reporters that officials from the district administration had tried to stop the meeting at Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama and hence it had to be changed. Members who had arrived at the venue were taken to Mumtaz Degree College and the media was not informed of the venue.

These included senior leaders Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali, vice president Maulana Jalaluddin Umri, Asma Zahra of the women's wing, board secretary Maulana Wali Rehmani, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and president of the Jamait Ulema-e-Hind Maulana Arshad Madni.

The Muslim panel had on Saturday called a meeting of all five litigents in the Babri Masji title case. Except Iqbal Ansari, all other four litgents favoured filing of the review petition in the Supreme Court.

The Jamiat Ulama-i Hind, one of the largest organisations of Indian Muslims, has already decided to file a review petition challenging the Supreme Court’s verdict.

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