AIMPLB to discuss Ayodhya dispute, triple talaq tomorrow

Lucknow: The Ayodhya dispute and triple talaq will dominate the agenda of the two-day meeting of All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) beginning here tomorrow. “The executive meeting of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board is scheduled to be held at Nadwatul Ulama in Lucknow on April 15-16,” AIMPLB secretary Zafaryab Jilani told PTI. AIMPLB member Maulana Khalid Rashid Farangi Mahali had earlier said that the meeting will discuss the Ayodhya dispute against the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s suggestion for an out-of-court settlement and the issue of triple talaq. “The matter of Babri mosque is crucial and discussions will be held on whether there could be a way out,” he had said. The meet will also hold discussions on ways to highlight the Board’s functioning and activities through social media and strengthen its women wing. AIMPLB has been witnessing resentment among Muslim women, especially the victims of triple talaq. Many of such women have filed PILs in the apex court challenging the provision of triple talaq and nikah halala, terming them “regressive”. The Board, however, opposed the PILs and filed a counter affidavit in the apex court defending the Muslim Personal laws and triple talaq. It had recently told the court that the pleas challenging such practices among Muslims were not maintainable as the issues fell outside the realm of judiciary. The Board had also said that the validity of Mohammedan Law, founded essentially on the Holy Quran and sources based on it, could not be tested on the particular provisions of the Constitution. The Centre had on October 7 last year opposed in the Supreme Court the practice of triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy among Muslims, and favoured a relook on grounds like gender equality and secularism. The Ministry of Law and Justice, in its affidavit, had referred to constitutional principles like gender equality, secularism, international covenants, religious practices and marital law prevalent in various Islamic countries to drive home the point that the practice of triple talaq and polygamy needed to be adjudicated upon afresh by the apex court. The Supreme court had taken suo motu cognisance of questions whether Muslim women faced gender discrimination in the event of divorce or other marriages of their husbands. —PTI