Muslim board mulls joining SC battle

New Delhi - The legal cell of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board is thinking of becoming an intervener in the appeal the Sunni wakf board plans to file in the Supreme Court against last week's Ayodhya verdict.

Several law board members said the Allahabad High Court judgment had legal "loopholes" as the verdict had accorded primacy to faith, which could set an unwelcome precedent.

On September 30, one of the three judges on the bench had said the area covered under the now-demolished central dome of the disputed structure was the birthplace of Ram "as per faith and belief of Hindus".

"We have discussed all the legal points. A report will be presented at the executive committee meeting of the AIMPLB (All India Muslim Personal Law Board) to be held in Lucknow on October 16," board legal cell member N.A. Farooqie said.

The Jamaat Islami leader said a final decision would be taken at the meeting when a formal announcement is likely to be made on whether the board would become an intervener, an entity not party to an existing lawsuit but which joins one.

A board member said the judgment had several loopholes. "All those observations that Muslims and Hindus were praying together in the mosque and that Hindus believed 'since time immemorial' that Lord Ram was born under the Babri Masjid's central dome are quite questionable."

Not all board members, however, want another court battle. A large section feels the board should be open to discussions for an amicable settlement.

A prominent Deoband Sunni cleric and president of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, Maulana Mahmood Madani, has called on Muslims to accept the verdict. "It will be good for the country if both Muslims and Hindus construct their places of worship at Ayodhya," Madani, who heads the biggest organisation of Sunni clerics in India, said.

"It will vastly improve the image of the country," the Rashtriya Lok Dal Rajya Sabha MP added.

Several senior members, including the influential Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali, believe a negotiated settlement is possible if the Prime Minister steps in.

"Everyone wants the Babri Masjid issue to be settled amicably at the earliest. It is good for both Hindus and Muslims and for the rest of the country. So there is a section of members that believes the law board should be prepared for discussions if the top political leadership intervenes," said a member.

Another AIMPLB member said the Congress, whose official stand is that it wouldn't initiate any mediation, had been sending feelers to the board in favour of an out-of-court settlement.

The overwhelming view within the board, however, is that it should challenge the high court verdict. "The high court judgment would set the precedent that faith can be treated as a valid ground for deciding property-related disputes in future. That is a very dangerous proposition and has to be opposed," said Babri Masjid Action Committee convener S.Q.R. Ilyas.

The arguments for another court battle came on a day the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh spokesperson, Ram Madhav, said the Sangh was always open to an amicable settlement.

Source : The Telegraph, CITHARA PAUL- Oct 9, 2010

Photo : Mahant Bhaskar Das of the Nirmohi Akhara (left), who had filed a petition seeking ownership rights to the Ayodhya land, and Mohammad Hashim Ansari, the oldest living petitioner in the case, at a temple in Faizabad on Saturday. (PTI)