'We should give up Ayodhya'

Author: IANS
Publication: The Times of India
Date: November 1, 2003
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/articleshow?msid=262571

In an unexpected move, a newly constituted Muslim body has expressed its willingness to forgo claims to the site in Ayodhya where the Babri mosque stood till it was razed by zealots in 1992.
 
Constituted recently, the Ayodhya Jama Masjid Trust has even gone to the extent of agreeing to the mosque being rebuilt at an alternative site so that a Hindu temple could be built in its place.
 
"The (reconstructed) mosque should not even be named after (Mughal emperor) Babur, who was not only an invader and plunderer but one who slaughtered both Hindus and Muslims alike in India," Allama Syed Asghar Abbas Rizvi, who heads the trust, has stated in a letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.
 
A copy of the letter has been sent to J P Sharma, commissioner of the Faizabad division where Ayodhya is located, urging him to play an active role in brining about an amicable settlement to the contentious Ayodhya issue.
 
Rizvi's move has been slammed by the Babri Masjid Action Committee (BMAC), which has been demanding the mosque be rebuilt at its original site.
 
What is the locus standi of this self-styled Ayodhya Jama Masjid Trust, asked BMAC convenor Zafaryab Jilani.

Rizvi has favoured transferring the site - where the 'shilaniyas', or the groundbreaking for the temple, was conducted in 1989 - and the adjoining 47 acres of land to the Ramjanmbhoomi Nyas , which has been claiming exclusive right to build the temple.
 
Presently, a makeshift shrine stands at the site of the 16th century mosque that was pulled down on December 6, 1992.
 
At the same time, Rizvi said the government should allot 40 acres of land for constructing what could be called the Ayodhya Jama Masjid.
 
Rizvi has also raised another vital question.
 
"Can the idol of Lord Ram (the makeshift shrine) be removed if the court verdict went against the Hindus," Rizvi asked.
 
"After all, there is no case pending before any court for removal of Ram Lalla (the infant Ram)," he added.
 
The Allahabad High Court is currently hearing a case on the ownership of the land where the Babri mosque stood.
 
Rizvi was stated to have initiated the process for an amicable settlement of the Ayodhya issue earlier this year in association with the late Mahant Ram Chandra Paramhans, whose death a few months back put back the exercise.
 
He has also urged Chief Minister Yadav to set up an Ayodhya cell in his secretariat on the lines of that in the Prime Minister's Office in New Delhi.
 
His trust, he said in his letter to Yadav, "Should function as a nodal agency to facilitate and promote dialogue between the Ramjanmbhoomi Trust and the Ayodhya Jama Masjid Trust ".
 
As a first step in that direction, Rizvi has invited Yadav to inaugurate a conference of Hindu and Muslim intellectuals together with Hindu sadhus and Islamic scholars at Ayodhya on November 30.
 

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