Muslim law board rejects talks on Ayodhya issue

LUDHIANA: At a time when Art of Living head Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is holding negotiations with various stakeholders on the Ram Temple issue, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has refused to go for a negotiated settlement of the dispute, saying it will abide by the Supreme Court verdict on the matter. “Such talks in the past have yielded no results. There is no point in taking part in these negotiations. We will honour the verdict of the apex court on the Ram Mandir issue,” AIMPLB spokesperson Maulana KR Sajjad Nomani said while interacting with mediapersons here on Friday. He was in town to meet Mulana Habib-ur-Rehman Ludhianvi Sani, Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, Ludhiana.

Nomani said the Ram Temple issue is raised by certain leaders ahead of elections to take political mileage out of it. “These politicians forget the issue after the elections.”

He added, “Politicians use such emotive issues to take away people’s attention from the real issues and garner votes. People should understand the real issues concerning the nation and should not fall prey to communal agenda.” He said the government should focus on issues of unemployment, poverty and economy. The ruling party at the Centre, he said, had promised to generate two crore jobs for the youth, but demonetisation and faulty implementation of Goods and Service Tax (GST) snatched more than 30 lakh jobs from people. “Our Constitution provides equal guarantee of life and livelihood to all and if the country is not run according to the tenets of the Constitution, it will fall apart,” he added.

On the issue of triple talaq, he said, “In India, Muslims follow shariat, which is sacrosanct.”

To a question, Nomani said Indian Muslims need not look towards Pakistan to understand Islam. “Scholars of Islam in our country are far more learned and the books written by them are read across the world.”

To another query, he said targeted killings of leaders of a particular religion in Punjab were committed by anti-social elements to disturb the social fabric of the country. “The law should take its course and the guilty should be punished appropriately. Such incidents endanger lives of Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Christians.”

He added that the composite culture of the country should be safeguarded from the agenda of communalism and hatred.