Give up claims on Ayodhya land: Shia Board to Sunni body

LUCKNOW: Stoking a fresh controversy, the UP Shia Central Waqf Board on Thursday asked the Sunni Waqf Board to give up its claim on the disputed land in Ayodhya, which it said was a Shia property.

Chairman of Shia Waqf Board Waseem Rizvi asked the Sunni body to focus on temple-mosque issue in Kashi and Mathura and play a positive role in amicably resolving the disputes.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to start hearing in the Ayodhya case from December 5.

“The Sunni Waqf Board has the right to put its views on the temple-mosque dispute in Kashi and Mathura but cannot do so in Ayodhya issue. It need not interfere in the issues related to the Shia Waqf Board,” Rizvi said in a statement here.

Rizvi, who is in the crosshairs of Yogi Adityanath government over alleged anomalies in the Board during his tenure, said: “Shia Waqf Board has enough documents to prove that the mosque in Ayodhya was a Shia property. We have presented the evidences before the Supreme Court but some ‘maulvis’ and ‘mullahs’ (clerics) are sore over this initiative.”

“The Shia Waqf Board wants to tell the hardliners that our initiative, taken in the national interest, is right. The decision of the apex court will be binding on all,” he said.

Rizvi said if the court’s decision was in favour of the Shia Board, a temple should be built at the site in Ayodhya as per the faith and belief of Hindus.

“The Shia Board will get a ‘Masjid-e-Aman’ constructed in Lucknow,” he added.

In an attempt to resolve the long pending dispute, Shia Waqf Board had submitted a proposal in the Supreme Court on November 18 suggesting construction of a mosque in Lucknow’s Hussainabad area and a temple in Ayodhya.