Muslim parties on Friday made it clear that they do not accept the Supreme Court-appointed mediation panel’s proposal on purported settlement to resolve the Ayodhya land dispute. They expressed surprise over reports suggesting that the Board was willing to withdraw the claim on the site of the mosque.
The mediation panel had filed a report in a sealed cover in the Supreme Court. The panel is headed by former apex court judge Justice FMI Kalifulla. Reports are doing rounds that the Wakf Board agreed to give up its claim over 2.77 acre disputed land at the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri masjid site if certain conditions are fulfilled.
Reacting to the reports, Eijaz Maqbool, counsel for legal representatives of key Muslim litigants M Siddiq and Misbahuddeen, and four other advocates for Muslim parties said in a statement, “We are taken aback by the media reports attributed by Shahid Rizvi, advocate on record that Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board was willing to withdraw the claim on site of the Babri Masjid.” Economic Times reported.
The Muslim parties in the statement made it clear that being the appellants before Supreme Court, they do not accept the proposal made which has been leaked out to the Press, nor the procedure by which the mediation has taken place nor the manner in which a withdrawal of the claim has been suggested as a compromise.