NEW DELHI, July 6: Muslim leaders on Sunday rejected proposals by a top Hindu religious leader to resolve a dispute over building a temple on land where Hindu zealots demolished Babri Mosque 11 years ago.
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) rejected the compromise suggested by Shankeracharya Jayendra Saraswati to resolve the issue.
The United News of India quoting participants at the board’s meeting in the northern city of Lucknow said Saraswati had suggested that the Muslims should either donate the land where the 16th century Babri Mosque had stood in the northern city of Ayodhya to the Hindus to build a temple or else they should agree to a temple and a mosque to be built side-by-side on the disputed site.
The Hindu monk also reportedly suggested that the Muslims agree to construction work for the temple to begin at undisputed sites near the site where the mosque had stood and let the matter regarding the possession of the mosque site be decided by the courts.
AIMPLB “outrightly rejected” the proposals after discussing them for over two hours, UNI said quoting the board officials.
“The members reiterated their stand of accepting any court verdict on the vexed Ayodhya issue rather than any such proposal to resolve the issue,” said Abdul Manan, a participant.
“The committee has refused to even consider the proposal of Shankaracharya after it was read before the members,” he said.
Another member of the board, Gulam Ahmed Banatwala, said there was no question of Muslims giving up their claims on the Babri Mosque site.
Shankaracharya had said earlier in an interview on New Delhi television that there was no need for any new mosque in Ayodhya, a major Hindu pilgrimage city believed to be the birthplace of Hindu god Rama.—dpa
