Lucknow: The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) said Wednesday the Sunni Central Waqf Board, which will get five acres of land in Ayodhya for the construction of a mosque, is not the representative of the entire Muslim community.
The AIMPLB also said that if the Waqf board accepts the Centre’s offer it should not be considered a decision of all Muslims of the country.
While delivering its judgment in the Ram Janmabhoomi Babri Masjid title dispute case November 9 last year, the Supreme Court had said the trust should be formed within three months for the construction of the temple at the site where many Hindus believe Lord Ram was born.
The apex court had also ordered that five-acre land will be given to the Sunni Central Waqf Board in Ayodha at an alternative site.
“The Sunni Waqf board is not the representative of the entire Muslim community. If it takes land, it should not be considered a decision of Muslims of the country,” AIMPLB, senior executive member, Maulana Yasin Usmani, told reporters here.
Usmani said the AIMPLB and those associated with it have decided that they ‘will not take any land in Ayodhya’.
The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath allotted Wednesday five acres of land to the Sunni Central Waqf Board for construction of a mosque.
All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPLB) spokesman Maulana Yasoob Abbas said, “The Supreme Court had directed to provide the land to the Sunni Waqf Board. It’s their decision whether they take it or not. Whatever decision, it takes there should be peace and communal amity.”
Abbas however said that the Shia Board is with the AIMPLB on the matter.
No reaction could be obtained from the Sunni Central Waqf Board. Despite efforts, no contact could be made with the board chairman Zufar Farooqui.
PTI