Ahead Of Ayodhya Verdict AIMPB Asks Muslims Not To Be Afraid

As the day of a verdict on the decades-old Ayodhya land dispute nears, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board urged imams to advise Muslims to repose faith in the Constitution and judiciary while maintaining communal harmony

Senior member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahali on Friday said, "My appeal is to every imam of various mosques to make appeal that Muslims need not feel afraid, but they should repose faith in country's Constitution and judiciary, and whatever the judgement comes, we should honour it."

Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi is expected to deliver verdict in the Ayodhya case before his retirement on November 17.

In a statement here Maulana Khalid said, "As media reports suggest the Supreme Court's judgement on Ayodhya is going to come soon. You are aware of the fact that the Ayodhya case is the biggest and most sensitive case of independent India. The entire country and the global community are looking towards the judgement. Hence, it is the responsibility of every citizen to honour the judgement of the court and maintain peace."

Maulana Khalid also appealed to people not to indulge in any type of celebration after the judgement is out, not to indulge in sloganeering nor undertake protests.

"No issue should be raised which may hurt religious sentiments. The fabric of communal bonhomie and Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb should not be allowed to be damaged," he said.

Earlier, all Muslim parties had filed their written submissions in the Supreme Court Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute at Ayodhya and said that the verdict will have "consequences" for the future polity of the country. 

Issuing a public statement they said, "We hope that the Court, in moulding the relief, upholds our multi-religious and multicultural values in resolving the issues confronting it. Moulding the relief is the responsibility of this Court, which itself is the sentinel of our Constitution. When moulding the relief, this Court must also consider how future generations will view this verdict."

The BJP-led government is waiting for the apex court's verdict for going ahead with its poll promise of building a Ram temple on the currently disputed land. 

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by the CJI had reserved the verdict on October 16 after concluding the 40-day-long hearing in the politically sensitive case.

Fourteen appeals have been filed in the apex court against the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77-acre land in Ayodhya be partitioned equally among three parties -- the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.

The legal battle of the title dispute between Hindus and Muslims in Ayodhya began in 1949. In the early 1990s, the dispute gained popular support and took the shape of a movement under the guidance of BJP leader L K Advani. The Ram Janambhoomi movement eventually culminated in the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992.

(With inputs from PTI)