Pakistan involved in Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute, claims Shia Waqf Board chairman Wasim Rizvi

Syed Wasim Rizvi, chairman of the Shia Central Waqf Board, on Wednesday claimed that there was a Pakistan hand behind the lingering Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute in Ayodhya.

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Speaking at a press conference here, Rizvi said Pakistan has been directly involved in the dispute from the start and this was one of the reasons that there has been no resolution to the issue till now.

“When Babri Masjid was demolished (on December 6, 1992), far bigger demonstrations were held in Pakistan than in India. Many temples were also attacked in Pakistan. This shows Pakistan's involvement in the issue,” the Shia Waqf Board chairman said.

“In 2005, terrorists had attacked the makeshift Ram temple in Ayodhya. This also shows Pakistan's involvement,” he added.
Earlier too, Rizvi had alleged that those creating hurdles in the settlement of the Ayodhya land dispute were working at the behest of Pakistan, which was trying to destabilise India by exploiting religious sentiments over the issue.

“This (Ayodhya) dispute is not getting addressed because Pakistan has the biggest hand in it. Those representing the Muslim community in the Supreme Court on the issue have direct links with Pakistan and want bloodshed to destabilise the country,” Rizvi had said.

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The remarks came just two days after the Shia Central Waqf Board released a draft on the resolution of the Ayodhya dispute, in which it argued that Ram Mandir be built at the disputed property while a mosque should come up in Lucknow.
The board has written to the Uttar Pradesh government for allotting land in Lucknow for the mosque.

The draft, which was released to the media by Rizvi and the priest of All India Akhara Council, Narendra Giri, has also been submitted to the Supreme Court.

Rizvi told reporters that it had been proposed in the draft that the name of the mosque should not be after an emperor, and it should be called Mosque of Peace or "Aman ki Masjid".

He said that the Board had written to the Uttar Pradesh government for granting land to Shia Muslims at a designated place for the mosque, which the board would construct through a committee by raising money at its level.

The Supreme Court would now decide on the draft, Rizvi said.

He added that Waqf would not stake any claim to the disputed Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid property and would not have any issue if Hindus built a temple there.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had suggested that an out-of-court settlement was the best recourse in the dispute.

The apex court will commence the final hearing of the long-standing matter from December 5, a day before the 25th anniversary of the demolition of the medieval-era structure.

The Central Shia Waqf Board in August 2017 moved the Supreme Court challenging a 1946 trial court order ruling Babri Masjid to be a Sunni property. The Shia Board said that the fact was that it was actually a Shia noble in Babar’s court, Abdul Mir Baqi, who “created” the Babri Masjid with his own money and that the trial court failed to take that into account.

A report in The Hindu also says about the same Shia Waqf petition that: "The Board said there are “local affirmations that Babar came to Ayodhya in 1528 AD and halted there for a week and it was during his regime that the (Lord Ram) Janamsthan temple was destroyed and on its site a mosque was built using largely the materials of the old structure.”

 timesnownews