Ayodhya row: Singhal tells Muslims to give up claim

‘Nothing but relics of the temple are bound to be recovered during the digging at the disputed site. This is the right time for the Waqf Board to withdraw its case to spread the message of universal brotherhood,’’ Singhal told reporters at the Karsewakpuram in Ayodhya this morning, adding that the Muslims should themselves discriminate between the jehadis and those espousing brotherhood of man. Singhal was in the temple town for the first time after the excavation started on March 12.

The Waqf Board, meanwhile, has expressed apprehensions about foul play in the ongoing excavation even as the local administration accepted the Board’s demand for equal representation in the team of labourers hired for the excavation and recruited three more Muslim workers.

‘‘The ASI team is not taking counter signs on the side notes from any of the representatives of parties involved. They should be signed by representatives of all the parties concerned but, they claimed that this was not necessary,’’ Jilani told The Indian Express.

Meanwhile, the ASI team today recovered a terracotta vessel from one of the trenches on the outer portion of the Ram Chabutara opposite the Ram Lalla idol.