Hardly a yes from the Muslim board

Officially, the 41-member executive committee of the AIMPLB has decided not to restrict its discussions at tomorrow’s meeting to the points contained in the formula alone. Elaborate discussions will also be held on the repurcussions of the ASI excavation at the disputed site and also developments at the Liberhan Commission hearings.

A core group of the committee, comprising more than a dozen members of the Board, including president Maulana Rabe Hasan Nadvi and his deputy Kalbe Sadiq, held an informal meeting today at the Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulema, the place for theological learning for Muslims in the state capital.

Sources said senior members of the Board discussed at length the pros and cons of the points contained in the formula submitted by the Kanchi mutt Shankaracharya and decided to discuss other issues besides that tomorrow.

‘‘All the issues concerning Muslims, especially the excavations at Ayodhya and developments in the Liberhan Commission, will be taken up during the meeting,’’ Kasim Rasul Illiyas, a member of the Board, told The Sunday Express.

Incidentally, two important members of the executive committee, Syed Shahabuddin and Jafaryab Jilani, were conspicuous for their absence at the informal meeting of the Board’s core committee today. Shahabuddin had gone to Ayodhya and will be back for the meeting tomorrow while Jilani has already declared that he sees no point in agreeing to shift the mosque to any place other than the site where it stood before being demolished.

‘‘The Board had already decided on the issue on June 3, 1990, in which it was stated that a mosque is a property of Allah which cannot be shifted and no deal can be made concerning it. This cannot be even handed over to any individual, agency or government as part of any compromise formula,’’ says Jilani. He admitted that opinion among the executive members of the Board was divided on the issue.

‘‘Any decision regarding the proposal from the Shankaracharya will be taken within the Islamic jurisprudence,’’ said Sajjad Nomani, the spokesman for the Board.

Tomorrow’s meeting will be a closed-door, heavy-security affair at the Nadwa. While it will begin at 9 am, the media will be kept at bay and there will be a press briefing only in the evening. Entry passes will be issued to every individual entering the premises tomorrow.