Waqf digs for motive in ASI delay

The Sunni Central Board of Waqfs (SCBW) said here today that ASI was delaying the excavation work at the disputed site in Ayodhya for ‘...

The Sunni Central Board of Waqfs (SCBW) said here today that ASI was delaying the excavation work at the disputed site in Ayodhya for ‘‘political reasons’’. The Board’s counsel Zafaryab Jilani, arguing in the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court today, said the ASI was deliberately delaying the excavations under instructions from its masters for ‘‘political reasons’’.

Jilani said ASI wanted to drag the excavations till December so that its report would not have an adverse impact on the Assembly elections scheduled to be held in four states later this year. He also pointed out that in its report dated June 5, ASI had stated that it would need another 10 days to complete work but ‘‘they appear to have changed their minds after they received instructions from Delhi.’’ Jilani said ASI had reduced the labour workforce from 144 to 49, thereby proving that it wanted to delay the work deliberately.

AIMPLB can’t solve Babri dispute: Muslim body

NEW DELHI: Questioning the locus standi of AIMPLB to enter into a ‘‘negotiation or compromise’’ with Kanchi Shankaracharya over the Babri issue, a Muslim body on Wednesday proposed creation of a ‘‘purely religious’’ board to solve the issue. ‘‘AIMPLB was formed to safeguard and define Muslim personal law only and resolution of religious disputes involving masjids is not within its purview,’’ All India Ittehad-e-Millate Council head M. Tauqeer Raza Khan said. (PTI)

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The ASI was again in the firing line today as the three-member bench sought to know why the excavation work at the site was progressing at snail’s pace. The court, which heard arguments on the ASI’s plea for more time and the objections filed by the SCBW, reserved its ruling in the matter. The ASI said excavation work would have to remain suspended from July to August due to the rains and could be taken up again in October. It added that it would need three months to complete the excavations and prepare the report.

ASI team leader Hari Majhi informed the court that of 84 trenches dug so far, work had been completed in 68. When the court sought to know on whose instructions it had stopped digging, the ASI could not come up with a valid reason. The court said that from now on, excavation would not be stopped at anybody’s behest except on court orders.

The SCBW filed objections against ASI’s application for an extension of deadline and said that ASI’s demand for more time was ‘‘unwarranted and uncalled for’’. The Board expressed fear that some sculptures or artefacts could be planted at the site if excavation work was suspended.

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