Jamiat panel to study verdict

Hardliners in the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind appeared to have prevailed over moderates over the Ayodhya verdict

Hardliners in the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind the biggest organisation of Sunni clerics in India appeared to have prevailed over moderates over the Ayodhya verdict as the outfit on Wednesday spelt out its stand that Babri Masjid belonged to Muslims and the community was duty bound to struggle for getting possession through peaceful and judicial process.

The decision taken by its national executive,however,also betrayed differences within. The outfit did not specify whether the community should approach the Supreme Court merely saying that there is room for challenging the verdict in the Supreme Court and decided to set up a committee saying many aspects of the judgment require a deep study.

An influential section in the Jamiat led by one of its most prominent leaders,Maulana Mahmood Madani,had made known his views that Muslims should accept the verdict. The hardline elements oppose the judgment and favour approaching the Supreme Court. Madani along with newly elected Jamiat president Maulana Qari Mohammad Usman,senior leaders Niaz Ahmad Farooqui,Maulana Moiezuddin and Shakeel Ahmad Syed would be members of the committee.

The expert committee has been authorised to decide the future course of action in consultation with senior lawyers,Farooqui said. Despite setting up of the committee,the outfit clearly stated that it deplores the verdict of the Allahabad High Court as it did not fulfil the requirements of justice and was very much against expectations.

The resolution adopted by the executive stated: Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind unequivocally declares that once a mosque is built according to the principle of Islamic sharia it remains a mosque forever. No forceful or coercive occupation can change the status of a mosque. Therefore Muslims can never give up their claim to any part of the mosque which has been used as a mosque uninterruptedly for the last four hundred years.

Muslims are duty bound to struggle for getting possession of the Babri mosque through peaceful and judicial process, it added. It noted that the Allahabad High Courts judgement was not the final verdict.