Shia group favours negotiated settlement of Ayodhya issue

Muzaffarnagar/Lucknow : The All India Shia Personal Law Board on Thursday said it favoured a negotiated settlement of the Ayodhya dispute, though it will accept any verdict by the Supreme Court.

The group also urged Muslims to accept the court verdict in the case, whenever it is pronounced.

?The Muslims would respect the verdict as such but initiating negotiations through talks and mediation is a right direction,? Board president Maulana Mirza Mohammad Athar was quoted as stating in media reports.

He added that the Supreme Court judgement would be the last way out to sort out the dispute if negotiations cannot come about.

Meanwhile, representatives of Shia sect of Muslims have dismissed Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) chief Ashok Singhal?s proposal for talks on the Ayodhya dispute.

Singhal had on Wednesday offered to hold talks with the Shia sect representatives as the Allahabad High Court has rejected the Sunni group?s claims over the Ayodhya site.

?Mughal emperor Babar’s army commander Mir Baqi, who built the Babri Masjid was a Shia, therefore we have decided to hold talks with representatives of the community,? the VHP leader said in a statement.

However, Shia representatives have rejected the offer and asked Singhal not to try and play divisive tactics between Shias and Sunnis.

The Shia sect leaders alleged that Singhal was trying to create trouble between the two Muslim sects after it failed to incite confrontation between Hindus and Muslims.

Treading cautiously on the communal minefield, a three-member Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on September 30 passed a verdict upholding the Hindu claim that the disputed site is the birthplace of Lord Rama but ruled that the land would be divided into three parts with one third going to the Muslims along with one third for the Hindus.

Rejecting the Sunni Waqf Board and Nirmohi Akhara?s title suit, the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court said Hindu deity Lord Ram was born indeed on the disputed Ayodhya site, bringing a temporary closure on the 60-year-old dispute.

The Sunni Waqf Board on October 5 announced of challenging the verdict in the Supreme Court.