In a major decision, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has come out in support of Sunni Waqf Board and the two organisations have jointly decided to appeal against the Allahabad High Court verdict in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi title suit.
The decision was taken at a meeting in Lucknow on Saturday, where all the members of AIMPLB had gathered to discuss the verdict of the 60-year-old court case.
“The Sunni Waqf Board is going to the Supreme Court and we have supported the decision as we have done in the past. There is a 90-day period to appeal in the higher court. We have not decided on a specific date for now. But, we are going to the court,” said Kamal Farooqui, member of AIMPLB.
Interestingly, AIMPLB members have already said the judgment of the Allahabad High Court is not acceptable to them, as the court has given the verdict on the basis of faith and concrete evidence presented by the legal team. The 51-member committee had a detailed discussion on the high court verdict.
Within a few days of the high court verdict, the Sunni Waqf Board had decided it would not give up its claim on the disputed shrine. Both AIMPLB and the Sunni Waqf Board have maintained that talks between litigants for an out-of-court settlement may not yield results because there is no concrete proposal to start a dialogue.
The Sunni Central Waqf Board had said talks without a detailed road map would be a futile exercise. It has also maintained that any amicable solution on the title of the disputed shrine must be within the framework of Shariat, or the Islamic law.
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“We will not surrender our claim on the disputed shrine. This issue can only be sorted out when claim of Muslims is upheld,” Zafaryab Jilani, the board’s counsel had earlier said.
According to the decision of the Allahabad High Court, the Sunni Waqf Board’s share on the disputed shrine would not be less than a third of the total area of 2.77 acres, while the remaining land would be given to Hindu litigants.