Lucknow: Shia youth group offers donation to build Ram temple

Mangalore Today

Lucknow, Oct 2, 2010: Announcing a donation of Rs.15 lakh for starting the construction of the much-debated temple at Ayodhya, a Shia youth organisation here says it opposes with any move to appeal against the Allahabad High Court verdict in the Ayodhya dispute.

"We will make a formal request to the Sunni Central Waqf Board not to go into appeal against the high court verdict. and to bring an end to the long pending dispute once and for all," Shia Hussaini Tigers chief Shamil Shamsi told reporters here Saturday. He also proposes to take a delegation to the All India Muslim Personal Law Board with the same appeal.

Shamsi is a close kin of widely revered Shia cleric and scholar Maulana Kalbe Sadiq, who was also the senior vice president of All India Muslim Personal Law Board. And Kalbe Sadiq’s cousin Maulana Kalbe Jawaad, who also commands a large following of Shia Muslims across the country, is the chief patron of Hussaini Tigers.

Maulana Kalbe Sadiq was not available for comment as he was stated to be indisposed. Shamsi termed as "extremely unfortunate" the verdict’s criticism by Maulana Ahmed Bukhari, the Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid, as well as by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who said the Muslims in the country eere unhappy at the verdict.

Shamsi sought to remind various Muslim leaders that they must stick to their word of abiding by the court verdict. “I feel the board should take an initiative to end the dispute for good,“ he asserted.

Hussaini Tigers that represents the Shia youth in the country feels “the court order has given India an opportunity to prove to the world that this nation can set an example of unique communal harmony by getting Muslims to assist in the construction of the temple and Hindus to facilitate construction of the mosque -- which would also fulfil the terms of the verdict in letter and spirit”, Shamsi said.

A special three-judge bench of the Allahabad High Court’s Lucknow bench Thursday by a majority verdict ruled that the place where the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya stood, before it was razed by Hindu mobs in 1992, was indeed the birthplace of Hindu god Ram.

It also ruled that the entire disputed land in Ayodhya, a riverside temple town in Uttar Pradesh, should be divided among the Sunni central Waqf Board, the Ram temple and the Nirmohi Akhara, a Hindu sect that were among those who fought the court battle.

Courtesy: Deccan Herald