AIMPLB to seek review of Supreme Court’s Ayodhya verdict

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) said on Sunday that it will file a review petition in the Supreme Court over Ayodhya verdict.

“The top court in its judgment said that the mosque was not built by demolishing a temple, yet the mosque was not given to us. So we will file a review petition and ask for what is rightfully ours,” said Arshad Madani, president of the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, one of the key players in the Ayodhya mediation process.

“We will file a review petition. We cannot accept any other piece of ordinary land according to Sharia law, we want the same Babri Masjid land,” Zafaryab Jilani of All India Muslim Personal Law Board said.

Meanwhile, Iqbal Ansari, the main litigant in the Ayodhya land dispute case, on Sunday distanced himself from the decision of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) to file a petition seeking review of the Supreme Court verdict. “There is no use of going for the review as the outcome will remain the same…the move will also vitiate the harmonious atmosphere,” he told PTI.

The decision comes a week after the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board welcomed the Supreme Court verdict regarding the Ayodhya land dispute case and made it clear that it will not go for any review or file any curative petition against the same.

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A day earlier AIMPLB held a brainstorming session with different Muslim parties over the verdict. The parties met All India Muslim Personal Law Board general secretary Maulana Wali Rahmani and apprised him of the Ayodhya issue, Zafaryab Jilani, who is secretary of the board, said. They said that the Supreme Court decision is “not understandable” and so there is a need to go for a review, Jilani said.

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In a unanimous verdict last week, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya and directed the Centre to allot a five-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a mosque.

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Soon after the verdict, the AIMPLB had expressing dissatisfaction with it and said the board was contemplating seeking a review of the judgment. He also said the Muslim parties were of the view that the five-acre land for a mosque in Ayodhya as proposed by the Supreme Court should not be taken.