Indian Muslims reject Babri proposals
Prospects of an early solution to India’s simmering dispute over a contentious religious site receded on Sunday with the country’s main Muslim body rejecting proposals put forward by a Hindu religious leader.
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) said the proposals set forth by Swami Jayendra Saraswati to defuse the row over the Babri mosque issue in the northern Indian city of Ayodhya was not reasonable enough.
“The board puts on record that it looks upon the proposals as thinly veiled threats to the Muslims to surrender and submit themselves unconditionally to all the unreasonable demands made by the Hindu outfits,” the AIMPLB spokesman Y.H.Muchhala said.
Hindu fanatics, who had pulled down the 16th century mosque in 1992 triggering countrywide communal riots that left 2,000 people dead, have since been pressing for a Hindu temple to be built at the site.
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| The Babri dispute has driven a wedge between Hindus & Muslims |
The Hindu leader had suggested to the Muslims last month that they agree to the construction of a Hindu temple adjoining to the disputed site while negotiations continue for a final amicable settlement.
But the proposal has found no favor with the AIMPLB.
“The board therefore resolves that just as such proposals are not reasonable they are totally inconsistent with honour, dignity and self-respect of Indian Muslims and the same therefore cannot be accepted,” its spokesman said after the AIMPLB-executive met during the day in the northern town of Lucknow.
Hindu fanatical groups insist the mosque had been built by demolishing a temple that stood at the birth place of king Ram, a deity.
The festering dispute is also being arbitrated in the courts, which has ordered an archaeological dig to check the Hindu claim.