Muslim parties target mediators for info ‘leak’

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 18

Muslim parties in the Ayodhya land dispute case today flayed the Supreme Court-appointed mediation panel for “leaking” details of its proceedings to the media.

“The leak to the press may have been inspired by either the mediation committee directly or those who participated in the proceedings, or participants. It needs emphasis that such a leak was in total violation of the orders of the Supreme Court that had directed that such proceedings should remain confidential,” advocates for the Muslim parties said in a statement.

In the statement released to the media, they also expressed shock over reports that the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Waqf Board was withdrawing from the case and that it was ready to relinquish its rights over the disputed land at Ayodhya.

“The recent attempts before the mediation committee were not representative,” read the statement signed by advocate Eijaz Maqbool, who represented key Muslim litigant M Siddiq in the case and four other advocates—Shakil Ahmed Syed, MR Shamshad, Irshad Ahmad and Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi. “It is difficult to accept that any mediation could have been done under the circumstances, especially when the main Hindu parties had openly stated that they were not open to any settlement,” they said.

The three-member mediation panel headed by Justice FMI Kalifulla submitted its report to the top court on October 16, the day a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi reserved its verdict in the case.

The Uttar Pradesh Sunni Wakf Board is said to have agreed to give up its claim on the disputed site, if Muslims’ interests are protected.

Besides the waqf board, some Hindu organisations such as Nirvani Akhada and Ram Janmabhoomi Punruddhar Samiti were said to be in favour of a negotiated settlement. Sunni Wakf Board counsel Syed Shahid Rizvi had on Thursday confirmed that it has submitted a proposal for amicable settlement of the vexed problem that has defied any solution for several decades.