Imams unhappy with HC ruling, Seer hails it but both want calm

NEW DELHI: Muslim clerics today rallied against the Allahabad High Court verdict on Ayodhya title suits saying it should be challneged while Kanchi Seer Jayendra Saraswati welcomed it even as both sides appealed for calm and opposed taking to the streets on the issue.

All India Muslim Personal Law Board said a majority of its members felt that the HC verdict should be challenged in the Supreme Court but a final decision on it would be taken at the Board's executive committee meeting in Delhi on October 16.

AIMPLB member Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firnagimahli told PTI in Lucknow that the Board's 10-member legal committee will study in detail the High Court verdict in Delhi on October 9 and this will be followed by a meeting of the 51-member executive committee of the Board to discuss strategies on challenging the verdict in the Supreme Court.

Maulana Khalid said though Muslims were dissatisfied with a portion of the judgement and it was being studied by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board.

However, the Maulana suggested it would be better if leaders of the two communities sit together for an amicable solution before moving the Supreme Court.

He asked the community members to maintain peace said Ayodhya verdict should not be taken as victory or defeat.

Addressing a gathering during Friday prayers at the Jama Masjid in Delhi, its chief cleric Syed Ahmed Bukhari said "we are unhappy with the court verdict. The decision should be made by the Muslim public in the open. We do not accept the decision made in a closed room", he said.

He said the verdict turned out to be a "settlement" and "partition" suit rather than a title suit.

However, Bukhari urged the community members to maintain peace and not take any step to spoil the peaceful atmosphere.

Clerics at key mosques in Lucknow also asked Muslims to maintain peace and not to heed rumuors as both the parties have the option to appeal in the Supreme Court.

"The Muslim community should take a decision on Ayodhya as a court's verdict. There is no need to create any dispute or to take to the streets to protest," Shahi Imam of Tile Wali Msjid Maulana Syed Shah Fazl-ur-Rehman Waizi said before Friday prayers.

"Muslims should keep patience. Even Allah had said that those who keep patience emerge victorious. We appeal both the parties to keep this issue limited to the court," he said.

Similar appeals were made before namaz at other mosques in Lucknow.

Jayendra Saraswati said the court ruling has paved the way for a negotiated settlement of the issue.