‘Babri Masjid cannot be relocated’

Maulana Jawad says those suggesting giving up of Babri Masjid land for temple have only right to donate their own land

A senior Shia cleric of Majlis-e-Ulema-e-Hind (MUH) said only a mosque can be constructed on land earmarked for a mosque, while referring to the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi dispute, The Times of India reported on Friday.

"Those suggesting giving up of the Babri Masjid land for the temple have only the right to donate their own land and not stake claim on a land earmarked for a mosque,” said Maulana Kalbe Jawad who is also a general secretary of MUH.



Maulana Kalbe Jawad. PHOTO COURTESY: THE TIMES OF INDIA

He added: “What is not your own, does not give you the right to make decisions for it. These people favouring the shift should instead give up their house and property for it."



The cleric went on to say that he was speaking on behalf the national level body of clerics, Majlis-e-Ulama-e-Hind and of the Shia community, who will both honour and accept the decision of the Supreme Court on the dispute.

The community, he said, was on the side of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board in maintaining that a mosque can neither be relocated nor its land be given to somebody else.

Maulana Jawad was referring to the recent UP Shia Central Waqf Board's proposal of relocating the Babri Masjid and of senior Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Sadiq's personal view on the subject stating giving up of Babri Masjid land for the temple.



He had earlier discredited the affidavit filed by UP Shia Central Waqf Board that favoured shifting of the Babri Masjid to a different location, as a ploy to create rift between Shias and Sunnis.

He had also said earlier that the board's said affidavit had no 'legal or religious sanction' and does not hold true for the entire Shia population.