Birthplace of Ram in Pakistan, not Ayodhya: Indian Muslim body leader

Real birthplace of Ram is likely to be in Harappa, says All India Muslim Personal Law Board member

HYDERABAD: A member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) -- the highest body of Muslims in India -- has said the Ram Janmabhoomi, the birthplace of Hindu deity Rama, is in Pakistan and not in India's Ayodhya. 

The Ayodhya dispute centers on a plot of land in Uttar Pradesh where Babri Mosque is located. However, the site is also regarded among Hindus to be the birthplace of Rama. The demolition of the Babri mosque by Hindu mobs triggered some of India's worst riots, killing 2,000 people in 1992.

In 2010, a court in Uttar Pradesh said in a judgment that the site of a demolished mosque should be split between Hindus and Muslims. The court ruled Hindus would get two-thirds of the land and be allowed to keep a makeshift temple that was built over the razed mosque's central dome.

"In the book, I have reproduced the published research paper of archaeologist Jassu Ram in which he says that Ayodhya is not the birthplace of Ram. It was in a place previously called Ramderi in Pakistan. After the partition, the name of this place was changed to Rahmanderi," Qureshi was reported as saying, while speaking at the release of his book on the contentious issue called "Ayodhya Ka Tanaazah" (The Ayodhya Dispute), Abdul Raheem Qureshi said

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He added that the 'real' Ram Janmabhoomi was likely to be in Harappa, now in Pakistan.

"There were three excavations conducted at Ayodhya in UP and none threw light on the inhabitants there. But there is no evidence that there was any civilisation in the present Ayodhya, several centuries before Christ," he maintained.

PHOTO: SWARAJYA

Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi remarked that given that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power, chances of justice being delivered with respect to the Babri Masjid demolition seemed slim.

Read: Demolition of Babri mosque planned, not a result of mob frenzy, claims Cobrapost

 

PHOTO: REDIFF

Meanwhile, Owaisi said that he would call a meeting in Delhi with all Muslim parliamentarians to discuss the Babri Masjid issue which has been ongoing since the demolition of the mosque by Hindus in 1992.

He deemed those who were willing to resolve the matter through talks as 'traitors' adding that the MIM would provide financial assistance to AIMPLB to fight the case in supreme court.

"We want the SC to hear the case and arrive at a judgment as quickly as possible," he said.

This article originally appeared on Times of India