Ayodhya, Nov 02: Continuing with its efforts to thrash out a lasting solution to the vexed Ayodhya issue, the newly formed Ayodhya Jama Masjid trust has begun talks with the VHP-backed Ram Janambhoomi Nyas even as the Sangh Parivar outfit has insisted that the Sunni Central Waqf Board withdraw the case pending before the court. AJMT managing trustee S A A Rizvi said that all the people consulted over the issue so far were keen to resolve it and efforts were on to initiate interaction between different Hindu and Muslim organisations for finding a peaceful negotiated settlement.

Rizvi, who claimed to be in regular touch with the PMO and Union Minister of State for Home and Centre's pointsman for Ayodhya Swami Chinmayand, said he has worked out a "simple formula" for resolving the tangle which could be implemented only by keeping "vested interests of both communities at bay."

According to him, the different Muslim petitioners connected with the Ayodhya case could be made to forego their claim over the disputed area if the government provided them with adequate land for constructing a 'Jama Masjid' elsewhere in the temple town. However, when contacted, Nyas president Mahant Nritya Gopal Das said he has asked Rizvi to take into confidence Sunni Central Waqf Board, the main party in the case, before starting a dialogue.

VHP media incharge Sharad Sharma also said the whole exercise would be "fruitless" unless the board withdraws the case from the court.

Bureau Report