Build 'Masjid-e-Aman' in Lucknow's Hussainabad: Shia Board

Lucknow: The Shia Waqf Board said on Monday that it has submitted a draft proposal in the Supreme Court that seeks an amicable resolution of the vexed Ayodhya issue and envisages the construction of a 'Masjid-e-Aman' in Lucknow's Hussainabad area.

"The draft for resolving the Ayodhya issue, prepared by the Shia Waqf Board, has been submitted in the Supreme Court on November 18," board chairman Wasim Rizvi told reporters here.

Claiming that the formula for resolving the matter proposed by the Shia Waqf Board was the best, Rizvi said the board which is the 'mutawalli' (caretaker) of the Babri Mosque had suggested giving up its right over the land in Ayodhya.

"The Board is of the view that instead of Ayodhya, a 'Masjid-e-Aman' be constructed in Lucknow's Hussainabad area and it has requested the government to provide one acre land for it," he said.

Referring to the claims of the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board over the disputed site, Rizvi said the one-third land given by the Lucknow bench of the the Allahabad High Court through its September 2010 judgement was to Muslims and not to the Sunni Waqf Board.

Rizvi, who addressed the press conference along with Mahant Narendra Giri, chairman of the All India Akhara Parishad, alleged that the Shia Board's views on the matter were never put forward in a forceful manner because the lawyers deployed for the purpose were "fake".

"On perusal of the files of the board, we have found that the lawyers pursuing the matter had not even been given the "vakalatnama" by the board, Rizvi said and demanded that the government order an inquiry into it.

"The Shia Waqf Board is being accused of becoming active on the Ayodhya dispute lately but the reality is that it had no knowledge that lawyers have been deployed in the court from its side...The government needs to inquire as to who had deployed counsels on behalf of the board who did not plead the case properly," Rizvi said.

Giri said that a Ram temple in Ayodhya will be constructed and said that an amicable settlement should be reached on the issue by talking to all the parties concerned.