Ayodhya case: Ahead of 17 October deadline, Muslim group suggests gifting disputed land to Hindu side as 'gesture of goodwill'

With days left for the 17 October deadline for hearing arguments and completing submissions in the decades-old Ayodhya land dispute case, a group of Muslim intellectuals, who call themselves, ‘Indian Muslims for Peace’, has called for an out of court settlement to the case. They have suggested the option of gifting the disputed land at Ayodhya to Hindus even if the Muslim side were to win the legal title suit in the top court as a gesture of goodwill “for attaining communal harmony and lasting peace in the country.” [caption id=“attachment_7061311” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of the Supreme Court of India. Reuters[/caption] This group includes eminent Muslim academia, bureaucrats, doctors, engineers, lawyers, journalists, and businessman etc including notable persons like the former Aligarh Muslim University Vice-Chancellor and ex-deputy Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Zameer Uddin Shah. On Thursday, when asked if the top court delivers a verdict in favour of Muslims, Shah said, “Hindus have been worshipping there (Ram Janmabhoomi) for a long time. Even if the court rules in favour of Muslims then also they will not be able to construct mosque there.” In a press release by the organisation, the group has called for an out of court settlement so that “both Hindus and Muslims remain happy and no party feels aggrieved”. They sided with the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board’s proposal for a mediation committee to be set up by the Supreme Court for negotiating a settlement over the disputed land. The group apart from calling it as a “gesture of goodwill” also said that they suggested gifting the land to the Hindu side to safeguard and protect “the interest and safety of other places of worship of Muslims in the country.” According to reports by NDTV, one of the most prominent Muslim stakeholders in the Ayodhya case had agreed to let go of the disputed site, but due time constrain, the others could not be taken on board in a court-appointed mediation effort that eventually failed. The report also said that that the Sunni Central Waqf Board, which is the main Muslim litigant in the case had told the court-appointed three-member mediation panel that they were ready to withdraw their claim on the 2.77 acres of the disputed land. With inputs from agencies