All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), an apex body of the Muslims in the country, on Sunday said that the Supreme Court verdict in the Ayodhya case would be challenged.
Board member and Sunni Central Waqf Board (SCWB) counsel Zafaryab Jilani told reporters here after a meeting of the AIMPLB working committee that the Muslims could not ''accept'' any other land in lieu of the Babri Masjid as under the 'Shariat' (Islamic Law) the Mosque land could neither be transferred nor exchanged.
''There are several apparent errors in the verdict....it is beyond comprehension...it also has many contradictions....therefore we have decided to approach the court to review its judgement,'' he said.
He said that of the 51 members of the working committee, around 35-40 were present. ''The decision to go for the review was taken unanimously,'' he replied, when asked if there were differences on the issue.
Jilani referred to the SC verdict and wondered how could the idols of Lord Rama and others, which were kept under the dome forcefully on the night of December 22/23, 1949, be considered ''deity''.
''We feel that justice has not been done to us...we had not approached the court for five acre land for the mosque at some other place...we want the land on which stood the Babri Masjid,'' he said.
Jilani rejected the charge by some Muslim plaintiffs that the Board was ''indulging'' in politics. ''AIMPLB is an apolitical orgainsation...we do not indulge in politics,'' he added.
He said that three of the six Muslim plaintiffs had given their nod to file the review petition. On being pointed out that the Sunni Board had decided not to go for the review, Jilani said that there were other plaintiffs in the case also.
One of the Muslim plaintiffs, Iqbal Ansari, ''boycotted'' the meeting saying that he did not want to be part of deliberations to explore possibility of a review petition in the SC.
Jilani alleged that the district administration in Ayodhya was ''exerting pressure'' on the Muslim plaintiffs not to ''criticise'' the apex court verdict.
Jamiat-ul-Ulema Hind president Maulana Arshad Madani, who was also a member of the AIMPLB working committee and a plaintiff in the case, also said that he would file a review petition.
Sunni Waqf Board chairman Zafar Ahmed Faruqui had already made it clear that the Board would not challenge the SC verdict.
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