Oldest litigant, saints talk compromise formula

Parties say settlement only a few steps away from final stage

“A compromise formula has been prepared but it has not yet been given a final shape....it is being currently discussed at various levels,” sources close to Mahant Gyan Das said on Thursday.

Gyan Das, who held a closed door meeting with Ansari on Wednesday evening at the latter’s residence in Ayodhya, said the talks initiated to arrive at a negotiated settlement of the issue were “progressing well”.

The mahant said he would shortly be meeting Bhaskar Das, chief of Nirmohi Akhara, one of the main Hindu plaintifs in the temple-mosque titile suits, and the Ram Janmbhumi Trust Chairperson Mahant Nritya Gopal Das to discuss the formula.

He said there was a broad consensus that both temple and mosque should be built. Gyan Das admitted that a formula had been prepared but refused to divulge its details saying it was still in a preliminary stage.

Ansari also exuded confidence that a compromise formula, accepted to all, would soon be prepared. “The opponents of a compromise are very few...the majority in Ayodhya wants an amicable solution,” he added.

Camping in Ayodhya

According to sources, Gyan Das also had a telephonic talk with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) international President Ashok Singhal, who has been camping in Ayodhya for the past couple of days.

Sources said a proposal given by some VHP saints for building the mosque at Sahanwa village, about four kilometres from Ayodhya, had been rejected by him and Ansari.
Some Muslim religious leaders from Faizabad and Ayodhya have dubbed the attempts to find an amicable solution to the issue as a ‘futile exercise’. “The mosque belongs to all...it is not the property of an individual,” the religious leaders said on Wednesday evening at a meeting in Faizabad.

The clerics said the High Court judgement was based on ‘faith’ and ‘belief’ and not on hard evidence and facts and therefore it must be challenged in the apex court.