Babri Masjid Site is Our Property: Shia Waqf Board to SC

Claiming that all formalities will be undertaken in a week, Rizvi also said that the board will enter as party to the hearing under way at the Supreme Court (SC) after the September 2010 high court order dividing the disputed land into three parts, with one part going to the Sunni Waqf Board.

After a two-day meeting last month, the Shia board had chose to challenge a 1946 court order that awarded the ownership of the Babri mosque to the Sunni Central Waqf Board, said reports. Reportedly, the board had earlier made a decision to become a party in ongoing litigations in relation to the Ramjanmabhoomi - Babri Masjid dispute.

In a major development, the Shia Central Waqf Board on Tuesday filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court in which it stated that a mosque can be constructed at a place near the birth place of Lord Ram in the Ayodhya district of Uttar Pradesh.

"To bring a quietus to the issue, Masjid can be located in a Muslim-dominated area at a reasonable distance from the most revered place of birth of Maryada Purushottam Sri Ram", it added. The panel should include members appointed by the Prime Minister and the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, it said.

"By saying Muslims the High Court obviously meant Shias since the High Court rejected the claim of the Sunni Board that Babri Masjid was a Sunni Waqf".

The top court had earlier said that if required, a principal mediator can be chosen by the court for settling the Ayodhya issue.

The court will hear the land dispute on August 11.

"It is always known by its creator i.e Wakif or Waqif being Shia or Sunni", the affidavit said.

Filing an affidavit, the Shia Waqf Board said closeness of places of worship "should be avoided in as much as both denominations using loudspeakers tend to disturb religious performance of each other, often leading to conflicts and acrimony in the two factions".

The dispute over the ownership of the 2.7 acres of Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land has raged on for decades.