Ayodhya: Sunni Waqf Board’s offer to withdraw does not have consensus

New Delhi, Oct 17: The Sunni Waqf Board may drop its claim in the Ayodhya title suit, provided certain conditions are met.

While an official confirmation in this regard is awaited, sources tell OneIndia that the offer to quit was made through the mediation panel that was set up by the Supreme Court. The offer made before the panel is conditional the source said while also adding that its chairman, Z A Faruqi had also cited lack of support from all members.

The conditions included reverting to the pre-15 August 1947 status on all religious places under dispute. It also sought withdrawal of claims by Hindus on the Mosques adjoining the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi and Srikrishna Janmabhoomi at Mathura.

Further, it sought permission to renovate the Mosques in Ayodhya and also a written guarantee that an incident such as the one that took place on December 6, 1992 (demolition of the Babri Masjid) would not be repeated.

However, there was no consensus and the other Muslim plaintiffs rejected the offer made by the Board while terming the same as irrelevant. Haji Mehboob, one of the plaintiffs said in Ayodhya, " any offer at this point is meaningless. I am not withdrawing and I have no idea under what circumstances the Board made this offer. It does not make any difference."