Gyanvapi Masjid case: Shivling claim 'attempt to create communal disharmony', says AIMPLB
May 16, 2022
New Delhi [India], May 17 : Following the Varanasi court's order to seal the area in the Gynavapi Masjid complex where lawyers claimed that a Shivling was found, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board on Monday termed the claim 'unfair' and an 'attempt to create communal disharmony'.
As the third day of the court-ordered videography survey of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi Mosque complex in Varanasi concluded on Monday, the Hindu petitioner in the case, Sohan Lal Arya claimed that the committee found a Shivling at the complex.
Arya, who accompanied the court commission for the mosque survey, said that they have found a "conclusive evidence".
During a court-mandated videography survey, the counsel representing the Hindu side claimed that the Shivling was found close to the "wazookhana"- a small reservoir used by Muslim devotees to perform ritual ablutions before offering the namaz.
"It was the third day of the survey. A stone was found there. We are claiming it to be Shivling. It is around 3 feet tall. It was at the spot where Muslims performed wuzu. They had claimed it to be a fountain but after cleaning it was found to be Shivling," lawyer Deepak Singh told ANI.
In a statement issued by the AIMPLB on Monday, the board's general secretary Khalid Saifullah Rahmani said, "The Gyanvapi mosque is a mosque and will remain a mosque. The attempt to declare it a temple is nothing more than a conspiracy to create communal disharmony. It is a matter of constitutional rights and is against the law."
He further said, "In 1937, in the case of Deen Mohammad Vs State Secretary, the court had decided on the basis of oral testimony and documents that this entire compound (Gyanvapi mosque complex) belongs to the Muslim Waqf and Muslims have the right to offer namaz in it," he said.
"The court had also decided how much of the disputed land is a mosque and how much is a temple. At the same time, it was decided that wazookhana would remain wazookhana," said Rahmani.
The AIMPLB general secretary said, "The 1991 Places of Worship Act was passed by Parliament, which summarizes that whatever place of worship has been established in 1947 will be kept intact."
Citing an example of the Supreme Court verdict on the Babri Masjid case in 2019, Rahmani said the apex court's judgment clearly stated that all places of worship will now be subject to this law and this law is in accordance with the basic spirit of the Constitution of India.
The AIMPLB general secretary said that the board approached the Allahabad High Court in the matter which is still pending. Similarly, the Gyanvapi Masjid administration also knocked on the doors of the Supreme Court against the decision of the civil court.
"The issue is being heard in the Supreme Court, but ignoring all these points, the civil court first ordered a survey and then accepted its report and ordered the closure of the wazookhana area," said Rahmani.
"Wait for the decision of Allahabad High Court and protect all religious places as per the law of 1991. And if the religious sites are changed with such an imaginary argument, then the whole country will be pushed into turmoil, because many big temples are made by converting Buddhist and Jain shrines and their traces are also visible there. Muslims cannot tolerate this atrocity. The All-India Muslim Personal Law Board will fight this injustice at every level," added Rahmani.
AIMPLB's statement came a day ahead of the Supreme Court's hearing on a plea seeking a stay on the survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque complex. A bench, headed by Justice DY Chandrachud, will hear the plea of the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee tomorrow, May 17. The three days long survey, however, has been completed.
