Will announce details of trust to build mosque in Ayodhya after Holi: Zufar Farooqui

Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board on Thursday said it would announce sometime after Holi the details of the planned trust for the construction of a mosque in Ayodhya.

Waqf Board chairman Zufar Farooqui told this to reporters after a meeting of the board in which, he said, the issue of the formation of the proposed trust was not discussed today.

"The issue of the proposed trust for the construction of a mosque as well as an Indo-Islamic research centre, a hospital and a library on the five-acre plot allotted following the Supreme Court's Ayodhya verdict was not on the agenda of the meeting today," said Farooqui.

He said the meeting discussed other issues related to the Waqf and action taken on them.

"Details about the trust and its members will be announced through a press conference after Holi," he said.

Holi falls next week on Tuesday, March 10.

The Waqf Board, after its last meeting on February 24, in which it had decided to accept the five-acre land given by the state government for building a mosque in Ayodhya, had also said it would soon set up a trust for the construction of the mosque.

The Board had also decided to build an Indo-Islamic research centre, a public library, a charitable hospital and other useful facilities on the land besides the mosque.

In a historic verdict in November on the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute, the Supreme Court had ruled in favour of the construction of a temple. It had also ruled that an alternative five-acre plot must be found for building a mosque within Ayodhya.

In 1992, the 16th century Babri mosque that stood on the disputed site in Ayodhya was demolished by karsevaks, claiming that originally there was a Ram temple at the spot.

Soon after last year's verdict on the Ayodhya land dispute, there were suggestions that the Sunni board should not accept the plot.

There were also suggestions that instead of a mosque to replace the demolished Babri Masjid, the Muslim community should build a public facility like a hospital there.

Based on the SC verdict, the Centre had asked the Uttar Pradesh government to allot five acres of land to the Sunni Waqf Board. The UP Cabinet made the allotment after its meeting of February 5.

The allotment letter is for a plot at Dhannipur village in Ayodhya's Sohawal area, on the Ayodhya-Lucknow highway, about 20 km from the district headquarters.