On Wednesday, Syed Wasim Rizvi the current chairman of the Shia Central Waqf Board decided to drop a bombshell of sorts by alleging a Pakistani involvement in the never ending Ram Mandir – Babri Masjid dispute in Ayodhya.
As per Rizvi, Pakistan has been directly involved in this whole dispute which is one of the reasons why the issue hasn’t been resolved. As per Rizvi, when the Babri Masjid was demolished, Pakistan saw far bigger demonstrations which included attacks on temples.
As per a 1992 New York Times report, Muslims had attacked more than 30 Hindu Temples in Pakistan in response to the Babri Masjid demolition, which included setting 6 temples ablaze in Lahore. The protesters had even chanted slogans like Crush India and Death to Hinduism. The Pakistani government even closed schools and offices for a day in order to protest this demolition.
Rizvi claims, this and the 2005 terror attack on the makeshift Ram Temple in Ayodhya by 6 heavily armed terrorists, proved Pakistani involvement in the matter. In this particular attack, terrorists disguised as devotees caused injuries to 4 CRPF personnel and 2 civilians.
Recently the Shia Wakf board has been successful in inserting itself into the Ram Mandir debate.
The board had called for the construction of a Ram temple on the Ram Janmabhoomi and had proposed the setting up of a mosque in a Muslim dominated area, at a reasonable distance from Lord Ram’s birth place.
It has since then modified its request by proposing an out of court settlement where a Ram Mandir is built in Ayodhya and the Masjid in-turn is built in Lucknow, for which the state government can allot 1 acre of land in the city’s Husainabad area, away from the religious territory of the Hindus (sic).
The Shia Wakf board has also staked claim over the disputed land in Ayodhya which is currently under Sunni control. The board has also claimed that the Babri Masjid was built on the disputed piece of land by destroying a temple which stood there — a fact that is denied by Sunni board and some leftist historians.
