Religious activists want final solution to Ayodhya title dispute

New Delhi, March 7 (IANS) Various religious leaders and activists have said that the Ayodhya title dispute should be decided at the earliest, either by mediation or by a court decision.

The Supreme Court is likely to pronounce on Friday its order on whether to send the contentious Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case for mediation, even as the main parties advocating the construction of the temple have conveyed their opposition to the court's suggestion.

Maulana Ansar Raza, head of the Garib Nawaz Foundation, an NGO, told IANS that mediation was a good idea but the question remained as to who will head the mediation proceedings.

Raza said many years have passed in deciding the Ayodhya title dispute. Now everyone must think of finding a final solution to this dispute, either by mediation or by court proceedings, he said.

Azeemullah Siddiqi, media in-charge of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, said that meditation will be an effective way to decide the dispute.

"If the court decision favours one party, it will make the other side unhappy. Mediation will help in solving the grievances of both the sides," he said.

Meanwhile, Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) spokesperson Vinod Bansal pitched for an early solution of the dispute and said that opposing sides were trying to delay the issue by filing one application after another. Bansal said he was not against mediation, but that the matter was getting delayed because of such pleas.

The Supreme Court had suggested mediation during the eight weeks that are available as case records are being prepared for the hearing of the batch of cross petitions challenging the Allahabad High Court's 2010 verdict trifurcating the disputed site and giving one part each to the Nirmohi Akhada, Ram Lalla and the Sunni Waqf Board.