UP Waqf Board sets up Trust to build mosque on 5-acre land

Days ahead of the August 5 foundation laying ceremony for a proposed Ram temple in Ayodhya, the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board on Wednesday announced the setting up of a Trust to facilitate the construction of a mosque on a 5-acre land in Dhannipur village of Ayodhya.

The Supreme Court had in November last year, while deciding on the title suit, directed the Centre to allot a 5-acre plot to the UP Sunni Waqf Board in lieu of the disputed plot.

Key Highlights

• Announcing the setting up of the Indo Islamic Cultural Foundation Trust, a statement issued by the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board named nine of the 15 members of the Trust, “with the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board being its founder trustee”.
• According to the statement, the trustees named are Board President Zufar Ahmad Farooqui, Vice President Adnan Farrukh Shah, Secretary Athar Husain, Treasurer Faez Aftab and members Mohammad Junaid Siddiqui, Sheikh Sauduzzaman, Mohammad Rashid and Imran Ahmad. The statement said the Trust will co-opt the remaining six members soon.
• Officials of the Waqf Board said they are yet to get possession of the land where the Agriculture Department, which was the custodian of the land, has been growing crops.
• In February, the Board had decided to accept the 5-acre land allotted by the state government in Ayodhya and said that a Trust would be set up to build a mosque, two centres to showcase Indo-Islamic culture and study, a charitable hospital, and a public library on the plot.

SOURCE:The Indian Express

Download as PDF