Sunni Wakf Board to challenge Ayodhya holy site ruling
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A Muslim group in the country, has on Tuesday, filed a petition with the Supreme Court challenging a ruling that divided a bitterly-contested religious site between Hindus and Muslims.
A lower court in September ordered that the site in the northern pilgrimage town of Ayodhya — which has been a flashpoint for deadly inter-religion violence — would be split, with one third going to Muslims and the rest to Hindus.
"We feel the ruling was based on a number of incorrect assumption and the board considers it the right and obligation of Indian Muslims to challenge the judgment," Zafaryab Jeelani, a lawyer for the Sunni Wakf Board, told AFP.
The petition said the Muslims would not surrender their claim over the whole site in Ayodhya, in Uttar Pradesh.
In 1992, a 16th-century mosque on the site was razed by Hindu zealots, sparking riots that killed more than 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, in some of the worst sectarian violence since the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947.
Under the September ruling, Hindus would control the spot where they believe god Ram was born and where the central dome of the razed mosque stood until 1992.
Hindu groups have also appealed to the Supreme Court to claim the entire site. Since the destruction of the mosque 18 years ago, the area has been cordoned off with barbed wire and steel fencing and guarded by troops.
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