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Hindu, Muslim leaders agree to talks on Ayodhya

After prolonged legal battle and demolition of the disputed structure in Ayodhya in 1992, Hindu and Muslim leaders have agreed to sit across the table for the first time on January 13 in Lucknow in a bid to solve the issue.

Former Bajrang Dal chairman and MP Vinay Katiyar and Mohd Hashim Ansari, who filed a court case in this regard, told PTI that if two parties could engage in a dialogue for solving the Kashmir issue, Hindus and Muslims could also have talks to settle the Ayodhya dispute.

A decision on delegates from the two sides will be taken later. It was, however, expected that office bearers of both the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Babri Masjid Action Committee will participate.

Welcoming the proposal for talks, VHP's senior vice-president Acharya Giriraj Kishore said he had been invited for the meeting. If the talks were successful, it would be in the best interest of both parties and begin a new chapter of amity between Hindus and Muslims.

Ansari said over phone from Faizabad that office bearers of BMAC would participate in the talks and their names would be decided at a committee-meeting in Lucknow on January 7.

He said solution of this issue was essential and if talks were held it would pave the way for settling the dispute.

Asked what would happen if BMAC disagreed to the proposal for talks, he said "I have fixed the date for talks and if required I will talk alone because it is an issue concerning Ayodhya".

Informed sources said both the sides were in touch with each other for some time and pointed out that VHP had indicated that a dialogue was possible to settle the issue.

Kishore had recently said it would be difficult to solve the issue in court because the case had been going on for 39 years and only 14 witnesses had been examined so far.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee recently said the Ayodhya issue could be solved only in two ways - either through a court verdict or through a dialogue between the concerned parties.

Katiyar declined to give any further information about the talks but said it was a "positive step" and could lead to "positive results".

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