Clarion India
JAIPUR – Muslim groups in Rajasthan’s capital on Monday urged the Supreme Court to stop moves to tamper with the Ajmer Sharif Dargah and other religious places, and maintain the status quo of mosques by not allowing their survey, reported PTI.
They also sought that lower courts be instructed to fully comply with the Places of Worship Act, 1991, and not entertain petitions seeking surveys of religious places.
“An attempt is being made to end the status quo of mosques in the name of survey by filing false court cases claiming temples existed at mosque sites,” Mohammad Nazimuddin, convenor of the joint committee Tahaffuz-e-Auqaf, said in a statement.
The Supreme Court should stop tampering with the Ajmer Dargah and other religious sites where no survey should be allowed, he added.
Advocate and state president of the Association for Protection of Civil Rights, Syed Saadat Ali, said a lower court accepting a petition claiming a Shiva temple existed at the site where the Ajmer Sharif Dargah of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Rahmatullah Alaih stands today is not only worrisome, but also against the Constitution.
AIMIM’s Rajasthan unit chief, Jameel Khan, said, “The Ajmer Dargah is a symbol of religious unity, and under the Places of Worship Act, 1991, the nature of a religious place cannot be changed. Such petitions are being filed to vitiate the atmosphere.”
He also appealed to the top court to maintain the goodwill of the country by dismissing such petitions.
