All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday expressed his displeasure over inclusion of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in the three member mediation panel constituted by the Supreme Court to settle the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid Ayodhya title dispute case.
Owaisi, however, welcomed the verdict and hoped he the spiritual guru remains neutral in the case.
“I welcome Supreme Court’s decision. I would have been happier if a more impartial moderator was appointed (referring to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar). On November 4 he threatened violence, he asked Muslims to give up the case as a goodwill gesture or else India would become Syria,” Owaisi said.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was on Friday appointed by the apex court as a mediator of the three-member panel, which also includes senior advocate Sriram Panchu. It will be headed by former apex court judge F M I Kallifulla.
Justice FM Kallifulla, a retired Supreme Court judge, will head the panel of mediators, which includes senior advocate Shri Ram Panchu.
Also read: Religious activists want final solution to Ayodhya title dispute
The mediation panel will begin work in a week.
It will submit an interim report four weeks later. Then, it will have four more weeks to mediate and can ask for an extension if it needs one.
Proceedings will be strictly confidential and closed to the media.
The Supreme Court bench headed by the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Wednesday had said that it would take a decision on the mediation in order to speed up the hearing in the Ayodhya title suit.
