By IANS,
New Delhi : The government should table in parliament the report of the Liberhan Commission probing the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition, the Babri Masjid Action Committee (BMAC) demanded Tuesday while the Jama Masjid’s chief cleric said taking 17 years to submit the findings amounted to “befooling Muslims”.
The commission, mandated to investigate the demolition of the mosque that led to widespread communal violence, submitted its report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday, 17 years after it was set up.
The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh being presented the Liberhan Commission Report by Justice M.S. Liberhan, in New Delhi on June 30, 2009. The Union Home Minister, Shri P. Chidambaram is also seen.
“I appeal to the government to table the report in the parliament and take concrete action within three months,” said Zafaryab Jilani, convener of the Babri Masjid Action Committee.
He blamed both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the delay in the report.
“Both the BJP and the Congress came to power after the commission was formed but then also it took 17 years to submit the report. I have come to know that the commission had completed its work in 2006, but the Congress delayed it because of the adverse consequences that the party might face in Lok Sabha elections if the report had held P.V. Narasimha Rao also responsible for the demolition of the Masjid,” Jilani told IANS.
Rao was the prime minister of the Congress-led government when the Babri Masjid was demolished.
Head cleric of Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmad Bukhari, said the long time taken by the commission, which got 48 extensions, was a perfect case of justice delayed amounting to justice denied.
“The Liberhan Commission was formed on Dec 16, 1992 but it took 17 years to submit the report; this is befooling Muslims and a perfect example that justice delayed means justice denied,” Bukhari told IANS.
He said only after seeing the contents of the report would it be known “whether the commission has held the real culprits responsible for the demolition or not”.
The panel was to submit its report by March 16, 1993. But it sought repeated extensions to complete its investigation. The last three-month extension was given in March this year.
The commission has recorded the statements of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, then chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Kalyan Singh and now Bharatiya Jan Shakti party chief Uma Bharati.
[Photo from: PIB]