DHARAMSALA, India – Muslims urged the Dalai Lama, who has appealed for dialogue to resolve India’s most heated Hindu-Muslim dispute, to turn over a former mosque used by the Tibetan government-in-exile he set up here.
Maulana Ata-ur-Rehman Qasmi, secretary of the All India Muslim Majlis Mashawarat, or Consultation Council, accused the Tibetan spiritual leader of double standards in dealing with disputes over religious sites.
“The Muslims of India will welcome the Dalai Lama’s appeal (to Hindus and Muslims) only after the mosque in Dharamsala is vacated,” Qasmi said on Tuesday.
The Dalai Lama in January called for “mutual trust, mutual faith and mutual respect” to resolve the long-running dispute in Ayodhya where Hindu hardliners want to build a temple over the ruins of a mosque.
The Babri mosque in Ayodhya was torn down in 1992 by Hindu zealots who believe the site was the birthplace of the god Ram. The demolition sparked nationwide communal riots that left about 2,000 people dead.
Ahmed Khan, a Muslim resident of Dharamsala, said the site of the Tibetan Welfare Office was once a mosque which was deserted after the subcontinent was partitioned in 1947 between Hindu-majority India and Muslim Pakistan.
“I tried to reopen the mosque by pleading with the government, local authorities and Muslim leaders but no one paid much attention,” Khan said.
Sonam Choephel from the Tibetan Welfare Office said the government-in-exile paid rent to Muslim authorities for the site under a 1965 deal with the Indian government.
“If it is proved that the site is a mosque, we will respect the sentiments of the Muslims and will try to solve the problem,” said Choephel.
“The records of the Government of India do not show the site as a mosque.” The Dalai Lama fled Tibet for India in 1959 after the Chinese crushed an abortive uprising against Beijing’s rule in the Himalayan territory.
