We will appeal, won't surrender: Sunni Waqf Board

Stating "we will not surrender", the Sunni Waqf Board said Thursday that it would appeal in the Supreme Court against Thursday's verdict of the Allahabad High Court on the Ayodhya land dispute.

"We will not surrender, we will appeal for declaration and possession of the entire land", where the Babri mosque stood in Ayodhya, Waqf Board lawyer Zafaryab Jilani told a news conference.

He underlined that the judges had ruled that a third of the disputed land where the Babri mosque stood until it was razed by Hindu mobs in December 1992 should go to the Muslim community.

He said the Sunni Waqf Board, one of the key litigants in the case, would not accept a third of the land but quickly added that it would not go against whatever the Supreme Court decides.

"There is no need for public resentment, no reason for gloom," Jilani said, appealing for peace. "We hope peace and tranquillity will be maintained throughout the country."

Jilani said the judges had accepted that the Babri mosque did exist but that it was built against the tenets of Islam.