Ayodhya Mosque Construction: Muslim Panel Clears Way For Foreign Donations Under FCRA, Dissolves Four Sub-Committees

The Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF), which was formed to oversee the construction of the Ayodhya mosque, has dissolved all its committees to pave the way for raising donations from abroad to expedite its construction. This step would also make the approval under FCRA easier.

Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh): The Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF), formed by the Sunni Central Waqf Board to oversee the construction of the mosque in Dhannipur, has taken a major step to get the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) approval for the foreign donations.

The foundation has dissolved its four sub-committees, including a committee formed for the development of the mosque. The committees that have been dissolved include the Administrative Committee, Finance Committee, Development Committee-Masjid Mohammad Bin Abdullah, and Media and Publicity Committee. This would likely expedite the process of raising funds from abroad for the mosque construction, including getting the FCRA nod.

The decision was taken in a meeting of IICF members on Thursday, the foundation Chief Trustee and UP Sunni Central Waqf Board Chairman Zufar Farooqui told ETV Bharat.

“The meeting concluded that the focus should be on establishing better coordination and speeding up the process of obtaining necessary approvals under foreign contribution,” he said.

Farooqui said this would enable the trust to receive donations from abroad as only Rs 1 crore had been raised in the last four years since the 5-acre plot was allotted for the mosque in Dhannipur village of Ayodhya.

The land was allotted for the construction of a mosque on December 6, 1992, following the dispute over Babri Masjid. According to IICF Secretary Attar Hussain, the trust provided all the necessary details in this regard to the Central government in March.

The Supreme Court's final decision on the Babri Masjid dispute was delivered on November 9, 2019. It ordered that the land be transferred to a trust to build the Ram Mandir. It also directed the government to provide the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board an additional 2.0 hectares (5 acres) of land to build a mosque.

Ram Mandir was almost ready for Ram Janmabhoomi, and Ramlala's Pran Pratishtha was also done on January 22, 2024, while the mosque construction project could not be completed due to a lack of funds.