New Delhi, Oct 5 (IANS) The Congress Tuesday said it respected the judicial process on the disputed Ayodhya site but the verdict by Allahabad High Court on the issue "in no way condones" the "shameful and criminal" demolition of the Babri mosque in 1992.
"The Indian National Congress respects the judicial process with regards to the Ayodhya title suit. However, we must now await the final decision of the Supreme Court till and when the appeal is filed," Congress spokesperson Janardhan Dwivedi said.
He was addressing reporters after a Congress Steering Committee meeting that also discussed the situation in Kashmir besides the political situation in the wake of the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid verdict.
The meeting, held at the party headquarters here, was chaired by party president Sonia Gandhi and attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister P. Chidambaram, among others.
Dwivedi said it was important to note that the Allahabad High Court decision, favouring a temple at the site where the Babri Masid once stood, "in no way condones the shameful and criminal act" of bringing down the mosque in 1992.
"Perpetrators (of the mosque demolition) should be brought to justice," the spokesperson said in his briefing about the meeting.
He said the Congress also "welcomes the efforts by the parties (to the dispute) for peaceful agreement on the issue".
A three-member bench of the Allahabad High Court had Sep 30 ruled that the disputed land be divided equally among three litigants - the Sunni Central Waqf Board, the Ram temple and the Nirmohi Akhara, a Hindu sect.
The court upheld the claim by Hindu litigant Ram Lalla (the Ram temple) that the site was the birthplace of Lord Ram and allotted the site where the Ram idols are placed to the litigant.
Chidambaram briefed the meeting on the two issues, party sources said. The steps to defuse the Kashmir situation were discussed. As per the eight-point peace formula announced by the union government recently, a team of interlocutors is to be appointed soon.