Indian Muslim leaders have rejected a proposal by a top Hindu cleric meant to ease a dispute over the holy town of Ayodhya and end communal violence in which more than 700 people have died.
"We have not accepted it in the present form. It lacks many things, Mr SQR Ilyas, spokesman of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, said after a meeting in New Delhi.
The Shankaracharya of Kanchi, one of Hinduism's top religious leaders, had suggested that hardline Hindus be given land adjacent to a site in the northern town of Ayodhya where a mosque was razed in 1992, triggering nationwide riots.
The hardline Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) had said it wanted to start work next Friday on a temple on the site, which it says is the birthplace of the Hindu god-king Ram.
More than 700 people have died in communal violence that started on February 27th when 58 Hindu devotees and their families were killed on a train returning from Ayodhya, triggering brutal reprisals against Muslims across the western state of Gujarat.