All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi said that he was against all encounters as they weaken the rule of law.
Mr Owaisi was addressing the media at the party headquarters in Darussalaam where he was taking questions on the Supreme Court hearings on the Gyanvaapi Masjid case and the encounter of accused in the Disha rape and murder case.
“I am against all encounters. Whether it be the encounter of Aziz and Azam during Chandra Babu Naidu’s government, or Sohrabuddin’s encounter, or Nayeem’s encounter, or the Shamshabad encounter because encounters weaken the rule of law. Government should be run by rule of law, not rule of the gun,” he said.
Speaking about the Gyanvaapi mosque case hearing in the Supreme Court, Mr Owaisi said the Supreme Court had allowed religious observances of Muslims - that of performing wazu (ablution) - at the Gyanvapi mosque, but expressed his disappointment and stated that he had hoped that the apex court would “nip the issue in the bud because every day we are seeing newer issues are coming up.”
The Hyderabad parliamentarian said that the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, was made to prevent future controversies. He said that the apex court in the Babri Masjid case stated that this act is a basic structure of the Indian Constitution. “We would like all courts to implement this,” he said.
