National: On Sanjauli mosque demolition, Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Monday said that the people of the mosque themselves said that if something is illegal will be demolished. he added that the brothers from the Muslim community, the head of the mosque, the Imam, want it to be demolished because it is illegal.

"The people of the mosque themselves said that if something is illegal we will demolish it, so our brothers from the Muslim community, the head of the mosque, the Imam, they themselves want it (to be demolished) because it is illegal," he said. 

Earlier in the day, the Sanjauli Mosque case committee Chairman Lucky Mohammad Latif Negi said that the demolition work of the illegal portion of the mosque would start from the roof of the mosque after the Himachal Waqf Board granted permission for the partial demolition of the Sanjauli Mosque following a court order from the Municipal Corporation Shimla. 

Negi said that the demolition would take least five months because it is winter time and there is a lack of funding to demolish the mosque. He said that people give money to build a mosque but no one is coming forward to demolish it. 

Further, he said that the mosque committee had written a letter to the Board of Trustees in which permission was sought to start the work of demolishing the mosque because he is also its owner. He said that Kapoor has given permission to demolish it but at the same time has refused to give funding, so it will take us more time to demolish it. 

As per the court's instructions, two months' time has been given, however, he has asked for more time and he is saying that he will take an extension in this matter from the court.

At the same time, Negi said that he has also informed the Superintendent of Police of Shimla and the Municipal Corporation Commissioner about this matter through telephone.

After the protests that took place about two months ago by Hindu organizations regarding the demolition and legalization of the mosque, the Municipal Corporation Court ordered on October 5 that the mosque be demolished, in which the order was given to demolish the three unauthorized floors of the mosque, although the mosque committee itself had requested to demolish two floors of this illegal construction so that brotherhood remains in the society and communal harmony is not destroyed in any way.