Posted on 02/27/2002 2:28:51 AM PST by Madiuq
AHMADABAD, India (AP) - A mob set fire to a train carrying Hindu activists as it returned from a religious ceremony Wednesday, killing at least 30 people, officials said.
One witness said the attackers numbered more than 2,000. Ravi said she expected the death toll to rise. "We don't have the final figure yet, but we have counted at 30," she said. Officials reported at least 38 injuries. A senior state official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Muslims had attacked the train at the station just as it was leaving Godhra, 95 miles southeast of Ahmadabad, the commercial capital of Gujarat. The town of Godhra has a 30 percent Muslim population and a history of frequent clashes between Hindus and Muslims. The train was carrying activists belonging to a Hindu nationalist organization trying to build a temple on the site of a disputed mosque in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The World Hindu Council activists were returning to Gujarat after participating in religious ceremonies at Ayodhya, where Hindu nationalists plan to build a temple at the site of a 16th century Muslim mosque. When the mosque was torn down by Hindus in 1992, it sparked nationwide riots between Hindus and Muslim and 2,000 people were killed. More than 20,000 people have gathered in Ayodhya, 345 miles east of New Delhi, since the Council announced it would begin constructing the temple by March 15, ignoring court orders banning construction at the site. Officials in Godhra said the mob, enraged by slogans shouting by the Hindu nationalists, attacked the train just after it left Godhra railway station in the morning. Initially they pelted stones at the train, and later set four coaches ablaze, said Gordhan Zadaphia, the state home minister. There were reports of gunfire in the town, but they could not be immediately confirmed. In the state capital, Gandhinagar, Gujarat Home Minister Gordhan Zadaphia told the State Assembly that shoot-on-sight orders had been issued to prevent any rioting from spreading. He said police reinforcements had been sent in. Zadaphia said at least 38 people had been injured. Half of the town was placed under curfew. Prakash Solanki, the deputy district administrator, said, "There is tension but no further incidents of violence." Firefighters battled the blaze four hours after it began. "At least 2,000 people surrounded the coaches and set it on fire," said Harshad Gilletwalla, one of the Hindu activists on the train. He said those killed were members of the 2,500-strong group of volunteers from Gujarat who had gone to Ayodhya to show support for the new temple construction.
District administrator Jayanti Ravi said there were about 75 passengers in the four coaches of the Sabarmati Express when it was set ablaze in Godhra in the western state of Gujarat. The coaches, she said, had been gutted.
AP Photo
Hindus at fault because they rebuilt a Hindu temple in Ayodhya that was previously torn down by Islamic jihadi radicals?
Do you have any clue what Ayodhya is? It is the birthplace of Rama, in the Indian national epic story/poem, the Ramayana.
The Ramayana has often been compared to the Greek's Odyssey or Illiad, and is deeply engrained in ancient Indian culture. The purpose of the Muslims dislodging this holiest of holy places for Indian Hindus was to inflict a psychological blow that their ancient culture was to be obliterated. For Indians to take back their rightful site was a rebellion that they were not going to take this cr*p from the jihadis. The Indians are hardly at fault here.
It's just dirt, for pete's sake, and there's no shortage of it.
There's nothing holy about a particular plot of land, except in the opinion of whoever chooses to make such a declaration. It's completely irrational, yet people routinely kill each other over stupid plots of land. Sure, some sites have more historical significance than others, but this conflict is basically over which group gets exclusive rights to conduct religious rituals at a particular piece of sedimentary deposits.
It's absurd.
Dude you are such a liar. Hinduism is like 10,000 years old, at least. Islam is like 1500 years old. Do the math.And this has what to do with what?
-Eric
Hindu nationalists shot up a Catholic church the other day. I wonder if the Hindus on the train were part of the same group?Probably not the ones on the train. But it wouldn't be suprising if some of the people who did it were involved with the mob that destroyed the mosque, much in the manner that Palestinian mobs tore down a Jewish shrine during one of their intifadi. Here's a pretty good writeup on the history from a Hindu source: Ayodhya: stop this madness now
It's ironic that people here are knee-jerking to attack the Moslems. In India, Moslems and Christians are de facto allies in the face of the BJP's Hindu militants. While Hinduism, like Buddhism, has a long history of tolerance of other faiths, that has definitely changed in the last 10 to 20 years. These days some of them can be as hateful as the most sharia-mad Moslem.
-Eric
Chew on that for a little bit.
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