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Train Fire in Western India Kills 30 (2,000 MUSLIMS ATTACK TRAIN FULL OF HINDUS - MY TITLE)
YAHOO NEWS ^ | FEBRUARY 27, 2002 | HARISH DESAI

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.

Photos

AP Photo
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.

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.



TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: terrorwar
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To: Madiuq; *TerrOrWar
I see the writer left out the part about them dancing in the streets as the train burned. I guess he more or less mentioned the celebratory rifle shots in the air, though.
21 posted on 02/27/2002 3:40:29 AM PST by Lion's Cub
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To: E Rocc
The St. Paul's Cathedral claim sounds ludicrous, but one would expect India to have actual records of what was in their own land practically yesterday.
22 posted on 02/27/2002 3:43:23 AM PST by HiTech RedNeck
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To: E Rocc
"In this incident the Moslems are clearly at fault, but in the whole Ayodhya controvery the Hindus are at least equally at fault."

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.

23 posted on 02/27/2002 3:49:25 AM PST by Madiuq
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To: Madiuq
"Can't we just all get along?"
24 posted on 02/27/2002 4:33:47 AM PST by aShepard
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To: Madiuq
This is just incomprehensible to me. How fortunate we are to live in a place where religious strife has, with some few exceptions, not been in evidence.
25 posted on 02/27/2002 4:37:32 AM PST by Illbay
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To: Madiuq
Hindu nationalists shot up a Catholic church the other day. I wonder if the Hindus on the train were part of the same group?
26 posted on 02/27/2002 4:45:36 AM PST by Yardstick
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To: Madiuq
wow....
27 posted on 02/27/2002 4:46:08 AM PST by rwfromkansas
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To: Madiuq
Gee, building a mosque at Ayodhya would be like building a mosque on top of the Temple Mount and then making up some bogus claim in 1945 that it is the second holiest site in Islam. That could just never happen, because Islam is Love!
28 posted on 02/27/2002 4:48:17 AM PST by gridlock
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To: Illbay
I just don't understand these religious conflicts about building some sort of shrine, temple, mosque, etc. at a particular spot, whether it's here, in Israel, or anyplace else.

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.

29 posted on 02/27/2002 5:00:51 AM PST by Dog Gone
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To: Madiuq
Muslims just want to send the love of Allah throughout the world via the burning peacetrain. They simply exude the love of Allah don't they?
30 posted on 02/27/2002 5:09:39 AM PST by Godfollow
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Comment #31 Removed by Moderator

To: Justin_Mac
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

32 posted on 02/27/2002 5:16:04 AM PST by E Rocc
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To: Madiuq
Muslims hate Hindus, Arabs hate Jews, Catholics hate Protestants, Sheites hate Budhists, Rednecks hate Yankees, I hate politicians -God must be pissed.
33 posted on 02/27/2002 5:16:13 AM PST by sandydipper
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To: Madiuq
The media wants us to trust them and then they write articles that don't tell the whole truth just to be politically correct. Someone should let them know that omitting inforamtion is a form of bias also. If this had been a bunch of white skinheads setting fire to a train load of non-whites you would see a glaring headline.
34 posted on 02/27/2002 5:23:26 AM PST by KSCITYBOY
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To: Yardstick
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

35 posted on 02/27/2002 5:24:37 AM PST by E Rocc
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To: E Rocc
If they don't fight against the Muslims, India will become a Muslim nation. That means 1.5 billion more Muslims, with hundreds of Nukes. India already lost huge parts of their land to Islam, including Pakistan and Bangladesh, using tactics of peace, tolerance and "looking the other way." If they continue to act like you want them to act, pretty soon, the whole country will be Islamic.

Chew on that for a little bit.

36 posted on 02/27/2002 5:31:30 AM PST by Madiuq
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To: sandydipper
ARTIST: Tom Lehrer
TITLE: National Brotherhood Week

Oh, the white folks hate the black folks
And the black folks hate the white folks
To hate all but the right folks
Is an old established rule

But during National Brotherhood Week
National Brotherhood Week
Lena Horne and Sheriff Clark
Are dancing cheek to cheek
It's fun to eulogize
The people you despise
As long as you don't let 'em in your school

Oh, the poor folks hate the rich folks
And the rich folks hate the poor folks
All of my folks hate all of your folks
It's American as apple pie

But during National Brotherhood Week
National Brotherhood Week
New Yorkers love the Puerto Ricans
'Cause it's very chic
Step up and shake the hand
Of someone you can't stand
You can tolerate him if you try

Oh, the Protestants hate the Catholics
And the Catholics hate the Protestants
And the Hindus hate the Moslems
And everybody hates the Jews

But during National Brotherhood Week
National Brotherhood Week
It's National Everyone-Smile-At- One-Another-hood Week
Be nice to people who
Are inferior to you
It's only for a week, so have no fear
Be grateful that it doesn't last all year!
37 posted on 02/27/2002 5:32:16 AM PST by P-Marlowe
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To: Madiuq
BTTT.
38 posted on 02/27/2002 5:33:40 AM PST by veronica
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To: Madiuq
Islam is a religion of peacetm
39 posted on 02/27/2002 5:41:27 AM PST by Rebelbase
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To: Madiuq
Ahhh! The Religion of Peace.
40 posted on 02/27/2002 5:54:02 AM PST by Redleg Duke
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