Security Tight in Indian Holy City (Friday showdown)

Associated Press ^ | Thursday, March 14, 2002 | BETH DUFF-BROWN

[Dog Gone]

AYODHYA, India (AP) -- Suresh Kumar Pal helped destroy an ancient Muslim mosque here a decade ago. On Friday, he intends to defy a Supreme Court order and lay the first stones of a Hindu temple at the heart of renewed sectarian bloodshed.

``We can't fight the might of the police, but we will try. We live on Lord Rama's land, so we have to do our duty,'' said Pal, a Hindu, who had brought a few bricks with him for the planned temple, whose construction is bitterly resisted by Muslims.

He echoed thousands of Hindus who have gathered on the outskirts of this north Indian city to hold a prayer ceremony near the 16th century Babri mosque, torn down by Hindu nationalists in 1992.

Thousands of military snipers and soldiers armed with tear gas and Supreme Court orders to prevent the prayers lined Ayodhya's ancient alleys and perched atop the ragged rooftops in preparation for a showdown that has been in the making for a decade.

The site has sparked religious violence in the past. More than 2,000 Hindus and Muslims died in nationwide rioting after the mosque was destroyed a decade ago.

Some 700 people died in the last three weeks in the western state of Gujarat, after Muslims torched a train carrying Hindu activists returning from a pilgrimage to Ayodhya. The train tragedy sparked an orgy of murders by Hindu mobs. The opposition charges that the Hindu-nationalist government did not do enough to prevent the massacre of Muslims.

On Friday, authorities tightened their massive security clamp on Ayodhya amid fears that the dispute over the ancient holy site could erupt again.

Shops and schools were closed, and the streets were deserted, save for some grocery stores and religious souvenir stands.

Up to 900 Hindu activists who were heading to Ayodhya for the ceremony were detained. They included more than 300 Hindu activists from Gorakhpur, a town to the east, said district magistrate Mahesh Gupta.

Another 400 arrests were made statewide, said Uttar Pradesh state police chief R.K. Panidt. In neighboring Madhya Pradesh state, police arrested 200 travelers.

Intelligence sources told The Associated Press that up to 20,000 Hindu activists were on the outskirts of Ayodhya, a town of 40,000 people, and some planned to sneak in overnight.

Pal and others said Thursday they would resist Friday if police tried to prevent them from praying at the birthplace of Rama, revered by Hindus as the human reincarnation of god Vishnu.

``I tried as a boy to tear down that mosque,'' said Pal, who sells religious cassettes and the red powder Hindu women use to line their hair parts in a show of respect for their husbands. ``I could only bring down a few bricks, but I did my part.''

The Supreme Court on Wednesday banned the long-planned prayer ceremony, upholding a 1994 ruling that prohibited religious activities on the mosque site and surrounding government-owned land until the court determined whether the land should go to Muslims or Hindus.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee called for unity on Thursday.

``I take this opportunity to appeal to all the political and nonpolitical organizations across the country to cooperate with government,'' he told Parliament, before the session was adjourned in an uproar after opposition lawmakers accused Vajpayee of advocating Hindu nationalism.

Most of India's 1.2 billion people are Hindus.

Vajpayee supports the building of a Hindu temple atop the mosque ruins in Ayodhya. But in forming his National Democratic Alliance government in 1999, he had promised not to pursue the program. He has said he wants a negotiated solution.

In Ayodhya, a Hindu priest and chairman of a trust set up to build the temple said he would chant mantras and carry stones toward the temple site on Friday at 2:15 p.m. local time, an auspicious time in the Hindu calendar.

``If I am not allowed to perform the prayer ceremony, I will end my life in front of Lord Rama,'' said Ramchandra Das.

The Babri mosque was built by soldiers of the Mogul emperor Babur in 1528. Hindus believe the emperor chose to build the mosque atop Rama's birthplace in an affront to their religion.

[Publius6961]

Vajpayee supports the building of a Hindu temple atop the mosque ruins in Ayodhya. But in forming his National Democratic Alliance government in 1999, he had promised not to pursue the program. He has said he wants a negotiated solution.

Vajpayee baby, smell the roses.
If Muslims could be negotiated with, the original Hindu temple would still be standing.
Do you see a Hindu temple?

(hint: the 16th century was 500 years ago. What makes you think the muslims today are any more human?)

[Dog Gone]

From the BBC

Q&A: The Ayodhya dispute

Hundreds of militant Hindu volunteers have gathered in the northern Indian town of Ayodhya where they plan to build a temple on the site of a mosque which was destroyed nine years ago.

BBC News Online answers key questions about the looming confrontation and its history.

Why is the site so important to Hindus?

Many believe that Ayodhya, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, is the birthplace of one of the most revered deities in Hinduism, Lord Rama.

Ayodhya is mentioned in several Hindu scriptures and has been a place of holy pilgrimage for centuries.

Why is the dispute over Ayodhya so dangerous?

Militant Hindus demolished the 16th-century Babri mosque in 1992, vowing to replace it with a Hindu temple to Rama.

They say they were justified in destroying the mosque because there used to be a Hindu temple marking Rama's birthplace on that spot before.

The mosque was torn down by supporters of the hardline Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP or World Hindu Council), the Shiv Sena party and then-opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

The destruction prompted one of India's worst bouts of nationwide religious rioting between Hindus and the country's Muslim minority, which left 2,000 people dead.

The bloodshed was viewed as the most serious threat since independence in 1947 to India's secular identity.

Why is Ayodhya so politically sensitive?

In 1996, the Congress party suffered its worst ever electoral defeat and the BJP, which was closely involved in the destruction of the mosque, emerged as the largest single party.

In 1998, the BJP formed a coalition government under Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who has found himself faced with a delicate balancing act.

On the one hand, he has needed to accommodate those in his own party and the associated VHP who have been trying to push him to pursue a hardline Hindu agenda since he took office.

But on the other, his hold on power has required the support of a wide range of allies in the often fractious coalition government that he leads, many of whom demand a negotiated settlement.

In its election manifesto for this month's assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP ruled out committing itself to the construction of a temple .

Mr Vajpayee said the issue could be resolved either by talks or through the current lengthy court battle, which he promised to speed up.

The VHP say the construction of a temple is a matter of conscience and they will ignore any court decision against them.

Why is the issue now coming to a head?

The prime minister eventually admitted that his efforts to solve the dispute had failed as the VHP vowed to push ahead with construction of the new temple on 15 March.

An estimated 15,000 Hindu activists have now converged on Ayodhya ahead of their stated deadline to begin building.

Several thousand security personnel have been put on alert around the site, and tensions have risen dramatically.

On 27 February, more than 50 people died when a train carrying Hindu activists returning to Gujarat from Ayodhya was set alight.

Mr Vajpayee has repeated that his government will not allow any construction on or near the site, issuing a last-ditch appeal to the VHP to suspend its campaign.

[Dog Gone]

Buy a helmet and a fire extinguisher. And try not to look like a hindu, a moslem, a christian, a jew, a sikh, or one of Andrea Pia Yates's kids.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[AGAviator]

Times of India

NEW DELHI: The BJP-led government went into a spin on Thursday night after [Hindu] Ramjanambhoomi Nyas (RJN) chief Ramchandra Paramhans announced his determination to kill himself if the government receiver did not permit him to carry out shila daan

Here is a leading Hindu fanatic threatening to kill himself if he doesn't get what he wants and you're holding forth on how Muslims can't be negotiated with.

[USMMA_83]

Paramhans announced his determination to kill himself...

Hindu's kill themselves to make a point, muslims kill others to make a point.