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The
Hindu sacrilege of Babri sparked off Hindu-Muslims violence that
left 2,000 people dead
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NEW
DELHI, August 25 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Indian
Muslims have questioned as "government pressure" the finding
of a report released by a team of Indian Government archaeologists and
distributed Monday, August 25, by an Indian court to the disputing
parties, claiming that remains of a Hindu temple had been discovered
under the foundations of a Muslim mosque demolished by Hindus in 1992.
"The
team has misinterpreted the findings," a Muslim lawyer, Zafaryab
Jilani, told the BBC, noting that he would lodge an
objections.
The
report claimed that the team, from the Archaeological Survey of India
(ASI) excavating at the site, had found a medieval Hindu temple under
the foundations of the Babri mosque in the northern Indian town of
Ayodhya.
"There
is archaeological evidence of a massive structure" below the
mosque that dates as far back as the 10th
century, purported the report, which was submitted to the high court
in the state of Uttar Pradesh on Friday, August 22.
Jiliani
accused the ASI of working under the pressure of the Hindu Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP), the main party in the central government of India.
The
Hindu sacrilege sparked off nationwide Hindu-Muslims violence that
left 2,000 people dead. Hundreds of Muslim homes were demolished and
as many as 28 mosques and Muslim mausoleums were devastated that day
by the Hindu mobs.
In
November last year, the Supreme Court of India ordered
that deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani, federal human resource
minister Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, a former minister, and a
host of former Indian officials, be tried at a special court in Rae
Bareli on charge of complicity in demolishing the historic mosque for
political gains.
The
Babri Masjid Movement Coordination Committee (BMMCC), however,
regretted the judgment, arguing that the case would drag endlessly and
saying it was a classic example of "justice delayed is justice
denied."
The
Babri Mosque (also Babri Masjid) was constructed by the Muslim emperor
of India Babar in Ayodhya in the 16th century.
The
mosque was used by Muslims as a prayer site until 1947, when Hindu
extremists, who wished to see it replaced with a Rama temple, broke in
and placed statues of Rama inside the mosque. Following this, the
state government ordered the mosque sealed.
In
1986, the mosque was reopened by a lower court at the request of the
Hindu nationalist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP, "World Hindu
Council") to allow Hindus to worship there.
Since
then, the BMMCC has been campaigning to have the mosque rebuilt at the
same site, while the VHP has been moving forward with plans to build a
Rama temple there. In December 2002, the VHP announced that it would
construct the temple in a year and a half.
