Court Rules Advani to Be Tried on Mosque Demolition

NEW DELHI, July 7, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – An Indian court ordered former deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani to stand trial for his role in the 1992 demolition of a mosque that sparked deadly Muslim-Hindu clashes in the country.

The Allahabad high court in northern Uttar Pradesh said Wednesday, July 6, that Advani, who is accused of encouraging thousands of Hindu extremists to demolish the Babri mosque in the town of Ayodhya, and other officials must appear before the lower court on July 28, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported.

The court order was made after two Muslims challenged a lower court’s 2003 acquittal of Advani and others for lack of evidence.

The Babri mosque was razed by thousands of Hindu fanatics on December 6, 1992.

The demolition was followed by the building of a makeshift temple at the site of the demolished Babri mosque. Hindus claimed the mosque had been built over a temple to the Hindu deity Ram in the 16th century.

The Hindu sacrilege sparked off nationwide Hindu-Muslim 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.

Since then the entire complex has been under Supreme Court authority and is heavily guarded with nearly 200 policemen and paramilitary personnel guards.

"Cheap Means"

The court ruling came as Indian security forces were on high alert after six armed gunmen were killed Tuesday after they blasted their way into the heavily-guarded site.

The attack sparked nationwide violent protests. Hundreds of rightwing Hindu protesters stormed an airport in central India on Wednesday, preventing a flight from taking off.

And in other state capitals, police fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators. Security forces in New Delhi also used water cannon to prevent hundreds of Hindu nationalists - led by the opposition Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) leader Advani - from approaching the parliament building.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the BJP, by organizing such violent protests, was trying to make issues of the attack, warning against attempts to score cheap political points of the issue, according to The Times of India.

"The Ayodhya incident should not be used to score cheap political points," Manmohan Singh said.

"Advani was the presiding deity over the home ministry when there were major terror attacks on parliament, the Jammu and Kashmir assembly, Akshardham temple in Gujarat..."

Advani, however, denied any politics in the anti-government protests staged by the BJP activists, claiming that the protests were just an outlet for people’s anger.

"No one wants to do any politics," Advani told reporters after visiting the All India Institute of Medical Sciences where two paramilitary personnel injured in the Ayodhya attack have been admitted.

"When incidents like this happen, people become resentful. They need an outlet to let out their resentment and that is what is happening."
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 Babri Masjid Movement Coordination Committee (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.

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