Babri Mosque Verdict Displays Real Face of India

Religious leaders on Thursday condemned the decision of the Babri Mosque case by an Indian court, saying that the verdict has disclosed the real face of India.

“We condemn this verdict. We reject this as well. This will create resentment on an international level,” said Sahibzada Fazle Karim, who is a senior member of Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP). Talking to a private news channel, he said that the Organization of International Conference (OIC) should take serious steps.

He said that it is an international conspiracy and added that such a decision was not expected. Religious and sacred places are not safe in India.

Allama Abbas Kumaili said that the decision is unjustified. “We condemn the court’s verdict.” He said that the court is under the influence of the majority (Hindus).

“It is a diplomatic decision,” said Chairman Ruet-e-Hilal Committee, Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman. He said that Indian Muslims should keep peace. “I appeal to Indian Muslims not to take to violence. The way of protests should be peaceful.”

He said India is a secular country and it had to respect the rights of minorities. Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman said that Muslims cannot worship where idols are placed.

And, Minister for Religious Affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi said on Thursday that the Indian Court has issued a political verdict over Babri Mosque issue and termed it “totally in favour of the Hindu community.”

Muslims in India have been deprived of their right due to the one-sided decision on the Mosque, he told Pakistan Television. Kazmi said “the court cited Babri Mosque as a birth place of Ram and recommended a little piece of place for Muslims like a donation.”

He said the decision to equally distribute the land of mosque among Muslims, Hindus and state is quite complicated which would create problems for the faithful in offering prayers.

He asked the Indian Muslims to file an appeal against the decision in the Supreme Court, urging them to make more efforts for their rights.

The Minister said, “in Pakistan we have always raised voice against any injustice with the minority communities while in India the state is not showing solidarity with the Muslims”. Kazmi asked the people from all walks of life to raise their voice against the unjust decision.

Kaira on Minorities’ Security

Meanwhile, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira has said that minorities have full protection under Pakistan’s constitution and the government was committed to ensure their security.

In a brief telephonic interview with a private television channel telecast Thursday the Minister said that the verdict of Indian court on Babri Mosque case would have no impact whatsoever on the minorities in Pakistan.

In Pakistan the minorities have equal rights and they are fully allowed to perform their religious rituals at their worship places he said adding it is the duty of government to protect their worship places.

Kaira said that the Indian judiciary would hopefully keep the sensitive nature of issue in mind while deciding the case on Babri Mosque.

To a question he said that security of Pakistani contingent participating in the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi is the responsibility of Indian authorities and they would hopefully ensure it.

The Verdict

An Indian court ruled Thursday that a disputed holy site in Ayodhya with a history of triggering Hindu-Muslim clashes should be divided–a judgement seen as favouring the Hindu litigants.

“All three sets of parties, i.e. Muslims, Hindus and (Hindu religious organisation) Nirmhoi Akhara are declared joint holders of the property in dispute,” Justice S.U. Khan said in a ruling on the website of the Allahabad High Court.

Several of the litigants in the case said they would appeal the judgement to the Supreme Court, meaning the already 60-year dispute will continue in India’s notoriously slow justice system.

Some 200,000 police and paramilitary forces had been deployed ahead of the court verdict to pre-empt any violent reaction.

In 1992 the demolition of a 16th-century mosque on the Ayodhya site by Hindu activists sparked riots that killed more than 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, in some of the worst sectarian violence since partition of the Indian sub-continent in 1947.

The process to divide the site would begin in three months, the court said. A third will go to Muslims, a second part will become a temple for Hindus, while another third will go to the Ayodhya-based Nirmhoi Akhara.