LUCKNOW, India: An Indian court ruled Thursday that a disputed site that sparked bloody riots in the past should now be divided between the Hindu and Muslim communities.
But in its compromise ruling, the court gave Hindus control over the area where the now-demolished Babri Mosque stood — and where a makeshift tent-shrine to the Hindu deity Ram now rests.
While both Muslim and Hindu lawyers vowed to appeal, immediate reaction to the ruling was muted and it seemed unlikely to spark violence, as the government had feared.
Hindus rushed to give thanks at temples in Ayodhya, where the atmosphere was peaceful. "It is very clear the case will go to the Supreme Court. It is not our final victory," said Nitya Gopal Das, president of a Hindu trust involved in the suit.
In Lucknow, where the decision was read, shops were closed, streets were deserted and police were on patrol.
And in Mumbai — a flash point for previous Hindu-Muslim violence over the temple dispute — Hindu and Muslim groups appealed for peace. "We hope all problems regarding matters with Hindus and Muslims can be settled in this amicable way," said Haji Arfat, a leader of the Hindu fundamentalist Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.
The chief minister of Gujarat state, which has seen some of India's worst religious riots, welcomed the ruling as clearing the path for building the Ram temple. "The judgment will also act as a catalytic agent in strengthening the country's unity," said Narendra Modi, who was Gujarat's chief minister in 2002 when Hindu mobs rampaged through Muslim neighborhoods in riots that left about 1,000 people dead, most of them Muslims. Those riots were triggered by a fire that killed 60 passengers on a train packed with Hindu pilgrims.
Over 2,000 people were killed in 1992 when Hindu fanatics razed the Babri Mosque built at the site in 1528 by the Mogul Emperor Babur. Hindus claim the site is the birthplace of Ram, and that a temple to the deity once stood there before the mosque.
Arab News
