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| India-Pakistan |
| Seer calls for ban on VHP |
| 2002-06-27 |
| Hindu and Muslim leaders on Wednesday vowed to amicably resolve a decades-old dispute over building a temple on the ruins of Babri mosque in Ayodhya. The communities are locked in a bitter political and legal battle for ownership of the land, which is now under court protection. It's been a knotty problem for some time now. I wonder what the problem has been...? A group of local Hindu priests and Muslim leaders met in Ayodhya on Tuesday and demanded the VHP be banned. Hindu seer Gyan Das accused VHP leaders of trying to manufacture distrust between Hindus and Muslims in India with its temple construction campaign. "We do not want the VHP to meddle in the temple issue. We want a ban on them," Das said. On Wednesday, the monks and Muslim clerics formed a committee -- the All Religion Harmony and Protection Committee -- to look into ways to solve the dispute. Hindu leaders said that they were determined to ensure that no senior VHP members came to Ayodhya. "What is their business here when the two communities have decided to abide by the court orders to resolve the issue peacefully?" said Das. Mohammed Yunus Siddiqui, chairman of the Babri Masjid Action Committee, the panel that heads the movement for reclaiming the site for the Muslims, took part in Tuesday's meeting which he said was a significant event. "It was the first such meeting that has taken place and now we are going to meet regularly," Suddiqui said and added "It is the VHP who have played an unwanted role creating tension between the two communities and that is why we believe that this outfit should be banned." Bravo to both sides in the discussions. Of course, that means they're going to be swarmed by RSS brownshirts at the first opportunity and adherents of one or the other side are going to be beaten up. But that's the problem they're talking about, isn't it? |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |