Hindus and Muslims told to share holy site

An Indian court has ruled that a disputed site sacred to Hindus and Muslims should be divided between the two faiths, in a bid to forge a compromise and end a historic battle that has triggered modern India’s most deadly religious clashes.

At issue is the symbolically potent, now heavily guarded, site in the northern town of Ayodhya. A mosque stood there from the 16th century until 1992, when it was destroyed by a Hindu mob convinced it was built over the birthplace of their deity Ram.

The legal dispute goes back to 1949, when Hindu idols were installed in the mosque and Hindu and Muslim groups began filing rival lawsuits for ownership of the holy ground. The claims have been winding through India’s legal system ever since. To adjudicate, the Allahabad High Court was asked to delve into history, considering evidence from a 17th-century traveller’s diary to a 2002 aerial survey and a 2003 archeological dig.

India rocked as religious dispute turns deadly

1528 Mosque built under Mughal emperor Babar.

1855 Hindu-Muslim clashes over worship at mosque site.

1949 Idols of Hindu god Ram “appear” in mosque. Hindu and Muslim groups file property claims; site declared disputed and locked.

1986 Court orders site unlocked after a Hindu petition for access to worship inside. Rightwing Hindu groups claim victory.

1990 In September, L.K. Advani, Hindu nationalist opposition Bharatiya Janata party leader, starts year-long cross-country campaign for construction of a Ram Temple at Ayodhya site, leaving a trail of communal clashes in his wake. In November, security forces fire at thousands of rightwing Hindus trying to storm mosque; 30 killed, mosque partially damaged.

1992 Hindu activists destroy mosque. At least 1,200 killed in riots across India.

2010 In July Allahabad High Court unsuccessfully urges negotiated settlement of dispute.

In their ruling, the judges ordered the site – now controlled by the government – to be divided, with two thirds, including the spot where Hindu idols now stand, going to Hindu groups and one-third to the Muslim community.

Explaining the decision, one judge said the site was the birthplace of Lord Ram “as per the faith and belief of Hindus”, and another said it had an “almost unprecedented” tradition of Hindu worship inside the mosque compound.

Fearing the verdict would reignite simmering inter-religious tensions, India was on high alert on Thursday, with hundreds of thousands of police and paramilitary deployed in sensitive areas.

Rightwing Hindu groups, including the Hindu nationalist opposition Bharatiya Janata party, welcomed what they said was the court’s affirmation of their right to build a grand Ram temple at the site. “It is a significant step,” said L.K. Advani, BJP president, who led an emotional campaign to whip up mass support for a Ram temple, culminating in the destruction of the mosque in 1992 and religious riots that claimed nearly 2,000 lives.

However, the Sunni Waqf Board, which oversees Muslim properties, said it would appeal to India’s Supreme Court. The move means the division of the site will be put on hold indefinitely.

“I don’t believe that this sharing is done on a principle that is legally, historically or socially just,” said Rajeev Dhawan, a Supreme Court lawyer. “In 1992, we saw a mosque being destroyed, and at the end of the day, what the courts said to the minority community is that, ‘this was never yours in the first place; however, we will give you one-third’.”