According to Ahlul Bayt News Agency (ABNA.ir) – A court in Uttar Pradesh state, where Ayodhya is located, was expected to deliver a judgement September 24 on ownership of the land where a mosque was demolished. Hindu organizations want to build a temple there.
In 1992, mobs of Hindus pulled down the 16th-century Babri mosque that stood there, claiming it was the birthplace of their god Rama. The mosque's destruction triggered sectarian violence across the country in which more than 2,000 people died.
The case is sure to go up to the Supreme Court, but authorities appealed for calm, fearing an outbreak of violence over the lower court's ruling.
India's federal cabinet published an appeal to all sections of society to maintain peace after the judgement. The half-page advertisement, headlined, 'Appeal,' appeared in major newspapers and included a photograph of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The notice said that while the September 24 judgement needed to be respected, it was just a step in the judicial process and legal remedies were available unless all parties accepted it.
The cabinet appealed to all sections of the people of India to maintain equanimity and tranquillity after the ruling.
'There should be no attempt whatsoever made by any section of the people to provoke any other section or to indulge in any expression of emotion that would hurt the feelings of other people,' it said.
The Allahabad High Court on Friday rejected a petition to defer its September 24 ruling because it might disturb law and order.
Both the Hindu Mahasabha and the Sunni Central Waqf Board, the two main parties to the title suit, wanted dismissal of the petition.
Security had been tightened across Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, and religious leaders were making public appeals for calm.
'We have made the Muslims aware of it at every level in discourses and appeals that communal harmony should be maintained, so as to check vested interests from taking advantage of the situation,' the PTI news agency quoted Maulana Khalid Firangimahli, a member of the All India Muslim Law Board, as saying.
Ayodhya-based Hindu religious leaders Satyendra Das Maharaj and Janmey Sharan have asked the community to remain calm and accept the court's verdict.
The expected verdict comes at a difficult time for the Indian government with escalating violence in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir and large numbers of foreign visitors expected for the Commonwealth Games, scheduled to begin October 3 in New Delhi.
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