From: shashank@pike.ee.mcgill.ca (Shashank Nemawarkar)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: Re:  The Babri Masjid Issue: Time For Despair, Time For Hope
Date: 13 Dec 92 04:14:06 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: McGill University - VLSI Laboratory, Montreal, CANADA.


This is regarding the letter chalked out by Mr. Khaleel and others
regarding the Babri Masjid issue.
While I agree with the overall attempt, I do not agree with certain
remarks marked below in the letter:


-------<the article is shortened suitably>---------------------------------

From: ahmed@ecs.umass.edu
Subject: The Babri Masjid Issue: Time For Despair, Time For Hope
Date: 12 Dec 92 17:56:55 GMT

Hi: The following is a copy of the letter we have written to send to the
PM of India, a local newspaper and probably to a daily in India. We were
able to collect about 50+ signatures and expect some more. We also had
a discussion within the Indian Community that was well attended. Hopefully,
all of you will take similar actions at your school/community.

thanx ... khaleel

PS: I also have a LaTex version of this letter. If more than one person
sends me a request for the above version, I will post it on the net.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

        The Babri Masjid Issue: Time For Despair, Time For Hope


On December 6, 1992, at the town of Ayodhya in India, a 200,000 strong group
of Hindu kar sevaks broke through flimsy barriers and inadequate police lines
and demolished the 16th century mosque known as the Babri Masjid.  This action
(which was in gross violation of the Supreme Court orders) has sparked off a
spate of rioting across the country that has already claimed several hundred
lives.

The mosque at Ayodhya was constructed in 1528 by Mir Baqi, a nobleman in
Emperor Babur's court.  Some Hindu organizations such as the RSS, the BJP, and
the VHP claim that a temple was destroyed to make place for the mosque, and that 
the Babri Masjid was built at the exact spot of the Ram Janma Bhoomi - the
birth place of Ram, a Hindu deity.  Claiming to represent popular Hindu
opinion, the BJP, RSS, and VHP have launched an agitation demanding the
relocation or the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the construction of a
temple marking the Ram Janma Bhoomi - an agitation that has seen the country
awash with blood, with the 1990 riots alone accounting for over 2000
deaths.

>>>>>The historical and the archeological evidence offered by the BJP that a temple
     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>>>>did indeed exist at the site of the Babri Masjid is slim and questionable.  In
                                                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>>>>fact, a number of prominent Indian historians (among them several Hindus) have
>>>>>asserted that the BJP claims are based largely upon the specious polemics of
>>>>>vested British colonial interests.  But the rhetoric of history has been
>>>>>intervowen into the politics of expediency and the result has been holding
>>>>>entire communities to ransom.

The pervasive spirit of modern communalism has derived much ideological
sustenance from this movement that is aimed at avenging perceived historical
wrongs of invading Muslim armies by converting india's secular, democratic
system into a Hindu state.

         < Two Paragraphs deleted >

We condemn the attack on the Babri Masjid and the government's inability to
protect it.  We express our anguish over the demolition of the mosque in
question, over the destruction of other mosques, and over the retaliatory
tearing down of Hindu temples.   We mourn the deaths - both Hindu and Muslim -
in the ongoing violence.  We demand the reconstruction of a mosque at the
site of the Babri Masjid and an adherence to the legal and constitutional
processes in India.  We demand the protection of human lives in the countries
affected by this strife.  We urge    you to join us in praying for peace.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


About the commented portion above:

If anybody looks at the archives maintained regarding the news about the 
Indian subcontinent (I guess, misc.news.southasia  or INN digest maintains it),
then in the issues which have appeared between september to november 1992, 
one can find the report of archaeological surveys performed in the region
around Babri-masjid/Ram-Janmabhoomi during the second-and-third week of July 1992.
The survey was conducted by eminent scholars of India (with the help of and/or
on behalf of Govt of India).

The excavations clearly indicate the following (all from my memory about whatever
I had read a couple of months back):

	There existed a huge temple built around 11th Century A.D. (based on the dating
	methodology and also on the sculptures), whose fragments are buried around the
	site of the Masjid. Also, the Masjid uses certain parts of the Temple (as evident
	from the sculpture on the pillars of the Masjid). The Masjid was built around
	1630 A.D. (my guess for the date), while the sculptures corresponds to the era
	of 11th Century (and the sculpture is in no way Islamic).


The report of this survey is available to anyone (as reported in the news).
While it is indeed honourable gesture to send the above-mentioned letter,
I would not like any FALSITY (of the claim, as I have pointed out) 
to take away the strength of this gesture.

Please correct the contents of the letter, and then many of us would be willing
"to join you for peace".

Shashank
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.pakistan