Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=10/16/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=INDIA/TEMPLE RALLY (L-Only) (CQ)

NUMBER=2-308673

BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN

DATELINE=NEW DELHI

CONTENT=

/// FIXING SPELLING OF JOSHI IN ACT LINE ///

INTRO: Indian police are increasing security in the northern city of Ayodhya, where controversy surrounding the site of a razed mosque repeatedly has led to violence between Muslims and Hindus. Tens-of-thousands of Hindu activists are expected to march Friday, in defiance of local authorities, who have forbidden any rallies. V-O-A's Patricia Nunan reports from New Delhi.

TEXT: Authorities say an estimated 10-thousand security personnel have encircled Ayodhya, to prevent Hindu activists from entering the city.

Police are guarding some activists in camps outside the city's outskirts. They are also using schools to detain some of the 17-thousand people arrested for trying to get into the city since Saturday.

Trains and buses to Ayodhya also have been canceled or diverted. But the World Hindu Council, or V-H-P, says 300-thousand activists will attend a rally in Ayodhya, as part of their campaign to build a temple on a disputed holy site.

Authorities in the state of Uttar Pradesh have banned any rallies or religious services from taking place in Ayodhya. But V-H-P leaders have repeatedly warned of violence, if the group is not allowed to march.

V-H-P official Mohan Joshi spoke at a rally held in the capital Wednesday.

/// ACT - JOSHI ///

We have no intention to do any disturbance of peace. But if the ruling party of Uttar Pradesh - if they plan any mischief, [and] the crowd does anything, we are not responsible for that.

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The decades-old controversy surrounding the holy site in Ayodhya is one of the most divisive between India's majority Hindus and minority Muslims.

In 1992, Hindu mobs tore down the 16th century Barbri Mosque in Ayodhya, which they say had been built on the site of an earlier temple dedicated to the Hindu god, Rama. Two-thousand people died in ensuing riots.

A court case intended to settle the dispute between the two groups is currently underway. The controversy reaches into the highest levels of India's coalition government, as politicians juggle human rights issues with popular sentiment ahead of next year's parliamentary election. (SIGNED)

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