Over 1000 arrested in UP

LUCKNOW, Dec 6 (UNI, PTI) — More than 1,000 persons were today arrested at various places in the state on the seventh anniversary of the demolition of the disputed structure at Ayodhya.

The Principal Secretary, (Home) Mr V.K. Mittal, today said here that all arrests were made due to apprehension of breach of peace. “No untoward incident has been reported from anywhere so far,” he said.

While 493 arrests were made in Lucknow-269 were taken into custody, Varanasi, 127 Farrukhabad-59 in Faizabad, 43 in Allahabad, 34 in Gorakhpur and 12 in Kanpur.

Various Hindu organisations observed the day as ‘shaurya divas’ (day of valour), while the Muslim organisations, the Samajvadi Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) observed ‘black day’ today. Muslims in many places reportedly kept their shops and business establishments closed.

“Security was beefed up at Ayodhya and Kashi Vishwanath temples and Gyanwapi mosque and paramilitary forces maintained round the clock vigil to ensure peace and order.

In Ayodhya, the centrestage of the events, five women were among the 38 persons arrested in apprehension of breach of peace.

Prominent among them were Shiv Sena state secretary Anil Kalia, Sena basti chief Radheyshyam Kamlapuri, self-styled president of Ali Sena M S Chand, and Ali Sena general secretary Abdul Salam Qureshi.

District Magistrate, Faizabad, Navneet Sehgal, said 38 members of the Ali Sena, two of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and 20 of the Shiv Sena, besides five women workers of the Sena were among those detained.

Yet the darshan at the Ramlalla temple went on undisturbed. A greater number of devotees visited the temple today than they did this day last year.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Barring stray incidents of stone-throwing at Kollam, Alappuzha and Thiruvananthapuram, no major incident was reported in Kerala today in connection with the dawn-to-dusk hartal called by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

The police said the hartal evoked a partial response and vehicular traffic was not affected.

At least 10 vehicles were damaged by hartal supporters in different parts of the state. One passenger received injuries when PDP activists stoned a bus at Pallimukku in Kollam district. Prohibitory orders were imposed and demonstrations banned in many areas to prevent untoward incidents.

However, the violence-hit Kannur district and Sabarimala and surrounding areas had been exempted from the hartal by the PDP.

BANGALORE: Barring a stray stone throwing incident in Bangalore city, no untoward incident was reported from any part of Karnataka during the seventh anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition.

MUMBAI: Security in the metropolis and adjacent Thane district of Maharashtra was beefed up to maintain law and order.

According to police sources, special arrangements had been made to prevent any untoward incident in the sensitive areas.

In Thane, over 600 police personnel, including a Superintendent of Police, nine Inspectors and 48 police constables had been deployed in various parts of the region.

An SRP platoon had also been deployed in the sensitive zones of Thane rural district.

In Thane city, police personnel had been posted near religious places and sensitive spots, the sources said.

CHENNAI: Demonstrations and fasts marked the observance of the seventh anniversary of the Babri demolition, in Tamil Nadu.

The Indian National League General Secretary, Mr M.A.Latheef and his party volunteers undertook a fast at Tindivanam to mark the day.

The Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam organised continuous slogan shouting dharnas at five centres in the state, including the city, in protest against the government’s “inability to rebuild” the masjid at Ayodhya.

The All-India Jamaat Peravai President and TMC legislator Ms J.M. Haroon, observed a fast outside the state guest house to mark the day.

The police said there was no report of any untoward incident.

HYDERABAD: Protest meetings and demonstrations marked the observance of the seventh anniversary of the demolition of Babri mosque in Andhra Pradesh.

No untoward incident was reported from anywhere in the state so far, the police said.

NEW DELHI, (TNS): Protests over the demolition of the Babri Masjid, seven years ago on this day spilled over to the streets of the Capital with various organisations taking out rallies condemning the incident.

The Samajwadi Party, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Tamil Nadu Muslim Front and a host of social and human rights organisations led rallies and staged dharnas demanding action against the guilty.

The General Secretary of the (NCP), Mr Tariq Anwar, addressing party workers said “it has been seven years since the demolition of the historic mosque and so far law has been moving at a snail’s pace in apprehending the culprits involved in it”.

Activists of several social and human rights organisation, under the banner of ‘Citizens for Secularism’, took out a march from the Red Fort demanding that the Ayodhya dispute should be resolved through constitutional and legal means.

“We demand arrest of L.K. Advani and all others guilty of any role in the demolition and resolution of the Ayodhya dispute through constitutional and legal means” a statement issued by the organisation said.

Expressing concern over the recent attacks on minorities across the country, it demanded immediate measures against those guilty of such attacks.

Meanwhile the Shiv Sena also organised a dharna in protest against delay in the announcement of construction of Ram mandir at Ayodhya.

Threatening that they would be forced to take “extraordinary steps” to build the temple, Shiv Sena’s Delhi unit President, Jai Bhagwan Goel said “we have assembled here to make our partymen sitting in Parliament House remember that it was on this day seven years ago that several party workers were killed for demolishing Babri Masjid”.

He said the party workers were planning to call on the Prime Minister to submit a memorandum in this regard.