NEW DELHI: Saudi Arabia and Iran are the latest of Islamic nations have expressed serious concern over the recent killing of hundreds of Muslims in the Babri Ramjanambhoomi dispute.
A Saudi government spokesman described the prevailing situation in India as a deliberate attempt to hurt Muslim sensibilities. Riyadh Radio said the kingdom was concerned about the deteriorating situation and the al laved threat to Indian Muslims. The Saudi government has asked the Indian government to prevent the demolition of the mosque and to protect the lives and property of its Muslim citizens.
Teheran radio monitored here said that the site of the holy mosque in Ayodhya had been dese crated and asked the Indian government to protect its minorities. The two countries reacted a day after Pakistan Prime Minister Ms Benazir Bhutto expressed her country’s concern and said the plan to build the temple was reprehensible. India called the Pakis tan statement as interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation.
ISLAMABAD: Mobs set fire to temple furniture and damaged three Hindu owned shops and set fire to a car. Six persons were arrested. No casualties were reported. A Hindu leader said the attacks were in retaliation to the violence in Bihar against Muslims and the plan to demolish the mosque Several Muslim leaders have urged the government to take up the issue at a diplomatic level with India.
DACCA: Tension prevailed in several towns of Bangladesh after a series of attacks on Hindus left two persons dead.
NEW DELHE: The Congress 1 said the reported statements of the Iran and Saudi governments on the Shilanayas in Ayodhya were unwarranted interference in India’s affairs. Anand Sharma an AICC spokesman said * we are a secular country”,
The Muslim action committee has givens call for hiatal (strike) in Jammu in protest.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad is in quandary following the refusal by the local administration to allow the building of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. The Faizabad district magistrate R.S. Srivastava said the construction could not go on as the matter was pending before the court. Ashok singal of the VHP said future course would be decided at the dharamacharya sammellan at Allahabad on Jan. 27.
Meanwhile, at Indore L.K. Advani the BJP president asked the government and the people to Respect the feelings of Hindus. He said the foundation laying had gone off without a hitch.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 17, 1989
