Ayodhya calm on Babri demolition's 13th anniversary

Security personnel manned sensitive points in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh on the 13th anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition on Tuesday even as Muslims hoisted black flags atop mosques and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad went ahead with its 'Shaurya divas' programme. 

The situation in the temple town remained calm with additional security forces being deployed and the district administration keeping a tight vigil, officials said.

Activists of the Muslim Forum and Muslim League held a demonstration before Vidhan Bhavan in state capital Lucknow demanding that those responsible for the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, be punished.

The Muslims also registered their protest by hoisting black flags atop mosques on Faizabad-Ayodhya road, police said.

VHP sources said, the saffron outfit organised a programme at its headquarters in Karsevakpuram and pledged to ensure that a Ram temple was constructed at the disputed site.

Officials said all sensitive points in the temple town, including the temples where the VHP-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh planned a 'Ram vivah' (symbolic marriage of Lord Rama) and the Tehri Bazar area  where the the Muslims were observing the  'Yaume gham' (day of grief).