M A I N   N E W S

VHP firm on building temple

RAMESWARAM, Jan 8 (UNI) — Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Secretary General Praveen Tokadia today declared that whatever be the verdict of the court, the Hindu society would go ahead with the construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya.

Briefing newsmen on the proceedings on the second day of the VHP’s national convention here, he said building a temple was an act of faith and beyond the purview of any court.

He recalled that the case relating to the title rights of the land where the temple was to come up was now before a court. Of the 107 witnesses listed by the prosecution, only eight had so far been examined in the past eight years.

At this rate, the examination of all witnesses would take a hundred years, he said and added that the Hindus would not wait for a century to build the temple.

The “kumbh” celebrations in Allahabad due on April 14 next year would give a final shape to the temple construction schedule, he said. The construction would start soon after the carvings of stones were completed and as and when the Hindu acharyas give a call in this regard.

Asked to comment on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi’s reported statement opposing the construction of the temple at the site of the demolished mosque, Mr Tokadia asserted that there was no masjid at Ayodhya. The demolished structure had never been used for worship before or after Independence. Only the Hindus offered prayer and therefore, it was a Hindu temple, he claimed.

The structure was a victory monument built by a Muslim commander and not a mosque, he said and substantiated his claim by saying the Muslim architecture should necessarily have minarets, but the disputed structure had rare.

He demanded the Church “apologise to the Hindus for opposing the construction of a temple in a Christian-dominated area in Gujarat.”

Mr Tokadia condemning the nationalised State Bank of India for printing and distributing three lakh copies of the abridged version of the Koran, the holy book of Islam, to its customers, he demanded that action be taken against those responsible for its publication.

If the bank had published the Bhagwad Gita, the holy book of the Hindus, the so-called secularists would have raised a hue and cry, he said.

The VHP leader said different churches in India were bent upon illegal conversion under an ecumenical action plan called “evangelisation 2000.”

The Catholic and Protestant missionaries were responsible for “grave insurgent activities in the north-eastern states coupled with the promotion of the drug mafia and illegal trafficking in fake currency to aid conversion.”

The VHP alleged that the Church was also deliberately destroying Hindu scriptures and teachings to undermine the faith of the Hindus, endangering the security, sovereignty and integrity of the country.

Mr Tokadia said the VHP would set up 4400 single-teacher schools in tribal areas to promote literacy and prevent the people from becoming easy targets for conversion

Pakistan restrains Azhar

ISLAMABAD, Jan 8 (UNI, PTI) — Evidently buckling under pressure from the USA, the Pakistan Ministry of Interior has asked Maulana Masood Azhar, one of the three prisoners released by India in exchange of the hostages of the Indian airliner, to desist from making outbursts against foreign countries, including the USA.

Maulana Azhar who reached his home town in Bhawalpur on Friday had been advised to lie low and not to agitate public sentiments. The ministry took the decision in response to the concern expressed by the USA in which it had warned Pakistan on terrorism after a threatening speech by Azhar against the USA and India.

Azhar had threatened the USA and vowed to continue the separatist fight in Kashmir. US Department spokesman James Robin had warned if Maulana continued indulging in such threats Pakistan would be held responsible.

Meanwhile, Azhar had denied statements attributed to him in which he had appealed to the people to unite for a “Jehad” against the USA and India.

Azhar said he did not make any such statement. He wondered as to how such statements were attributed to him.

He also denied that his brother Ibrahim was among the four hijackers as claimed by Home Minister L.K. Advani. He said when the hijacking took place his brother was in Saudi Arabia to perform “Umra.”

Meanwhile, Pakistan, which has steadfastly maintained that the hijackers of the Indian Airlines plane were not on its soil, has said it will try them as per law if they are apprehended.

“If we can get hold of the hijackers, we will try them in accordance with the law. This is our firm commitment and we are absolutely intent on it,” Foreign Office spokesman Tariq Altaf said in an interview to CNN last night.

He accused India of not providing any information about the hijackers and instead launching a campaign to declare Pakistan a terrorist state.

“We had said they should provide us whatever information they have on the identity of the hijackers, or transcripts of their negotiations which they were exclusively holding with the hijackers, so that we can pursue those. But they had not given us anything at all,” he said.

WASHINGTON: Pakistan Ambassador to the USA Maleeha Lodhi has said her country was prepared for talks with India “to resolve tensions” and “condemns the terrorist actions of the hijackers.”

In a statement today, she said “The Pakistan Government reiterates our calls for India to engage in good-faith efforts to resolve the tensions between the two countries, especially on the issue of Kashmir.”

Dr Lodhi, a former Pakistani journalist, said, “The Government of Pakistan has consistently condemned the terrorist actions of the hijackers and will continue to seek their arrest and prosecution.

She also asked the Indian Government ‘“to apologise” for “suggesting that Pakistan had anything to do with the hijacking.”