M A I N   N E W S

Babri verdict
Troops deployed near airports, media barred
Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 20
Electronic and the print media will not be allowed in the court when the verdict is pronounced on the title suit of the Babri Masjid on Friday this week. Lawyers representing the two sides will brief the media at the office of the District Magistrate in Lucknow and present the verdict to the nation.

Home Ministry sources said the government felt that half baked and instantaneous analysis, especially on the electronic media, could provoke mischief.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has also separately issued an advisory to all TV channels asking them to refrain from showing video clippings of the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid carried out by the leaders of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the BJP.

Meanwhile the Ministry of Home Affairs has asked all states, particularly Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka, to beef up security to deal with any law and order problem that may arise after the court verdict on Ayodhya title suits on Friday.

The Ministry has identified 32 sensitive locations across the country -- four of them in Uttar Pradesh -- where a potential for "evoking sharp reactions" following the verdict is believed to exist. The Centre is keeping paramilitary forces ready at a few strategic locations close to airports for swift deployment anywhere in the country.