Indian Supreme Court ruling clears way for determination of Babri mosque site dispute

The Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, in India's Uttar Pradesh state. (AP file photo)
Updated 27 September 2018
Follow

Indian Supreme Court ruling clears way for determination of Babri mosque site dispute

  • Court decision clears the way for determination of title suit on the disputed Babri mosque site
  • Ayodhya’s majority Hindu community have said that their supreme deity was born at the site of the mosque

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court of India upheld a 25-year-old observation of the court declaring prayer in mosques not integral to Islam. In a majority verdict of 2-1, the three court judges rejected a plea to refer the matter to a larger bench.

After the verdict a political commentator remarked it was unfortunate that the judges had been split over the issue, noting that: “Two judges who are Hindu said that mosques are not central to practicing Islam, one judge who has a reservation, is a Muslim.”
 
The court decision clears the way for it to determine the title suit of the disputed Babri mosque site in Ayodhya, a town in the eastern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Ayodhya’s majority Hindu community have said that their supreme deity Ram, was born at the site of the Babri mosque. They want to build a huge temple there but the Muslim community has opposed the move. 
 
In late 1980s and early 1990s the Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led a political movement. In 1992 tensions came to a head with the demolition of the Babri mosque in 1992 by Hindu fanatics.

In 1994 in a case related to the question of acquisition of religious place by the State, the court said that every immovable property could be acquired. It observed that if prayer and worship can be done at any location that meant place of worship was not integral to prayer. Therefore, offering the ritual five-times-a-day namaz prayers at a mosque was not integral to Islam, unless the mosque had particular significance in Islam.
 
In 2010 the Allahabad High Court ordered the disputed site at Ayodhya to be divided into three parts — one for the Hindu deity Ram, another for Nirmohi Akhara — a Hindu sect — and the third for Muslims.
 
The Muslim community challenged the verdict, asking the Supreme Court to hear the case with a larger bench of seven judges, as the case relates to a land belonging to a mosque and has implications for the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion.
 
On Thursday, the Supreme court rejected setting up a larger bench, and decided not to adjust the 1994 court ruling.
 
“All religions, all mosques, temples and churches are equal. We have already noticed all religious places are liable to be acquired as per the 1994 verdict,” said Justice Ashok Bhushan. 

While accepting that the 1994 verdict that a mosque was not necessary for prayer was “questionable,” he added that this “fact does not apply to the title dispute” in the Babri mosque case.
 
Justice S. Abdul Nazeer disagreed with the two judges and said “whether mosque is integral to Islam has to be decided considering belief of religion and it requires detailed consideration.”
 
Advocate Hejaz Maqbool, representing some of the Muslim bodies in the Ayodhya dispute, told Arab News: “Today’s verdict is not a setback and the court said that whatever has been observed in the 1994 judgment will not be an issue in deciding the title suit of the Ayodhya dispute.”
 
But Aatekha Khan, a Delhi-based academician, said she was “disappointed” at the “double standard practiced by the Supreme Court on the crucial issue that affects Muslims emotionally.”
 
“Vested interests were trying to get the verdict delayed by raising one issue or the other, but the apex court has cleared the way for the final verdict of the Ayodhya dispute,” said Sudesh Verma, Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson.
 
He told Arab News: “We are confident that justice will be done now after the issue of whether offering prayer in a mosque is an integral part of Islam or not has been settled.”
 
So far there has been no official reaction from the opposition Congress party. However, a senior Congress party leader, on the condition of anonymity, told Arab News: “The BJP, which was on a back foot on the issue of corruption in the defense deal, has got an issue to polarize the coming election.”
 
Political analyst Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay observed: “It is very unfortunate that we have a split verdict in the Supreme Court. Two judges who are Hindu said that mosques are not central to practicing Islam, one judge who has a reservation, is a Muslim. It is not very healthy sign for the republic. It is a sad commentary on the state we have come to.”
 
“Temple is a live issue. It has come back to the national focus and it serves the political objective of the BJP,” added Mukhopadhyay.


At least 2 dead and 12 missing after a fishing boat sinks off South Korea’s Jeju island

Updated 18 sec ago
Follow

At least 2 dead and 12 missing after a fishing boat sinks off South Korea’s Jeju island

  • Nearby fishing vessels managed to pull 15 crew members out of the water, but two of them were later pronounced dead
  • 27 crew members were on the 129-tonne boat, which left Jeju’s Seogwipo port late Thursday to catch mackerel
SEOUL: A fishing boat capsized and sank off the coast of South Korea’s Jeju island Friday, leaving at least two people dead and 12 others unaccounted for, coast guard officials said.
Nearby fishing vessels managed to pull 15 crew members out of the water, but two of them were later pronounced dead after being brought to shore. The other 13 did not sustain life-threatening injuries, said Kim Han-na, an official at Jeju’s coast guard.
She said 27 crew members – 16 South Korean nationals and 11 foreigners – were on the 129-tonne boat, which left Jeju’s Seogwipo port late Thursday to catch mackerel. The coast guard received a distress signal at around 4:30 a.m. Friday from a nearby fishing vessel that conducted rescue efforts as the boat sank 24 kilometers northwest of the island.
At least 11 vessels and nine aircraft from South Korea’s coast guard, police, fire service and military were deployed as of Friday morning to search for survivors. They were being assisted by 13 civilian vessels.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called for officials to mobilize all available resources to find and rescue the missing crew members, his office said.

South Korea holds missile drill after North Korea launches

Updated 3 min 35 sec ago
Follow

South Korea holds missile drill after North Korea launches

SEOUL: South Korea fired a ballistic missile into the sea in a show of force after North Korea’s recent salvo of missile launches, Seoul said Friday.
The nuclear-armed North had test-fired what it said was its most advanced and powerful solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) as well as a number of short-range ballistic missiles in separate drills over the last two weeks.
South Korea’s military command said its live-fire exercise was aimed at demonstrating its “strong resolve to firmly respond to any North Korean provocation.”
It also underlined its “capability and readiness for precision strikes against the enemy’s origin of provocation,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff added.
A Hyunmoo surface-to-surface short-range missile was sent into the West Sea in the exercise, the military command said.
South Korea started domestic production of short-range ballistic missiles in the 1970s to counter the threats posed by North Korea.
Hyunmoo are a series of missiles which are key to the country’s so-called ‘Kill Chain’ preemptive strike system, which allows Seoul to launch a preemptive attack if there are signs of imminent North Korean attack.
In early October, the country displayed for the first time its largest ballistic missile, the Hyunmoo-5, which is capable of destroying underground bunkers.
Last Sunday, South Korea, Japan and the United States conducted a joint air drill involving a US B-1B bomber, South Korean F-15K and KF-16 fighter jets, and Japanese F-2 jets, in response to the North’s ICBM launch.
Such joint drills infuriate Pyongyang, which views them as rehearsals for invasion.
Kim Yo Jong, sister of the country’s leader and a key spokesperson, called the US-South Korea-Japan exercises an “action-based explanation of the most hostile and dangerous aggressive nature of the enemy toward our Republic.”
The drill was an “absolute proof of the validity and urgency of the line of building up the nuclear forces we have opted for and put into practice,” she added.

Taiwan coast guard offers rewards for spotting foreign ships

Updated 16 min 20 sec ago
Follow

Taiwan coast guard offers rewards for spotting foreign ships

  • Taiwan’s coast guard said Friday it will reward people who report the presence of foreign military ships, including those from China

TAIPEI: Taiwan’s coast guard said Friday it will reward people who report the presence of foreign military ships, including those from China, in waters around the island, as it seeks the public’s help with monitoring “abnormal” activity.
China regularly deploys fighter jets, navy ships and coast guard vessels around Taiwan to press its claims of sovereignty over the island, which Taipei’s government rejects.
Taiwan is massively outgunned by China, which has refused to renounce the use of force to bring the island under its control.
“The Coast Guard’s manpower is limited but the people power at sea is unlimited,” Taiwan’s coast guard said in a statement announcing the rewards.
The coast guard called on people, including fishers, to “stay vigilant to abnormal maritime activities” to help counter the growing “threats from the sea” and “all kinds of grey zone harassment tactics” — actions that fall short of an act of war.
People who reported homicide, piracy, arson and kidnapping to the coast guard could receive up to NT$200,000 ($6,200), while reports of Chinese “stowaways” would be rewarded with NT$50,000, and NT$10,000 for other foreign stowaways.
Verified reports to the coast guard about foreign and Chinese military ships and other vessels would be rewarded with NT$3,000.
China maintains a near-daily presence of naval vessels and warplanes around the island.
Chinese coast guard ships have also been spotted around Taiwan’s outlying islands, at times briefly entering its restricted waters.
A series of incidents involving boats from both sides have fueled tensions across the narrow waterway separating Taiwan and China.
A Taiwanese court in September sentenced a former Chinese naval captain to eight months in prison for illegally entering the island by boat.


Salman Rushdie’s ‘Satanic Verses’ can be imported in India as court told 1988 ban order untraceable

Updated 57 min 30 sec ago
Follow

Salman Rushdie’s ‘Satanic Verses’ can be imported in India as court told 1988 ban order untraceable

  • India-born British author’s novel was banned by India in 1988 after some Muslims viewed it as blasphemous
  • Salman Rushdie’s fourth fictional novel ran into a global controversy shortly after its publication in September 1988

NEW DELHI: India’s three-decade ban on importing author Salman Rushdie’s controversial ‘The Satanic Verses’ book has effectively been lifted after a court said the government was unable to produce the original notification that imposed the ban.
The India-born British author’s novel was banned by India in 1988 after some Muslims viewed it as blasphemous. The Delhi High Court was hearing a 2019 case challenging the import ban of the book in India.
According to a Nov. 5 court order, India’s government told the Delhi High Court that the import ban order “was untraceable and, therefore could not be produced.”
As a result, the court said it had “no other option except to presume that no such notification exists.”
“The ban has been lifted as of Nov. 5 because there is no notification,” Uddyam Mukherjee, lawyer for petitioner Sandipan Khan, said.
India’s interior and finance ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Khan’s plea said he approached the court after being told at bookstores that the novel could not be sold or imported in India and then when he searched, he could not find the official import ban order on the government websites.
Even in court the government has been unable to produce the order, he said.
“None of the respondents could produce the said notification ... in fact the purported author of the said notification has also shown his helplessness in producing a copy,” the Nov. 5 order noted, referring to the customs department official who drafted the order.
Rushdie’s fourth fictional novel ran into a global controversy shortly after its publication in September 1988, as some Muslims saw passages about Prophet Muhammad as blasphemous.
It sparked violent demonstrations and book burnings across the Muslim world, including in India, which has the world’s third largest Muslim population.
In 1989, Iran’s then supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa, or religious edict, calling on Muslims to assassinate Rushdie, sending the Booker Prize-winning author into hiding for six years.
In August 2022, about 33 years after the fatwa, Rushdie was stabbed on stage during a lecture in New York, which left him blind in one eye and affected the use of one of his hands.


Maccabi Tel Aviv fans clash with reported pro-Palestinian protesters at Ajax Europa League match

Updated 10 min 49 sec ago
Follow

Maccabi Tel Aviv fans clash with reported pro-Palestinian protesters at Ajax Europa League match

  • Israel’s PM aware of ‘very violent incident’ against Israelis in Amsterdam
  • Netanyahu directed that two rescue planes be sent immediately to assist citizens there

AMSTERDAM: Supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv clashed with apparent pro-Palestinian protesters before and after a Europa League soccer match between their team and Ajax outside the Dutch team’s home stadium in Amsterdam on Thursday night, media and officials said.
The clashes reportedly erupted despite a ban on a pro-Palestinian demonstration imposed by Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema, who had feared that clashes would break out between protesters and supporters of the Israeli soccer club.
Details of the incidents remained unclear, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been informed of the details of “a very violent incident” targeting Israeli citizens in Amsterdam, his office said on Friday.
He directed that two rescue planes be sent immediately to assist citizens there, it added in a statement.
Israel’s national security ministry has also urged its citizens in Amsterdam to stay in their hotel rooms following the attacks, the prime minister’s office said in a second statement.
“Fans who went to see a football game, encountered anti-Semitism and were attacked with unimaginable cruelty just because of their Jewishness and Israeliness,” Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in a post on X.

Israeli media reported that Netanyahu also called his Dutch counterpart about them.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has asked the Dutch government to help Israeli citizens arrive safely at the airport, Saar told his Dutch counterpart Caspar Veldkamp in a phone call on Friday.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, also condemned the violence in a post on the social media platform X.
There were no immediate reports of arrests or injuries from the clashes outside the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam, the city’s main arena and Ajax’s home stadium. Ajax won the Europa League match 5-0 after leading 3-0 at halftime.