March 6, 2003	Thursday	Muharram 2, 1424

LUCKNOW, March 5: An Indian court ordered archaeologists on Wednesday to excavate the site of a razed mosque to find out if a temple existed there before the Babri mosque was built hundreds of years ago as claimed by hardline Hindus.

A three-judge bench of the Uttar Pradesh state high court said the Archaeological Survey of India should start excavations at the site within a week “to find the truth in regard to rival contentions of the parties” to the dispute.

The bitter row over the site in the Uttar Pradesh town of Ayodhya, about 650kms southeast of Delhi, triggered a religious divide in the country and caused clashes that killed about 3,000 people after Hindu mobs destroyed the mosque in 1992.

Hindu militants built a makeshift temple on the site, but have since been barred by the supreme court from any further construction.

Hardline groups affiliated to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party say god-king Ram was born on the site of the Babri mosque thousands of years ago and accuse Muslim rulers of destroying a temple in the 16th century for building the mosque.

Militant Hindu groups want to rebuild the temple and last week announced a new campaign to press the government to allow construction even as courts decide the dispute.—Reuters