June 16, 2003	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 15, 1424

LUCKNOW, June 15: An influential Muslim body on Sunday accused an archeological team of carrying out unscientific excavations at the site of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya.

Militant Hindus want to build a temple at the site, but the dispute is now in the hands of the courts which have ordered an excavation to determine the ownership claims of the Muslim and Hindu communities.

Hindu zealots razed the 16th-century Babri mosque in Ayodhya in 1992 — sparking riots which left thousands dead — and hardline groups argue there was previously a pre-historic temple to their mythological warrior lord Ram on the site.

The Central Sunni Waqf board’s counsel, Zafaryab Jilani, on Sunday handed a letter to official observers saying that the different layers of soil being dug at the site in Ayodhya were not being labelled properly.

They threatened to take legal action against the state-run Archeological Survey of India (ASI), which has been entrusted with the work.—AFP