LUCKNOW, March 15: Archaeologists began digging at new sites in Ayodhya on Saturday in a hunt for possible remains of a Hindu temple whose disputed existence sparked some of India’s worst Hindu-Muslim clashes.

A government archaeologist said they had begun digging four new squares, each with sides four metres long, at the site where some Hindus say Muslim rulers razed a temple in the 16th century to build a mosque in Ayodhya town.

The mosque was destroyed in 1992 by a frenzied Hindu mob, using sledgehammers, crowbars and their bare hands, sparking India’s worst riots since independence. About 3,000 mostly Muslims were killed.

The official said digging remained suspended at two of four original sites where the excavation began, after the team struck a hard surface barely eight centimetres below the ground.

“Since the hard surface turned out to be the Babri Mosque floor that had got buried under its debris, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) considered it necessary to seek fresh directives of the High Court before piercing through it,” a senior government official told Reuters.

The digging follows a state court order giving the ASI four weeks to excavate for the temple which Hindus believe was built on the spot where the god-king Ram, one of the chief gods in the pantheon, was born.

The ruling came in a bid to settle a half-century-old legal wrangle.

Muslims say there is no proof the temple existed, but have said they will abide by any Supreme Court decision.

If proof of a temple is found, Hindus could use that to try to persuade the court to allow a new one to be built.

Zafaryab Jilani, lawyer for a Muslim body that is a party to the dispute, objected to the absence of Muslim labourers in the excavating team.

“Since the excavations were aimed at digging out the truth — whether the disputed site belonged to a temple or to a mosque — it was inappropriate to have labourers just belonging to one of the two communities engaged for the task,” Mr Jilani said.

“I have submitted my objections in writing to the ASI team,” he added. He rejected reports that Muslim labourers had declined to join the dig.

The dig’s labour contractor told reporters in Ayodhya it was “just a matter of chance that there were no Muslims in the team engaged so far”.

It was wrong to believe Muslims had been excluded or had refused to sign up, he ad-ded.

ASI officials also denied they had deliberately kept Muslim labourers out of the excavating team.—Reuters