Christians express mixed reaction on Ayodhya verdict

Church leaders in India have offered a mixed reaction over the Allahabad high court's verdict in the Ayodhya title suit on Thursday.

The Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi dispute is patently based on populist and political sensitivities, rather than on points of law, says All India Christian Council secretary general John Dayal.

The judges have given a "legal cloak to popular Hindu mythology and faith that the Lord Rama was born at the very spot where the mosque was built over the ruins of a Hindu temple sometime in 1528 AD during the reign of Emperor Babar," he expressed.

"The fractured judgment â€" Justice Sharma took an absolute and unabashed pro-Hindu line while the other two appeared to give somewhat more consideration to the arguments of both Hindus and Muslims â€" does not bring a closure to the dispute as an appeal in the Supreme Court is inevitable," he said.

"The major disturbing signal from the judgment is that the courts in India are not ruling anymore on points of law, but on the feelings and faith of people, which gives the majority community an extraordinary power in a multi cultural nation such as India," he continued.

"It can, I fear, have serious implications in inter community disputes of this nature in the future."

The Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), meanwhile, hailed the verdict and said it was a welcome sign to move forward on the path of reconciliation and harmony.

"We hope that peace and amity will prevail between the two communities and this will hopefully pave the way for finding a lasting solution to the problem," CBCI spokesman Rev. Babu Joseph told IANS.

A Jesuit centre for human rights as well praised the verdict terming it "historic".

"For sixty years, the country has held its breath waiting for this day. We all need to respect the judgment and ensure that peace and harmony reign in every corner of our beloved country," said Fr Cedric Prakash, director of "Prashanth".

"This is not the time for recriminations or for revenge. There should be a new determination to go on ahead where we can all truly accept each other as God's children and as brothers and sisters, of this great land," he urged.

"The time has now come to close the chapter of a sad and violent history of India and to begin a new chapter where communal harmony, peace and fraternity triumph."

Hundreds of thousands of police and paramilitary forces were deployed across the country to prevent any untoward incident on Thursday.

According to the court's ruling, the controversial site in Ayodhya would be split, with one third going to Muslims and the rest to Hindus.

Thousands of people have died in sectarian violence since Hindu extremists razed a Muslim mosque on the site in 1992.