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- Ayodhya, Dec. 6, 1992
In Ayodhya in northern India, a militant Hindu stands astride the three-domed Babri Mosque, which many Hindus believe to be birthplace of the god, Lord Rama. On Dec. 6, 1992, thousands of Hindu extremists, armed with hammers and crowbars clambered atop the 430-year-old mosque and began dismantling it. Within hours, they had razed the structure to the ground, clearing the site for a proposed Hindu temple. The destruction of the mosque prompted one of India's worst religious riots, in which more than 2,000 people died across the country. Photo: AP-Photo/Udo Weitz
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- Muslim Protest
A Muslim activist shouts anti-government slogans while brandishing a photograph of the demolished Babri Mosque. Activists had gathered in India's capital, New Delhi, to mark the seventh anniversary of the mosque's destruction and to protest the plan of militant Hindus to build a temple on the site. Photo: Reuters/Kamal Kishore
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- Hindu Processions
Hindu activists mark the seventh anniversary of Ayodhya in New Delhi, Dec. 6, 1999. Appearing in the guise of the monkey god Hanuman and Lord Rama, these protestors shout religious slogans at a rally near India's parliament in New Delhi. The Hindu nationalist group Shiv Sena organized the rally to voice support for the plan to build a temple in Ayodhya. Photo: Reuters/Kamal Kishore
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- Muslim Attack
On Feb. 27, 2002, a passenger train burns out of control in the Indian city of Godhra. Hindu activists returning from a temple rally in Ayodhya were attacked by a Muslim mob, as their train passed through the state of Gujarat. Fifty-eight people died in the attack, which was reminiscent of train attacks that occurred during the mass migrations following India's 1947 partition. Speaking within hours of the attack, the Hindu nationalist group Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) announced that temple construction would begin as scheduled on March 15. Photo: Reuters
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- Ahmedabad, March, 2, 2002
An Indian soldier patrols on the outskirts of the Indian city of Ahmedabad as smoke rises in the background from fires set in the city's Muslim neighborhood. In the following week, more than 600 Muslims died in communal riots across the state of Gujarat. Photo: Reuters/Kamal Kishore
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- A Cry for Help
On March 1, 2002, an Indian Muslim surrounded by a Hindu mob in Ahmedabad begs for assistance from Indian paramilitaries. The forces, Rapid Action Force, interceded and according to Reuters the man in this photo escaped injury. Photo: Reuters/Arko Datta
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- Hundreds Dead
By March 6, 2002, as relief workers searched burned-out buildings for victims, the Muslim death toll from communal violence in the Indian state of Gujarat climbed above 600. Here, workers arrange burned corpses at the Kalandari Masjit Momim Jamat burial ground in Ahmedabad. Photo: Reuters/Pawel Kopczynski
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- Thousands Homeless
A Muslim grandfather and grandson stoop amid the wreckage of their family home on March 4, 2002. According to Reuters, six other family members perished when anti-Muslim violence broke out in their village of Sasen Nava, 170 miles from Ahmedabad. Photo: Reuters
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- Unresolved
On March 14, 2002, Ramchandra Das Paramhans holds a news conference with Ashok Singhal (right), International President of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) in Ayodhya. Paramhans, age 92, is a key supporter of the Hindu nationalist plan to build a temple on the site of the destroyed Babri Mosque. In this conference, he announced that his supporters would pray at the site the following day despite an Indian Supreme Court verdict forbidding them to do so. (According to Reuters, the prayers proceeded without incident on March 15.) Photo: Reuters/Jason Reed
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- National Dilemma
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee (left) and Indian External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh appear at a press conference in New Delhi on February 27, 2002. At the conference, Vajpayee, a member of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), assured opposition parties that his government would not allow construction of a temple in or around the disputed site of Ayodhya. Photo: Reuters/Pawel Kopczynski
10 Responses to “Photo Essay: A Nation Divided”
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Why that happened in India only?
Muslims are living under lots of pressure.
They can’t get independency till the India had independent in 1947.
Please change the caption of photo#4.
According to the findings of the official inquiry in
the Train Burning incident,it was caused by a passenger of the train when he tried to cook food on a burning stove in the running train.
who is saying that muslims are living in pressure in india. we are represent following some point
(1)in india we provide reservation to muslims peaple and hindu general catagary people did not provide reservation.
(2) we provide him full facility means he have fully free to do any thing
he can make his orgnisation,he can go hi temple or whatever
(3)and there are many other facility thats provide muslims people in india , aur phir bhi wo khte hai ki india mai hum preassure mai hai, bhai tu ye bta tujhe kis bat ka preassure hai,abhi america mai hote to wo….
and other thing agar aap soch rhe hai ki pakistan is good country to bhai wha chle jao kisi ne roka nhi.
(1) in the pakistan pakistan goverment take tex from hindu and sikhs, in s from of “JAJIYA KAR”.
(2)in india we provide muslims people voter id and over all full goverment facility but in pakistan have not provide any facility to hindu aur muslims.
(3) in india any persons pray to our god but in pakistan there are few tample and that is rectricted to hindu.
ye to rhi faltu ki bate,bahi jise to milta hai ue wo kam lgta hai kisi ne shi hi kha hai,
“there is not end of disire”
my most of friend muslims, so muslims are not pressure in india so change ur mind OK.
“jai shri ram”
hey….m a muslim and i enjoy every moment which i spnd in india vd my frndzz nd family…….people loves to live here and respect itss civilization………… so plzz don’ divide it here also……….jai hind…..
india me 1992 se pehle shanti thi,hindu muslim dono aram se reh rahey they,,lekin jab,jab babri masjid demolish ke gaye,,,tab se india ka mohal kharab hua hai..aur iske peechey rrs n bj p walo ka haath hai,,unhone aapna ko power mein rakhney ke liya,,hinduo ke hamdardi lene ke liya yeh sab kiya,,,
we are muslims we should have saber(patience)over the problems which comes in life and should get help from namaz, history shows that kafer always tried to domenate muslims…they will pay for these in hell
peace be upon you..i’m a muslim in kurdistan north of iraq..me bhot mohabat india..and my dearest and nearest friend is in india his name is pankaj ..he is hindu but he is love muslim ,, oh indian ,, live 2gether in your parades.
Good Pics. I wonder the people of India will ever know the driving force behind the violence. Thumbs up for the few who control so many Indian minds; pity on the people who will never understand who is controlling them.
This evel work is done and engineered by POLITICIANS and v innocent people do what they make us to do, they treat us like a puppet.
SHAME ON INDIAN POLITICIANS, and i dont need to name a few, every body know thm.
We r brothers, we have same blood :)
Peace.
The country would be a more peaceful place without political factions or organized religion getting us to kill each other to serve their purpose, to control us with their ignorance.RELIGION is nothing but a tool for the wicked to manipulate the ignorant masses,blinded by scriputres….why should we blindly follow the written words,instead of opening our eyes to the truth around us.RELIGION is a cancer that plagues our society….we would have been better off without it!