The Hindu : U.P. Govt. orders eviction of kar sevaks from Ayodhya

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 01, 2002

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U.P. Govt. orders eviction of kar sevaks from Ayodhya
By Our Special Correspondent

LUCKNOW, FEB. 28. The Uttar Pradesh Government today ordered strict measures to curb Vishwa Hindu Parishad activities in Ayodhya and disperse the ``kar sevaks'' who have already assembled there for participation in the ``Ramnam Purnahuti Yagna''.

The State Principal Secretary (Home), Naresh Dayal, told newspersons here that the Government was keeping a strict vigil on the law and order situation and everything would be done to maintain the status quo at the disputed site in Ayodhya to honour court orders. Orders had been issued under Section 144 Cr.P.C. to prevent the gathering of VHP activists anywhere in the temple town and the taking of out carved stones from the VHP workshop would not be permitted in any case.

Efforts were being made to send back the ``kar sevaks'', who had already converged on Ayodhya and force might also be used, if necessary, to evict them.

The Centre has already instructed all State Governments to prevent ``kar sevaks'' from proceeding to Ayodhya through the rail route. The U.P. Government had directed the District Magistrates and Superintendents of Police to carry out intensive searches of buses and trains and stop the ``kar sevaks'' from going ahead within the limit of every district. The routes of some trains have also been changed to prevent their reaching Ayodhya.

Mr. Dayal said that 10,000 ``kar sevaks'' were present in Ayodhya on Wednesday. About 1,000 others had reached there by evening. Now the borders of Faizabad district had been sealed and no vehicular traffic was allowed to enter the city without checking.

The U.P. Government has especially been concerned at intelligence reports suggesting that Lashkar-e-Taiba activists were likely to attack ``kar sevaks'' in the temple town. These terrorist might try to reach Ayodhya in the garb of VHP volunteers. The Administration has, therefore, decided to frisk every VHP activist entering Ayodhya.

The Regional Organising Secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Lucknow, Purushottam Narain Singh, meanwhile, has condemned the Centre and the U.P. Government for preventing ``kar sevaks'' from reaching Ayodhya.

He announced plans to organise condolence meetings to pay tributes to ``kar sevaks'' killed at Godhra in Gujarat yesterday in every district headquarters from tomorrow. The VHP has also called a ``Bharat bandh'' tomorrow.

He alleged that the U.P. Government had laid a siege on karsewakpuram at Ayodhya which had created scarcity of food and medicines within the campus.

Mr. Singh also claimed that the killing of ``kar sevaks'' at Godhra was a planned activity executed at the behest of Pakistan.

Security tightened

PTI reports from Faizabad

About 7,000 security personnel were deployed in and around Ayodhya and its borders sealed as authorities today vowed to prevent `Kar sevaks'' from carrying carved pillars to the disputed site for construction of the proposed ram temple.

No vehicle was allowed into Faizabad and Ayodhya from adjoining areas including Barabanki, Ambedkarnagar and Sultanpur districts, the Commissioner, Faizabad division, A.K.Gupta told reporters. Patrolling was intensified in the entire area.

``There are clear orders from the Government not to allow carved stones to be taken out from the workshops in Ayodhya and the Supreme Court's orders of status quo in Ayodhya will be maintained,'' the Additional Director General of Police (law and order), A.K. Mitra, said.

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