1992 mosque attack probe implicates India's top leaders

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http://www.indiaenews.com/politics/20091124/233508.htm


Liberhan Commission Report Says Babri Masjid Demolition Done With ‘Military Precision’

India News, 24 November 2009


Severely indicting the Uttar Pradesh administration under then chief minister Kalyan Singh for being "a willing ally and co-conspirator" in the [1992] razing of the Babri Masjid [in northern India], retired high court justice M.S. Liberhan in his report said the demolition was carried out with "military precision".

The report of the Liberhan Commission, which was tabled in parliament Tuesday, blamed senior police officials for toeing the line and acting as "uniformed karsevaks (supporters) rather than protectors" in allowing the demolition of the 16th century Babri Masjid.

"...December 6, 1992 saw a state of Uttar Pradesh unwilling and unable to uphold the majesty of the law. The ennui flowed from the very office of the chief minister downwards and infected the state's minions down till the bottom.

"The state had become a willing ally and co-conspirator in the joint common enterprise to announce the revival of a rabid breed of Hindutva, by demolishing the structure they had denounced as a symbol of Islam," said the 1,029-page report.

The report said the security apparatus was "shackled, hobbled and rendered nugatory by a systemic program of scaling down the security measure which would be deemed insufficient even in normal circumstances to regulate even a peaceful crowd much less deal with unexpected exigencies."

"When push came to shove, the senior police officials were at hand to ensure that their men toed the line and that the demolition of the disputed structure was allowed to go ahead with military precision as orchestrated by the leaders present at the spot and carried out by their henchmen whom they refused to identify even before me," the report said.

It blamed the then chief minister Kalyan Singh for focusing on assuming power by replacing the administrative and police officers who were "inclined to resist a change".

The result was that the police officials acted as "uniformed karsevaks (supporters) rather than protectors".

"The second step after ensuring the presence of a benign police and administrative setup was to ensure that the hands that wielded the batons and carried the guns were friendly to the karsevaks and did not pose any potential threat to the karseva," it added.

It mentions that the "rank and file" were given "unequivocal orders" to "desist from the use of force or resort to firing in any circumstances against the karsevaks or their leaders".

The report also points out that the closed circuit televisions and metal detectors were "intentionally rendered inoperative and ineffective by the administration".

Also, there was no video recording of the events, it said.

"...the results are a betrayal of the nation and of history."

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