A large number of shops and other business establishments remained closed on Thursday, in connection with the 26th anniversary of Babri Masjid demolition. However, the city remained peaceful.
Several shops and garment showrooms in the important business areas of the old city such as Madina, Gulzar Houz and Pathergatti downed their shutters and the movement of vehicles in these areas was lesser than usual.
Earlier in the day, police prevented Darsgah-e-Jihad-o-Shahadat activists from staging a protest and quickly took them into custody. Other parts of the old city such as Shamsheer Gunj, Shalibanda, Falaknuma, Hussaini Alam, Bahadurpura, Aliabad, Etebar Chowk, the Bada Bazaar area in Yakutpura, Talab Katta, Kalapather, Barkas and Saidabad too remained largely closed for business.
Meanwhile, the Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee (CLMC) in a press release issued on Thursday termed the demolition of the Babri Masjid as a ‘blot on Indian democracy and secularism’. It also stated that the demolition was an attack on the identity of Muslims and demanded that the Centre and judiciary fulfil their responsibilities to protect peace and justice. The CLMC also demanded that the those responsible for the demolition be punished.
The Jamiat-e-Ulama Hind Telangana and Andhra Pradesh (Arshad Madani group) general secretary Mufti Mahmood Zubair said that the Babri Masjid case, which he described as a title suit, is being heard is the Supreme Court. The decision of the court should be respected, he said, and hoped that the judgment would be delivered on the basis of documents.