Syed Firdaus Ashraf walks the streets of Mahim, where Yakub Memon grew up and lived till the day before the serial blasts in 1993, on the day Yakub was hanged and discovers an undercurrent of unease and restrained anger.
Here is the chronology of events in the Ayodhya Ram temple issue.
Mani Shankar Aiyar says the Congress party and not then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was responsible for unlocking the Babri Masjid gates and claimed that the "Bharatiya Janata Party-planted" Arun Nehru was behind it.
A revealing excerpt from Mani Shankar Aiyar's fascinating new book, The Rajiv I Knew.
Representatives of the Shia community on Wednesday flatly rejected Vishwa Hindu Parishad chief Ashok Singhal's offer to hold talks on the Ayodhya issue.Singhal had said that since the Allahabad high court had dismissed the Sunni Waqf Board's suit staking claim to the disputed Ramjanma bhoomi- Babri Masjid land in Ayodhya, the VHP would now hold talks with Shia organisations. "The VHP is now trying to incite a confrontation between Shias and Sunnis," said a Shia cleric.
'This evidence is important to solve the dispute.'
In the wake of the Liberhan commision's report being tabled in Parliament, Sharat Pradhan recounts the day the Babri Masjid was felled.
'The Congress and the BJP are both pro-foreign and pro-rich. They should merge. They are not allowing space to pro-poor voices. If you do this, you are leading people to anarchist forces.'
Centre's counsel Lala Ram Gupta told the Liberhan Commission that the issue is whether a temple existed on the disputed site before the construction of the Babri Mosque.
The verdict by a special court in the Babri Masjid demolition case comes 28 years after kar sevaks razed the 16th century mosque and almost a year after the Supreme Court settled the land case in favour of a Ram temple at the disputed Ayodhya site.
The Ayodhya issue is unlikely to die out anytime soon with parties vying to appropriate majority sentiments in varying proportions to suit their political agendas.
Sources said the parties have sought settlement under the provisions of The Places of Worship Act, 1991 which provides that no dispute with regard to any mosque or other religious places, which have been constructed after demolition of temples and are existing as in 1947, would be raised in a court of law.
The apex court had on July 11 sought a report on the mediation process and said that a day-to-day hearing might commence from July 25 if the court decides to conclude the mediation proceedings.
Here is a timeline of the second-lengthiest case in the apex court history:
The Supreme Court constituted three-member mediation committee, tasked with exploring the possibility of an amicable settlement in the decades-old, politically sensitive, Ayodhya's Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case, has submitted its interim report in a sealed cover.
The apex court requested the committee to inform it by August 1 about the outcome of the proceedings held till July 31.
The lawyers said the mediation panel's report was leaked to the media and they do not approve the procedures adopted in the process and the suggested compromise formula of withdrawal of the lawsuit.
The Akhara counsel told the apex court that their suit was basically for belongings, possession and management rights.
The following is the chronology of events related to the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute in which, after the Supreme Court verdict, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday conducted the 'Bhoomi Pujan' or ground breaking ceremony and laid the foundation stone for the temple's construction.
The counsel appearing for both the Hindu and Muslim parties expressed confidence over the ongoing mediation proceedings and said they are fully cooperating with the process.
'Does a secular nation not believe in its ancestry? The Constitution has a photo of Ram also.'
The SC also said that if parties to the case want to amicably resolve the matter through mediation, they can still go ahead with it.
The bench said after perusing the report, if it came to a conclusion that an amicable solution through mediation was not possible, then the apex court would commence day-to-day hearing in the matter from July 25.
Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, representing the Muslim parties in the case, tore up a pictorial map.
"I am supporting the Hindu side," lawyer M C Dhingra, appearing for Shia Wakf Board, told the bench.
Mir Baki was not the commander who had led the invasion on Ayodhya, Mishra said leading the bench to ask him as to what he was trying to prove by referring to these historical books.
'Akahara' apprised a 5-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, of its stand following a direction whether it opposes the plea of the deity in view of the fact that its right as 'shebait' (devotee) over the property can only stand if the lawsuit of 'Ram Lalla Virajman' is allowed.
'Whether Lord Ram is a historical person is not the subject before the court.' 'The court was asking every time if can anyone show the exact birthplace of Lord Ram on the basis of documents.' 'I have shown that on the basis of documents. And these documents are not (based) on my beliefs.'
'Babur has been facing gross historical injustice for the last two centuries, when he had no role either in the demolition of any temple or in the construction of the so-called Babri mosque at Ayodhya.'
The bench directed that the mediation will be held at Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh and the process should start within a week from Friday.
The judgment in the matter is to be pronounced by November 17, the day the CJI will retire.
The apex court said the parties in the matter should be ready to start the hearing on the appeals which are before it.
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