The international reaction to the demolition of Babri Mosque criticised the Government of India for failing to stop the demolition and subsequent communal violence, but also included widespread retaliatory attacks on Hindus by Muslims in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
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The city of Ayodhya is regarded by Hindus to be the birthplace of the God-King Rama, the eighth Avatara of Lord Vishnu and is regarded as one of India's most sacred and religious sites.[1] In 1528, after the Mughal invasion, a mosque was built by Mughal general Mir Banki, who reportedly destroyed a pre-existing temple of Rama at the site, and named it after Emperor Babur.[2] Hindu activists began a long-standing political, legal, and religious campaign to reclaim the site of the mosque to build a new temple to commemorate Ram Janmabhoomi (Birthplace of Rama). On 6 December 1992, a large gathering of an estimated 150,000 Hindu activists that had been promised to be peaceful and orderly degenerated quickly. A large number of people broke the erected barriers and demolished the mosque structure.[3]
In Pakistan, the government closed offices and schools on 7 December to protest the demolition of the Babri Mosque.[4] The Pakistani Foreign Ministry summoned the Indian ambassador to formally complain, and promised to appeal to the United Nations and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference to pressure India to protect the rights of Muslims.[4] Strikes were held across the country while Muslim mobs attacked and destroyed as many as 30 temples in one day by means of fire and bulldozers. Muslim mobs also stormed the office of Air India, India's national airline in Lahore.[4] The retaliatory attacks included rhetoric from mobs calling for the destruction of India and of Hinduism.[4]
Students from the Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad burned an effigy of the then-prime minister of India, P.V. Narasimha Rao and called for "holy war" against Hindus.[4] In subsequent years, thousands of Pakistani Hindus visiting India sought longer visas and Indian citizenship, citing increased harassment and discrimination in the aftermath of the Babri Mosque demolition.[5]
In December 1992, Muslims attacked and burnt down Hindu temples, shops, and houses across the country.[6] An India-Bangladesh cricket match was disrupted when a crowd of an estimated 5,000 men tried to storm into the Bangabandhu National Stadium in the national capital of Dhaka.[6] The Dhaka office of Air India was stormed and destroyed.[4] Ten people were reportedly killed. Many Hindu women were raped, and hundreds of Hindu temples and homes were destroyed.[6] The aftermath of the violence forced the Bangladeshi Hindu community to curtail the 1993 celebrations of Durga Puja. They called for the destroyed temples to be repaired and investigations be held regarding the atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh.[6]
The attacks on the Bangladeshi Hindu community were described in a 1993 novel, Lajja ("Shame"), by Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen. The book is about the persecution of a Hindu family by Muslims in Bangladesh in the post-Babri Mosque demolition period. The publication of the novel led to calls from Muslims to ban the book and led to death threats against Nasrin by Islamic organisations.[7][8][9]
The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, condemned the demolition but in milder terms than those expressed in Pakistan and Bangladesh.[4] He called upon India to do more to protect Muslims.
At its summit meeting in Abu Dhabi, the Gulf Cooperation Council strongly condemned the Babri Mosque demolition. It adopted a resolution which described the act as a "crime against Muslim holy places."[10] Among its member states, Saudi Arabia severely condemned the act.[10] The United Arab Emirates, home to large expatriate communities of Indians and Pakistanis, conveyed a more moderate reaction.[10] In response, the Indian government criticized the GCC for what it regarded as interference in its internal affairs.[10]
Although its government condemned the events in moderate terms, the UAE experienced severe public disturbances due to the demolition of the Babri Mosque.[11] Street protests broke out, and protesters threw stones at a Hindu temple and the Indian Consulate in Dubai.[11] In Al-Ain, 250 kms east of Abu Dhabi, angry mobs set fire to the girls wing of an Indian school.[11] In response to the violence, UAE police arrested and deported many expatriate Pakistanis and Indians who had participated in the violence. The Commander-in-Chief of the Dubai police force, Dhahi Khalfan, condemned the violence by foreign nationals in his country.[11]