New Delhi, Nov 26 (IANS) Justice M.S. Liberhan, who headed the commission that inquired into the Babri Masjid demolition, says that attempts were made to scuttle his probe that lasted 17 long years.

"I cannot restrain myself from observing that attempts were made to scuttle the commission," said Liberhan in his 1,000-page report on the demolition made public Tuesday.

Liberhan, in his Afterword chapter, held: "It was claimed that all relevant documents were produced and proper assistance in the conduct of the inquiry rendered. Yet at the end of the day, I have reason to believe that some things have still been withheld and the records were kept back from the commission."

Elsewhere, the report said: "The commission then issued notices for eliciting information and invited affidavits from the general public. Sadly, there were virtually none who came forth to provide any meaning or useful information. Despite repeated advertisements, no relevant information was forthcoming, not even any hearsay evidence or theories."

"Even the state and the union governments were not forthcoming with relevant records. The commission, therefore, had to turn to the public figures and request their appearance as witnesses for the purpose of ascertaining the facts," it added.

It said that the commission was left gasping for facts and supporting evidence and faced a blind wall situation.

"The procedural wrangling and the practical difficulties consumed a major part of the commission's time," the report added.

"After much persuasion, the central government had started examining its witnesses sporadically and with delays, and according to their own convenience and expediency. The central government took a number of years to examine a handful of witnesses, whose roles was limited just to the security aspects," he said.

"No attempts were made by the central government to examine anybody with respect to their role, facts, circumstances, environment or ambience generated, conspiracy or a joint common enterprise resulting in demolition."

Advani gets a pat from Liberhan

New Delhi, Nov 26 (IANS) Despite holding him guilty for the Babri mosque demolition, Justice M.S. Liberhan has praised Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani for cooperating with the commission.

"Persons like Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and (Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh's) K.S. Sudarshan appeared voluntarily and gave their statements despite their busy schedule and also cooperated in replying to the relevant and sometimes irrlevant and even the philosophical questions asked by the layers," Liberhan said in his report on the Babri mosque razing made public Tuesday.

He also expressed gratitude to former prime ministers P.V. Narasimha Rao and V.P. Singh, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh, Communist Party of India-Marxist's (CPI-M) Jyoti Basu and former home minister S.B. Chavan "who deposed before the commission voluntarily although they had stay orders from high courts in their favour".

Liberhan included Advani, Joshi and Sudarshan among the 68 people listed in the inquiry report for creating conditions that led to the break-up of the 16th century Babri mosque in Ayodhya on Dec 6, 1992.

Liberhan suggests revamp of civil, police recruitment

New Delhi, Nov 26 (IANS) The recruitment into the civil and police services should be extensively revamped and aptitude, education and experience should be preferred over academic excellence, the Liberhan Commission that probed the Babri Masjid demolition has recommended.

The commission, whose report was tabled in parliament Tuesday, said the police and bureaucracy face a crisis of confidence and general public does not trust them either.

"The nexus between the politician and the policemen or the bureaucrats needs to be disrupted. The confidence of the common man needs to be restored. Experts have already written lengthy monographs on the subjects and suggested specific changes. We need to ensure that these reforms are undertaken holistically at the earliest," the report said.

The commission said the root cause of the problem may possibly lie in the very process which is used to recruit these officers.

"Just as in areas requiring excellence such as the profession of medicine, the profession of governance cannot admit of candidates whose merit is not of proven providence," the report said.

"It may be particularly useful to conduct periodic exercises of screening the members of the civil and police services to identify and weed out the communal and biased elements."

Ex-counsel says Liberhan's comments on him are 'vile'

New Delhi, Nov 26 (IANS) The former counsel to the Liberhan Commission Wednesday described as "vile" attacks on him by judge M.S. Liberhan in the report indicting Hindutva activists for the 1992 Babri mosque razing.

Emphasising that he would not like to "dignify" Liberhan's charge that he forestalled the submission of the 1,029-page report, Anupam Gupta said he was happy that he quit the Commission at the right time.

Gupta, who was with the Commission for 15 years, stressed he took strong exception to the indictment of former prime minister and veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the Dec 6, 1992 mosque razing.

At the same time, he pointed out that BJP leader L.K. Advani, widely seen as the most visible face of the Ayodhya movement, had been let off lightly.

"Justice Liberhan's observation against me a is a vile, personal attack and I would not like to dignify it with a response," Gupta told IANS from Chandigarh Wednesday.

Explaining why he took 17 long years to complete the report, Liberha had blamed Gupta and accused him of betraying the trust reposed by the Commission.

"Faced with an unhelpful, recalcitrant counsel, I had to perforce seek the services of another lawyer," Liberhan writes in his report submitted to parliament Tuesday.

Speaking to IANS, Gupta justified his decision to part ways with the judge in 2007.

"After reading through the report I am satisfied that I took the right decision to disassociate myself from the Commission in 2007 and not to assist or involve in the writing of the report," he said.

The one-man Commission lists 68 people who it said were individually culpable "for leading the country to the brink of communal discord".

These include Vajpayee along with his colleagues like Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi besides Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray.

"Both what Justice Liberhan has written upon and what he has omitted confirms the fundamental differences in our respective approaches to the problem," said Gupta.

"The perspective of ideology and history which was one of my major contributions to the inquiry proceedings is almost completely absent in the report."

In Gupta's reckoning, Vajpayee has been unfairly blamed.

"I take strong exception to the indictment of Vajpayee who was never summoned or examined by the Commission. On the contrary, the Commission had consciously decided not to summon him and even refused an application for summoning him in July 2003."

In his report, Liberhan refers to Vajpayee as one of the party's "pseudo-moderates" and bracketed him with hardline colleagues when it came to the demolition of the mosque.

"I also believe that Liberhan has been too light and general on Advani," said Gupta.

"He has deliberately been relegated to one among the 68. Advani was not just a member of the herd. He was the leader who carried the Ayodhya movement on his shoulders."

Let experts decide if it's temple or mosque: Liberhan

New Delhi, Nov 26 (IANS) Whether the structure at Ayodhya was a temple or a mosque can be answered only by experts, says the Liberhan Commission that probed the Babri Masjid demolition.

The Commission, whose report was tabled in parliament Tuesday, said that the issue cannot be resolved without the participation of experts.

"The disputes between various groups about the provenance of monuments, temples and other structures have survived into this day and age, and like in the case of the Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid issue, are capable of fomenting unnecessary and unwanted trouble and disharmony," the exhaustive report said in its chapter "Recommendations".

"The question whether a structure was a temple or a mosque can only be answered by a scientific study by archaeologists, historians and anthropologists," it said.

"It is therefore my recommendation that a statutory national commission be composed of acknowledged experts to delve into these questions of the provenance of historical monuments, artefacts and their determination should be deemed to be definitive and final."

BJP demands statement from PM on Babri demolition 

Kolkata, Nov 26 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday demanded a statement from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the central government's role on the day the Babri mosque was razed in Ayodhya.

Pointing out that Manmohan Singh was the number two man in the then P.V. Narasimha Rao government, BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar told reporters here that the prime minister "should come out with a statement, as Narasimha Rao is not there now".

Accusing the Congress of leaking the Liberhan Commission report to the media before it was tabled in parliament, Javadekar said his party would serve a breach of privilege notice on the issue.

"Leaking the report was a political move on the part of the Congress. The party wanted to isolate the BJP. But that did not happen. The chorus of demand from the opposition benches forced the Congress to submit the report," he said.

Javadekar once again said that his party rejected the report, which has indicted senior BJP leaders, including L.K. Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

"There is nothing in it. It deserves to be thrown into the waste paper basket. We reject it," he said.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), meanwhile, demanded that the central government initiate action as per the recommendations in the report and punish the guilty.

"The report says religion and politics must not be mixed. This is what we Leftists say. India is a multi-religious country and the state has no religion. All those who have been nailed in the report must be punished," CPI-M politburo member Biman Bose said.

The Liberhan panel report, which was tabled in parliament Tuesday, has indicted members of the Sangh Parivar for razing of the 16th century mosque in Ayodhya. The vandalism and destruction triggered communal riots across the country.

Liberhan findings vague, uncertain: Advani's counsel 

Chandigarh, Nov 26 (IANS) Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani's counsel Satya Pal Jain Wednesday said the findings of the Liberhan Commission into the 1992 Babri mosque demolition were "vague and uncertain".

"The findings of the commission are vague and uncertain. They are targeting L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and other leaders without proper evidence," Jain, who represented Advani before the Liberhan Commission, told mediapersons here.

He added that the commission's report was deliberately delayed from being tabled in parliament by the government to suit its political interests.

"The report itself looks like a thesis against the BJP and RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh)," said Jain, a former BJP Lok Sabha MP.

He said that the BJP was fully prepared to rebut the findings of the report when discussion on the issue begins in parliament Dec 1.

He said that former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has been found "culpable" in the demolition despite neither being called for any hearing nor any evidence being collected against him.

Jain wondered how then prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao could be let off by the Liberhan Commission despite evidence being recorded against him for inaction.

Jain also sought that Home Minister P. Chidambaram resign from his post on moral grounds following the "selective leak" of the Liberhan report by the home ministry before it was tabled in parliament.

The Liberhan panel report, which was tabled in parliament Tuesday, has indicted members of the Sangh Parivar, including senior BJP leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Advani, for razing of the 16th century mosque in Ayodhya. The vandalism and destruction triggered communal riots across the country.