Indian government under pressure over Gujarat clashes

NEW DELHI, India -- Opposition parties in India have protested against the government's handling of the recent sectarian violence in Gujarat state.

Both houses of parliament were adjourned Thursday afternoon after demonstrations by opposition leaders shouting "this government is a disgrace" brought proceedings to a halt.

Parliament will now not meet again until next week.

Opposition groups led by the former ruling Congress party are putting pressure on India's Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani to resign following the worst Hindu-Muslim clashes in a decade.

"We want a debate on the issue, we want L.K. Advani and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to tell the nation how such a huge intelligence failure could take place in Gujarat, " Senior Congress Leader, Kamal Nath told Reuters.

"Only after this is discussed can the parliament sessions start," he said.

The protests in parliament came as news emerged off fresh violence in Gujarat with at least 24 dead, ending what had been a brief period of relative calm in the troubled region.

The Press Trust of India reported that one person had been stabbed to death and 14 bodies recovered in the town of Mehmedabad.

Tension

VIDEO CNN's Satiner Bindra says recent rioting from Hindu-Muslim clashes in western India have devasted businesses in the city of Ahmedabad. Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) After five days of bloody reprisals by Hindus in western India, many Muslim residents in rural villages are living in fear. CNN's Satinder Bindra reports Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   FOCUS Rebuilding a temple's future  • Ayodhya: India's religious flashpoint     CNN.com Asia More news from our Asia edition

Police officials said that the bodies were recovered on Wednesday but the individuals were most probably killed on Tuesday, the PTI report said.

Another eight bodies, including three women and two children, were recovered near Godhra. The victims are believed to have been killed on Wednesday.

The deaths have renewed tension in Gujarat where more than 600 people have died in the past week's bloody clashes between Hindus and Muslims.

The sectarian violence began last Wednesday when a group of Muslim extremists torched a train killing 58 mostly Hindu activists who were returning from a demonstration in Ayodhya in support of the construction of a controversial temple on the grounds where the Babri Masjid mosque had been destroyed over a decade ago.

The train incident sparked a week of religious bloodshed as Hindus and Muslims laid siege to the state's commercial capital Ahmedabad and other parts of Gujarat, engaging in deadly pitched battles and mob violence.

The death toll continues to rise as more bodies are recovered daily. Reuters news agency has reported police officials as putting the figure at 665.

Hindu hardliners blamed

Initial police reports into the rioting suggest that leaders from hardline Hindu groups may have encouraged some of the mobs involved in the violence.

According to the Associated Press news agency, which obtained the documents, the police name the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as well as leaders and activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad party(VHP), as leading mobs of thousands of people that burned to death more than 100 victims during two attacks in Ahmedabad.

The VHP or World Hindu Council has been campaigning vigorously for many years for the construction of the temple in Ayodhya. The dispute has lingered in the courts, where India's Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was confident it could be resolved.

But critics say he has been too slow to rein in Hindu hardliners to ease communal tensions.

The All India Christian Council has called for a ban of the VHP, saying on Wednesday that rampaging Hindus targeted Christians during last week's riots.

In a statement available on the group's web site, the council said that Hindu groups have "engaged in a constant hate campaign against the minorities" and had "recruited hundreds of thousand of recruits who have been given training in armed warfare."

Court decision

In a recent development, India's top Hindu leader has proposed a compromise deal. The VHP has agreed to halt construction of the temple until a court decision is made based on this new deal, adding it was not committed to abiding by the ruling, due March 19.

The new proposal from the Shankaracharya of Kanchi, Jayendra Saraswati, who has been acting as mediator in the discussions, calls for the construction of the temple to go ahead but outside of the area where the Babri Masjid mosque once stood.

Under that deal, the VHP will await a court order on the disputed temple site while at the same time seeking an undisputed area of land from the government.

Hindus believe the Babri mosque was built on the site of a former temple erected where the Hindu god Rama is believed to have been born.

The All-India Muslim Personal Law Board has agreed to consider the proposal but on Wednesday said it may pull out of discussions if the VHP "backed out" of a commitment to abide by the court ruling, the Times of India reported.