LUCKNOW, India (Reuters) - Police and paramilitary forces in northern India were ordered on alert on Friday after the first outbreak of communal unrest since the attacks in the United States by suspected Islamic militants.
A curfew was in force in parts of Lucknow, capital of the country's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, where four people were killed on Thursday when police fired on a protest against a crackdown on a militant Islamic students' group. (Read photo caption below)
A state home (interior) ministry official told Reuters rapid action contingents had been deployed in several sensitive towns in Uttar Pradesh, where some of India's worst religious rioting has erupted in the past.
``Today being a Friday, we are on extra alert. Where necessary we are sending paramilitary forces,'' said home secretary Naresh Dayal, referring to weekly prayers when thousands of Muslims gather at mosques across the state.
The federal government, a coalition led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday banned the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and ordered states throughout the country to arrest its members.
Star television network said there were raids on SIMI offices and arrests of members across the country on Thursday night.
Police have accused the SIMI of trying to incite communal unrest over the possible U.S. strikes on Afghanistan.
India, home to some 120 million Muslims, was among the first countries to offer support to the United States in its efforts to hunt down those behind the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said the violence in Lucknow was unfortunate and he asked the Uttar Pradesh authorities to order an inquiry, an aide said.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Muslim activists from the Students' Islamic Movement of India lay dead after Indian police officers opened fire in the old quarter of Lucknow, state capital of the northern Indian state of Utter Pradesh, September 27, 2001. Three people died in the first outbreak of communal violence in India since the crisis triggered by attacks on the United States by suspected Islamic militants. (Reuters)
- Sep 27 11:40 AM ET