AYODHYA, India - Police tightened a security cordon around this northern Indian town Wednesday, after the Supreme Court banned Hindu activists from holding a religious ceremony near a hotly disputed religious site.
"The situation in Ayodhya is completely peaceful. We have been asked to keep a close watch on the situation and and we are doing that," said Naresh Dayal, a senior official charged with security matters in the Uttar Pradesh state government.
"The army has been alerted, but there might not be a need to call them in," Dayal said.
The Supreme Court ruled that "no religious activities of any nature, by anyone" would be allowed in Ayodhya.
The ruling was a setback for the militant Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP - World Hindu Council), which has been spearheading a long and volatile campaign to build a temple to the Hindu warrior god Ram on, or next to, the site of a mosque razed by Hindu zealots in 1992.
The VHP will now be barred from holding a symbolic ground-breaking ceremony in Ayodhya on Friday which had threatened to provoke an outbreak of sectarian violence.
"The court order will be respected and I also hope that the VHP leaders will also respect the order," Dayal said.
"If needed we will arrest the leaders of the VHP but we don't want to unnecessarily provoke the situation."
VHP leaders had earlier warned that whatever the court ruling they would at least go ahead with a scaled-down prayer ritual, even if it meant a confrontation with the security forces.
The authorities have built 18 makeshift prisons on the outskirts of the town to house anyone detained for disrupting the peace.
VHP president Ashok Singhal was due to hold a press conference in Ayodhya later Wednesday.
The town has been been turned into a virtual fortress in recent weeks as fears grew of a looming sectarian clash if the Hindu radicals went ahead with their planned ceremony.
Close to 10,000 police and paramilitary personnel have been deployed to prevent any unrest, while a large number of Muslims have already left Ayodhya, fearing an outbreak of communal violence.
Although there are around 1,000 Hindu activists already gathered in Ayodhya, others have been prevented from entering the town by a police security cordon.
"It is not humanly possible to guard every nook and cranny," acknowledged police Deputy Inspector General A.K. Mitra.
"But even if they try to cross the fields, they have to come to the main road at some point and we are combing all the neighbouring districts also."
Police have even been deployed on the river that loops around much of Ayodhya to prevent activists coming in by boat.
The spiritual architect of the Ram temple construction campaign, Ram Chandra Paramhans, insisted he would still take part in a personal ceremony on Friday, despite the court ruling.
"I will donate one stone to Ram on that day. I will not call anyone but if someone wants to come with me I will not prevent them," Paramhans said.
"I will take the stone to the point that I can. If they tell me to stop I will not fight with them."