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Violence Continues In Gujarat As Government Starts Whitewash Operation
By IOL South Asia Correspondent
NEW DELHI, March 5 (IslamOnline) - Despite marked improvement of the situation in Ahmedabad, rest of Gujarat, especially rural areas, continue to burn for the sixth day. The official tally of victims has gone up to 572, including those killed in the train attack last Wednesday. But unofficial figures say that the tally crossed the one thousand mark in any case.
Curfew was relaxed on Monday in some areas of the city but nearly 70 per cent of the industries are still closed because the workers are afraid of venturing out, said a spokesman of the South Gujarat Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
As the tension eased to some extent in Ahmedabad, a large number of migrant population has started leaving the state of Gujarat. Migrant workers, mainly Muslims from the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan are leaving. "We remained safe this time, but may be tomorrow we could be attacked. So we have decided to leave Gujarat," said a sobbing Zareena, mother of two. The exodus started with a large number of factory workers, whose units were razed.
The Gujarat mayhem threatens to stoke tensions between India and Pakistan in the middle of a mighty military standoff. Pakistan has demanded India do more to protect its Muslim minority, prompting India's foreign ministry on Monday to accuse Islamabad of trying to capitalise on the Gujarat incident. Other countries, like the U.S., Germany and Canada, too have voiced concern at the unchecked bloodletting in Gujarat.
Prime Minister Vajpayee too has joined the efforts to camouflage the extent of the violence in Gujarat which has surprised the whole world and placed a question mark on India's aspirations to be accepted as world power with a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. A day after his televised address to the nation regretting the "disgraceful" violence in Gujarat, Prime Minister Vajpayee told a group of concerned citizens that the media was presenting an "exaggerated" account of the situation in the state. According to members of the citizens' delegation, Vajpayee told them that it was incorrect to suggest that the whole of Gujarat was burning, when the violence was limited to a few places.
According to writer and activist Sonia Jabbar, who was part of the delegation, Vajpayee said the media has not played a constructive role by showing scenes of carnage; and that instead of complaining to the government, the delegation should ask the media to play a better role.
The Opposition, on the other hand, united over the Gujarat situation, today mounted a scathing attack on the BJP Government in the state accusing it of "abject failure" to protect the people and demanded immediate deployment of the army "effectively and adequately" to stop the violence.
Parliament Member Shabana Azmi answered Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s claim that things were normalising, as the delegation received frantic calls for help on the parallel telephone lines. “When we told him about this, his mere reply was, "Chut put to hoga hi," (some small things are bound to happen) she said.
“We want that the government led by Modi to be dismissed immediately. Even a recent report of the National Commission of Police stated that even a worst communal riot, if not controlled within 48 hours, implies that there are orders from the top,” the MP said.
"The state connived with fundamentalist forces of the majority community, that is brutalising and vandalising the minority community," prominent citizens, including former Central Minister YK Alagh, said in a joint appeal to President KR Narayanan and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Alagh told reporters here that the appeal was drafted after deliberations by at least 300 prominent citizens including people from all walks of life and communities at a meeting at Sabarmati Ashram on Sunday.
"In fact, the state took the view that the anger of the majority community was natural and backlash was obvious," the appeal said.
In a separate meeting, in Delhi, a group of senior Muslim representatives, including the Imam of the Delhi Jama Masjid and the head of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, appealed to Muslims to maintain unity and to the government to immediately stabilise law and order in Gujarat. It also resolved to have a delegation meet the President, the Chief Justice of India and the chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, in this regard. Besides, it has asked for generous compensation to the kin of those killed.
Another group of citizens from different religions, met Prime Minister Vajpayee to request a number of measures to stop the spreading cycle of violence and despair. They asked for the dismissal of those responsible for allowing the collapse of law and order in Gujarat, an immediate and impartial probe into what happened and how and to ban groups creating communal tension in Ayodhya. The PM, they said, was polite, but didn't quite agree with the recommendations.
According to a report in the Asian Age newspaper today, even senior police officers belonging to the Muslim community do not longer feel safe in Ahmedabad. Four IPS officers who live in a Muslim society in Navranpura here have had to arrange for six to eight policemen to protect their families.
The society was attacked by a mob on two occasions but the policemen on duty managed to disperse it. Another Muslim, additional commissioner of police M.O. Khimani, who lives in a society in Paldi area, said, “Every time there is communal violence, the shops on the roadside of this society are attacked and looted.” The shops in front of the society were attacked, looted and burnt this time as well. One person was killed in police firing. Mr Khimani said that after the latest attacks his wife has developed hypertension and she had to be hospitalised for a day. The family also decided to shift to another location for a day.
Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who had announced a judicial inquiry into the Sabarmati Express tragedy in Godhra, is said to be looking for a retired or sitting Gujarat High Court judge to probe the matter but it has been made clear to the prospective candidates that the riots in Ahmedabad and rest of Gujarat would not be a subject of their investigation. At least one of the judges approached by Modi is understood to have asked the chief minister clearly whether the riots after the Godhra incident would also be covered by the inquiry commission. The reply was in the negative.
A thorough probe of the so-called 'backlash' will expose aspects like the BJP’s support to the VHP’s bandh last Thursday, the soft approach towards the rioters on the first two days. This is precisely why the Modi government does not want an all-encompassing judicial probe to open a can of worms which will explode in its face. However, judicial intervention is likely sooner than later in the form of public interest litigations which may also call for a full-scale probe.
Muslim groups on Monday warned they may not be able to control their followers if religious violence continued and urged the government to ban hardline Hindu organizations.
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