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Indian women march for communal harmony in Gujarat |
By Zafarul-Islam Khan, IOL South Asia Correspondent
NEW DELHI, April 8 (IslamOnline): Three persons were killed and 20
injured in renewed violence in the capital of Gujarat, Ahmedabad,
Sunday, April 7, as the toll in the clashes after the Prime
Minister’s visit to the state last Thursday, April 4, rose to four.
Curfew was reimposed in parts of Ahmedabad on Saturday following fresh
cases of violence. Curfew continues in as many as 40 places in the
state. Night curfew continued at many places in south, central and
north Gujarat areas. Indefinite curfew continued in Visnagar town of
Mehsana district of north Gujarat following tension that prevailed
after killing of a man by a mob Saturday.
An Indian daily newspaper, The Hindu, exposed today that the
Gujarat mobsters are saying that there will be no peace in the state
until the minority (i.e., Muslims) are driven out. Another
national daily, Hindustan Times, reported today that the
mobsters are sending bangles, a metaphor for cowardice, to activists
in areas which could not manage to show good results in terms of
Muslims killed, burnt alive and homes and businesses burnt, hence
violence is now erupting even in areas which were peaceful even during
the early stage of the frenzy.
The mobsters have been so much emboldened by a supportive
administration and police that yesterday they laid siege to the
internationally-known social activist, Medha Patkar, inside Gandhi
Ashram in the heart of Ahmedabad where she was presiding over a peace
meeting. The mob was demanded Medha Patkar to be handed over to them.
However, police personnel prevented the incident from escalating
further, but it also attacked media persons covering the event. A
reporter of television channel Aaj Tak and an NDTV cameraman sustained
injuries during the scuffle.
In a similar situation in the Sabarmati area of Ahmedabad around
midnight on Friday, April 5, a 5,000-strong mob had gathered at the
police station demanding that some persons [Muslims] in police custody
be handed over to it. There inside the lockup Muslim youth were
already being badly thrashed by the police. One person was killed and
several injured in the police firing, which was ordered after the
situation threatened to go out of hand. And all this just on the basis
of a rumor.
The danger that word-of-mouth poses in this city was there for all to
see in Sabarmati. Thousands collected at the police station on hearing
a rumor that some persons, who had "come in a truck to attack the
Sabarmati area," had been arrested by the police. And the mob was
baying for their blood, demanding that the police hand over those
arrested persons to them to be "taught a lesson". False
rumors are being consistently used as a weapon to arouse the masses.
Yesterday's attack has led even the ruling National Democratic
Alliance partners to demand the ouster of Mr Modi. A Samta Party
leader said that the state has now been taken over by mobs. "It
is very painful to admit that Modi has failed to discharge his
constitutional responsibility...Enough is enough. We request the BJP
leadership to select a new leader who can restore sense of security
among the people of Gujarat," Samata Party spokesman Shambhoo
Shrivastava told the official news agency, PTI.
A month later, the state government has not been able to bring the
situation under control and killings and violence are continuing.
Gujarat appears to be under "the control of mob," he added.
Trinamool Congress, another partner of the ruling National Democratic
Alliance, has openly expressed its displeasure. Many other partners
have made their discomfort known to the BJP without going public about
it.
Moderate voices even in the BJP have begun speaking out on the adverse
impact caused on the party by "Hindutva" (Hindu revival)
forces and may take up the issue at the party's National Executive
meeting beginning in Goa next week. Senior BJP leader and Union
Minister Shanta Kumar yesterday launched a broadside against the World
Hindu Council (VHP) and its youth wing, the Bajrang Dal, saying that
elements in these two outfits have nothing to do with 'Hindutva' and
were indulging in acts which undermined Hinduism.
Asserting that time has come to do some plain-speaking, he told PTI,
that "what these elements are doing is not Hindutva as Hindu
Dharma (religion) never permits what they have done." He said it
was time to rein in the elements who are responsible for demolition of
the "disputed structure" (Hindu euphemism for the Babri
Masjid) in Ayodhya in December 1992 and the attack on Orissa assembly
and suggested the BJP deal firmly with them.
Hundreds of policemen have been drafted in to back up local forces in
Gujarat amid continuing clashes, police said on Sunday. Two companies
of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) from Faizabad arrived in
Ahmedabad on Sunday and will be deployed in sensitive parts of the
city. The reinforcements arrived after a man was stabbed to death and
another seriously injured late on Saturday in Visnagar, 100 km north
of Ahmedabad, police said. One more company of the CRPF is expected to
arrive Monday. The army, the State Reserve Police, Central Industrial
Security Force and the Rapid Action Force are already present in
substantial numbers across the state.
There is clear indication that Prime Minister Vajpayee’s
half-hearted appeal for the restoration of peace has had little impact
on communal passions which erupted over a month ago with the attack on
the Sabarmati Express in Godhra on February 27. It is believed that
till the principal architect of the pogroms, Narendra Modi, the chief
minister of Gujarat, stays in his seat nothing can be done.
In New Delhi, the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), a
statutory body, has asked the Gujarat government to balance the
composition of the police force. "The police team should comprise
of people from different minority communities. In case, officers from
minority communities are not available, the state can borrow them from
other states on deputation," Justice Mohammad Shamim, chairperson
of the commission, said on Saturday at the conclusion of a three-hour
meeting with top Gujarat state government officials.
Among other NCM recommendations are: Destroyed religious places should
be re-constructed, persons living in camps be shifted to safer places
and land be allotted for this purpose.
According to official figures made public yesterday, the total number
of people officially declared as taking shelter in 103 relief camps as
a consequence of the communal riots in the state reached 113,697,
belying government claim that the situation in large parts of Gujarat
was returning to normal. The figures given to the Gujarat
governor-headed all-party committee on relief camps a week ago was
109,503 in 102 relief camps. Which means, within three days, the
numbers went up by more than 4,000. Latest official figures of the
dead in the violence since February 27 has reached 822.
On March 21, 97,517 persons were taking shelter in 98 relief camps.
The numbers went up on March 26 to 97,998 in 101 relief camps. Several
new camps came up in Ahmedabad and Sabarkantha districts, officials
said. A district-wise break-up given to the committee members suggests
that the largest number of persons are in Ahmedbad -- 66,292 in 44
camps, followed by 12,753 in Vadodara, 8,547 in Sabarkantha, 8,271 in
Panchmahals, 5,200 in Anand, 4,536 in Dahod, 2,637 in Mehsana and
1,267 in Kheda.
Latest figures given to the state officialdom suggest that as many as
4,564 persons have applied for insurance claims against damages, from
three insurance companies. The total amount claimed is Rs 1580
million. However, out of this, only three cases have been cleared so
far, worth Rs 21,000 -- one for a small industrial unit, the second
for a vehicle and the third of an engineering establishment!
There has been some progress in giving death-compensation, and in 439
cases it has already been paid according to the criterion fixed by the
state government prior to the visit of Prime Minister Vajpayee.
Similarly, 263 people, who have suffered grievous injuries, too have
been paid compensation. Further, cash doles have been given to 7,428
families. However, in other cases the situation is not so rosy.
Of the 10,204 houses lost in arson, only 1,300 have been given
assistance for reconstruction. Of the 10,429 shops burnt and another
1,278 ransacked, few have been given any money so far. Only, in the
case of those who have lost their "larri-gallas"
(kiosks/push-carts), of the 2,623 cases that have suffered due to
arson, in 1,022 cases Rs 10,000 has been paid to start a livelihood.
"Survey is on. Rest of the payments will be made later,"
officials said.
Meanwhile New Delhi TV (NDTV) has exposed that the Narendra Modi
government in Gujarat had serious plans for a snap poll right after
the recent riots in the state. Gujarat is scheduled to have elections
in February next year.
