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Muslim
demonstrators protest the murder of over 2000 Muslims in the worst
anti-Muslim upsurge in Indian history. |
By
SU Rahman, IOL South Asia Bureau
AHMEDABAD,
April 10 (IslamOnline) - Do you have any inkling as to what really is
happening in Gujarat, an Indian state aflame since February 27? It
simply continues to burn. The state of affairs in the state, after
touring it for a week, has left one speechless. Words fail to describe
what has been done to Muslims there. In short, it is Bosnia
re-enacted.
When
I started out for the state, I was almost sure that this tragic story
of blood, death and fire, that has continued till today and will
probably continue for a long time to come, will be told by someone
else. Travel for a lone Muslim, who also happens to have a beard,
could easily be his last journey. I personally came close to death
twice during this one week.
Thousands
of people have been killed during the last one and a half months.
Though the government figures have just crossed 800 casualties -- the
way things are being hushed up -- the real figures must be very high
indeed. People who are working in rehabilitation and relief say that
at least 2500 people have been either burnt alive or killed.
YA
Charkha, an advocate who has been involved in setting up of the relief
camp in Godhra, where the fire started in the first place, says that
even the figure of "2500" is not final as daily reports of
killings pour in from various areas, especially villages.
He
says that Muslims residing in 400 villages in Panchmahal district
under which Godhra falls, have been totally destroyed. Women, young
and old alike, have been raped and even then not spared by the rapists
most of whom are VHP, Bajrang Dal and RSS activists. Don’t ask about
their men. They were killed in cold blood before capturing their
women. Children as old as just two days were knifed or burnt alive.
The
story of Bilqis Yaqub Patel, 20, from Randhigpur near Godhra, is
shattering. When her family started out in search of safety shortly
after the Godhra incident, there were thirty people with her. From
their village they went to Kudwazal village where they took shelter in
the village mosque. Here, her sister Shamim delivered a baby boy, so
her mother sent the men away. Now, there were only eight women and
eight children in the family. Only her maternal uncle was around. They
were then chased away by a mob.
In
another village, tribal people sheltered them and gave them their own
clothes to help them conceal their identities. Tribal people sent two
persons to escort them to Chaparwad village. Here, people recognized
them and killed Bilqis’s uncle. When they were fleeing from the
scene, a mob riding in a Tata Sumo vehicle chased them.
These
devils, who were 24 in all, killed all the children including Bilqis's
two-year old son as well as the boy her sister had delivered just two
days back. Every woman, young and old, was raped by three devils each
and later everyone was killed. They thought Bilqis too had died. She
was lying there for two whole days. Now she is in the relief camp at
Godhra. She doesn’t know who brought her there. When I asked her
about her male relatives, she said she has no news about them.
It
is not that she does not recognize the criminals. She knows them by
their names. She told me that all the twenty four people who killed
her relatives and raped the women were from her own village and that
they used to buy milk from her father’s dairy.
As
tragic as it sounds, hers is no exceptional story, though. There are
hundreds of similar incidents. The case of Sharifunnisa or Fatima, who
had come to celebrate Eid with her in-laws, was also no different.
When
rumors started spreading out, Fatima took shelter with her family in
the fields outside their village. The sarpanch (village headman)
assured them that nothing will happen and took them to his house. Here
he brought a mob of 500 people. Eight people were killed there. She
too was injured grievously when she tried to protect her husband.
People
in other camps too recount similar horror tales. Take the story of
Fatima Bibi Yusuf Patel, now in Shah Alam Camp in Ahmedabad, or that
of Jawed Hasan who is just 12 years old. All his family members were
burnt alive in front of him.
Everything
belonging to Muslims has been destroyed with deathly precision. There
are reports as to how a shop among hundreds of identical shops in a
shopping complex was meticulously identified and burnt, but not much
has been written as to how a shop, belonging to the majority community
still stands while all the shops in the same complex have been
destroyed. The lone shop in the Paldi area of Ahmedabad is still
standing while all others surrounding it from three sides were razed
to the ground. This was not a large departmental store with a large
building, but a ramshackle tailoring shop. And to add to the mystery,
this single shop amidst all the ruin is still functioning as if
nothing has happened there. The destruction around this shop doesn’t
seem to have bothered its owner a bit. It is the story of every nook
and corner of the state.
Whole
housing complexes have been demolished. And curiously, not a single
window pane in the adjacent Hindu housing complexes has been touched.
Gupta Nagar, Al-Ateeq, Dinoori Park, Soni Ki Chal, Narol Highway and
numerous other places tell the same story again and again. Muslim
houses have been totally destroyed with not a single household item
escaping the fury of fire. Thousands of people have fled their houses
and have either moved to safer areas or have been forced to take
shelter in relief camps.
The
fire was so intense that it even peeled the roof and wall plasters.
There are several stories about the material being used to burn shops
and houses. Some people told me that the material was imported from
Israel to quickly dispose of dead bodies after the last year’s
earthquake and the same is now being used to destroy Muslims.
Batuk
Vora, a former MLA and social activist in Ahmedabad, said that the
material being used for setting things afire is called 'Latex' and was
being brought from Hyderabad.
I
asked a local activist in Vadodra as to how these people are able to
selectively destroy Muslim shops without inflicting any damage to the
adjacent Hindu shops? He said that they first drill into the intended
shop or house and insert this material. The resulting fire does not
spill over; it only destroys everything in that particular house or
shop.
The
story of people still living in Muslim localities is no less tragic.
With no work for the past six weeks, thousands of people are starving.
Farooq Shaikh, who is running Juhapura relief camp, says that people
in relief camps may be a bit better off as they are at least getting
food, but people outside, whose businesses have been destroyed, have
nowhere to go. These people are also regularly tortured by police and
paramilitary forces as well threatened day and night by the extremist
outfits. People in both camps and Muslim localities keep night vigil
for fear of attacks.
Gujarat
Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, claims that the riots have been
controlled and that these were merely a "reaction" of the
Godhra incident. People laugh at such claims.
Reenuka
Sharma, a People's Union for Civil Liberties activist in Vadodra, told
me that everything was very finely planned. She said that riots
against Muslims were planned much in advance before the Godhra
incident. Details from municipality, telephone and electricity
departments were collected long before the Godhra incident in order to
identify Muslim businesses.
She
said the whole plan to destroy Muslims was laid down much in advance
and was carried out in three phases. In the first, they targeted
Muslim shops and houses in areas where they were not numerically
strong. In the second phase, they attacked Muslims in mixed colonies.
And now, after cleansing Muslims from mixed colonies, they are trying
to destroy Muslims in areas where they form a formidable majority.
Sharma
added that in areas where there was no violence, local Hindus received
bangles, a metaphor for cowardice, together with provocative
pamphlets. This is why violence keeps spreading to other areas and
still continues. Several Muslim-dominated areas in Ahmedabad and
elsewhere in the state are regularly being attacked by large mobs
during night.
The
mobs act under full police protection. Muhammad Nayeem of Juhapura
said that when the rioters attacked Al-Ateeq housing colony in
Ahmedabad, they were fully protected by the police.
Whenever
Muslims tried to defend themselves, the police fired at them. Even
now, residential houses in Hindu colonies just across these destroyed
housing complexes are well protected by the police who are stationed
on roofs and on top floors to keep vigil.
Police,
who did not take any action while Muslims were being burned alive, now
daily combs Muslim areas and tortures Muslim youths. On April 5, a
total of 75 Muslim youths were arrested by police from Teen Darwaza
area in Ahmedabad after a stabbing incident and were tortured so bad
that even the refugees suffering death and destruction said they had
never witnessed such brutality in their life. It is becoming a normal
routine for Muslims in the state.
Mahadev
Vidrohi, who heads an Ahmedabad-based NGO, told IslamOnline that
action/reaction theory is being fished out by Modi to protect his
skin. Virodhi says everything was pre-planned and was organized by the
VHP with full Modi support.
This
was confirmed by Patel Shantilal Purshottamdas, a former deputy
minister of commerce at the central government and four times member
of Lok Sabha (Parliament). He told IslamOnline that in February, after
the Godhra incident, Modi came to the town where he met VHP
functionaries at the Circuit House. When they asked him what to do, he
told them that you should wear bangles. Patel, who was present at the
Circuit House, adds that Modi told the VHP people that nothing would
happen if you add one or two zeros in response.
Former
Gujarat state chief minister and president of state Congress Party
said that everything is planned and executed by the VHP and the RSS
with full government support. He said that nothing will change till
Modi government is removed.
Asked
about the state government claims that the riots are planned by the
Pakistan military intelligence (ISI) or some other foreign power, he
laughed and said that they must themselves be ISI agents since
everything is planned by these very people and no foreign power or
agency is involved in it.
It
has been learnt from reliable sources that full-time functionaries of
the VHP, Bajrang Dal and the like are on the payroll of leading
business houses.
