NEW
DELHI, May 16 (IslamOnline): The Concerned Citizens' Tribunal (CCT) has
unearthed inside information on how the Bajrang Dal and VHP (World Hindu
Council) targeted Muslims in Gujarat state. The information says that
preparations went on for at least six months before the Godhra train
tragedy was seized upon to unleash the terror.
Another
report by Indian human rights organizations has said that the Gujarat
pogroms "were not the breakdown of law and order alone but that of
the Indian state and human civilization itself."
The
CCT is investigating the pogroms as a private initiative amid fears that
the official commission of inquiry, headed by a pliant former judge,
will gloss over the basic issues. Such private tribunals have functioned
earlier in India in similar cases like the Mumabi riots of 1992 and
1993. These 'tribunals' judiciously follow the legal norms though they
lack an official stamp.
Speaking
to reporters in Ahmedabad Tuesday, May 14, members of the tribunal,
comprising retired judges of the Supreme and high courts and eminent
social activists, said that former Bajrang Dal activists have deposed
before them giving details of the modus operandi and the planning
that went behind the riots.
"Some
former Bajrang Dal insiders have given us information on how the riots
were planned," said justice P.B. Sawant, a former Supreme Court
judge. "According to them, preparations of these riots were made at
least six to eight months in advance."
The
tribunal said in an official release: "Evidence has been received
accusing the VHP and Bajrang Dal of recruiting volunteers, training them
in the use of arms and ammunition, collecting information about houses,
shops and other business establishments of the minority community and
effectively using them in the violence."
The
judges, however, refused to draw any conclusions at this stage as they
have just completed recording evidence and testimonies. Their analysis
and conclusions will appear first in their interim report followed by a
final report which is expected by August 15. They will send a tentative
report to the state government for its reaction on their findings after
which the final report will be prepared. "If the government does
not respond, we will take it that they have nothing to say," they
said.
Although
the state government is not legally bound to respond to the findings,
the CCT assumes importance as it has legal luminaries like Justice
(retd) VR Krishna Iyer, internationally known for his struggle for human
rights in India. Other members include former Mumbai High Court judge
Justice Hosbet Suresh, People's Union for Civil Liberties president KG
Kannabiran, Jawaharlal Nehru University professor Ghanshyam Shah,
historian Tarika Sarkar and Aruna Roy, a retired top bureaucrat.
The
tribunal's case has also been strengthened by depositions of senior
police and administration officers of the Gujarat government, whose
identities have been concealed. They are believed to have corroborated
much of the evidence that has been collected by the tribunal from other
sources. More than 1,500 persons from a cross-section of society have
deposed before the tribunal during its month-long functioning in
Gujarat.
Reserving
their observations for the final report, the CCT did give some insight
into what to expect once the report is ready. Justice Suresh and justice
Sawant said they believe at least 250 women were raped and murdered in
the initial days of violence. The CCT held special hearings for women at
Vadodara and recorded evidence of police brutality against them.
Against
the 900-plus official death toll of the state government, the tribunal
members believe the number is more than 2,000. Of these, 500 are still
missing with their bodies yet to be recovered. Independent local and
foreign human rights groups have arrived at a similar figure.
In
a related development, a fact-finding team of Indian human rights
organizations from the states of Maharashtra, West Bengal and Andhra
Pradesh has said in its interim report that "Gujarat events were
not the breakdown of law and order alone but that of the Indian state
and human civilization itself."
A
panel of 14 activists visited a number of affected cities in Gujarat as
well as most relief camps in the state. The visit ended last Sunday. The
panel members hailed from Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties committee
(APCLC), Associations for Protection of Democratic Rights, West Bengal
(APDR), Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights, Mumbai (CPDR),
Human Rights Forum, Andhra Pradesh (HRF) and Lokshahi Hakk Sanghatana,
Maharashtra (LHS).
 |
| Man
sitting beside his new born baby in an Ahmedabad relief camp. |
In
a signed joint statement the panel said that 'the events in Gujarat
clearly show that the Indian state, legislature, executive and judiciary
abdicated their constitutional and civilizational obligations, and the
Indian state stood a silent spectator as the very values of human
civilization, cultivated over a millennium were assaulted'.
It
concentrated on the victims' relief and rehabilitation, the response of
the judiciary and police investigation. It severely criticized the
government for its constant pressure on the Muslims that it would
disband the camps and send refugees back to their burnt houses. The team
also deplored that members of the RSS and allied Hindu extremist outfits
were not detained though they were named in the complaints lodged by the
victims. "Till today they are freely roaming around, sometimes in
police vehicles," the team noted.
The
team demanded among other things not to close down the relief camps or
reduce the number of inmates, arrest of all those named in the
complaints and protection from land grabbers and safety of the
house-sites of the displaced persons, whether in rural or urban areas.
Meanwhile
violence continues in Gujarat despite all the talk about normalcy. At
least six persons were injured yesterday in incidents of
stone-throwing, bomb blasts and stabbing in four riot-affected areas
even as the situation in other parts of the city was peaceful, official
sources said. Panic gripped Kalupur and adjoining areas of Raikhad, Dani
Limda, Shahpur late last night after a crude bomb exploded, police said.
A newspaper vendor was stabbed in the Shah-e-Alam area of Ahmedabad
yesterday. Many areas in Ahmedabad and elsewhere still remain under
curfew.
