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Riot victims huddled in Haj House, Ahmedabad, now closed
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By
IOL South Asia Correspondent
NEW
DELHI, November 3 (IslamOnline) - In what is being perceived as a
clear indication for the preparation of legislative assembly elections
in Gujarat, Narendra Modi administration in this trouble-prone,
communally-sensitive western Indian state has ordered the closure of
the last relief camp for riot victims at Haj House in the state's
commercial, Ahmedabad.
The
forcible closure of the camp has rendered hundreds of Muslim victims
homeless and completely insecure as they have no where to go except
footpaths. The state government had announced that all relief camps
must shut down by October 30.
It
wants to show that all victims have been rehabilitated and have
returned to their homes, which is not true. Muslims are still not
allowed to return to their homes in many areas and villages which have
been proclaimed "Muslim-free".
The
election to the state legislature is slated to be held beginning
December 12, according to an announcement made by the Election
Commission of India here recently.
The
closure of the last few relief camps has taken place amid allegations
of grave irregularities and financial misappropriation indulged into
by the state bureaucracy.
Riot
victims alleged that they have been discriminated against by the
government in matters of providing proper shelter and compensation,
and are being subjected to live in utter penury after the forced
closure of the remaining camps.
The
state witnessed one of the gravest communal conflagration in the
history of independent India, after a train car was torched at Godhra
railway station on February 28 this year in the state.
The
train named Sabarmati Express was returning from the Hindu temple town
of Ayodhya — the place associated with mythical god-king Rama, and
where once stood the Babari Masjid before it was completely razed to
the ground by Hindu fanatics in December 1992.
The
train car which was burnt down carried Hindu pilgrims. The burning
incident sparked off worst ethnic riots between Hindus and Muslims,
unparalleled in brutalities even by the standards of the gruesome
anti-Sikh riots of 1984 after the assassination of former Indian Prime
Minister, Indira Gandhi.
Reports
reaching here said that out of hundreds only one single relief camp at
the Qureshi Jamaat Hall at Mirzapur area in Ahmedabad remains
functional. The camp presently shelters 70 families from Naroda and
Chamanpura, the two of the worst-hit areas.
Ataullah
Khan Pathan, organizer of the Qureshi Hall camp, said, “Most of the
inmates belong to Gulbarg Society (39 killed) and Naroda-Patia (86
killed) and they do not want to return home. We are holding talks with
the district administration for allocation of land to these people in
areas like Vatwa and Sarkhej.”
“I
don’t know how to live my life after I get out of this camp. My meat
shop was looted, my house was burnt down and the government simply
refuses to compensate my financial losses that run well over Rs. 0.15
million. Till date I have only got Rs. 2,500,” says Adil Abdul
Hamid, one of the camp inmates.
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BJP activists dance during election campaign in Gujarat |
The
Haj House camp was ordered shut down after nearly 100 camp inmates
were directed to comply with the vacating orders by the
administration. The repeated pleas of the inmates that they had no
places to return to, found absolutely no favor with the authorities.
Ayub
Khan, organizer of the relief camp, complained that about 100 people,
especially from Jalampuri Ni Chawl in Saraspur and few areas in Vatva,
have not received any compensation at all and have been so far unable
to rebuild their homes.
"I
have submitted report of all the expenditures we have incurred during
the past few months. Neither does the district administration respond
to this nor make any effort to help 35 per cent of riot-hit inmates in
this camp who are still waiting to get the compensation. The state
government machinery does not seem to be interested," he said.
"How
long can the government feed them?'' asked SMF Bukhari, the state
government's chief coordinator of relief. "We have given them
cheques to repair their homes and also sufficient time to construct
their homes," he said.
When
it was pointed out that 70 per cent of the people had not received any
compensation and that in the case of those who were given cheques the
amounts were often as grotesquely low as Rs.71 [US$ 1.46] and averaged
between rupees 2,000 and 3,000, Bukhari said: "What we are giving
is assistance, not compensation. Aid is given as per the government
engineers' estimates."
AJ
Shah, district collector, had something else to say. He stated,
"We verified records before giving compensation. The scope for
mistakes is very small."
The
victims are not at all ready to believe the version of the district
authority. One of the lady victims, Mumtaz Ghanchi, feels that they
(victims) are being let down and find themselves directionless in an
unsympathetic environment. She said, "We went to the district
collector's office but we were told that a local leader had taken the
cheques. We still have the card on which compensation is to be paid.
We can't understand how the compensation was paid without the
card."
The
ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state had been
widely criticized for the state-sponsored anti-Muslim pogrom. The
appalling conditions of Muslims displaced by the large-scale killings,
arson and looting by Hindu mobs drew the attention of several
countries of the world, including the U.S. and E.U. But most Muslim
and all Arab countries kept conspicuous silence.
The
state law enforcement agencies were taken to task as there were
allegations that the police played a passive role all through with
reports of even active collaboration with the arsonists in some
places. Victims and eye witnesses alleged that the police stood by as
Hindu mobs killed Muslims and torched their homes and businesses.
There was a complete failure on the part of the state intelligence and
action by the state government.
However,
one of the biggest complaints of victims was the refusal of police to
register cases of rape, murder and burning with specific individual
names of the perpetrators. The victims were pressurized to register
their case, if they wanted to do so, claiming that the crime was
committed by a "crowd," in which case no one will be
punished.
The
government and the state bureaucracy fooled the people in the name of
providing compensation. Shaukatkhan Tyrewala, general secretary of the
Qaumi Relief Committee set up to carry out negotiations with the
government on behalf of the minority victims, said some of them had
been paid as little as Rs. 15 or Rs. 50 for repairing their damaged
houses. "Why this crude joke in the name of compensation?"
he bitterly asked.
Tyrewala
added, "While the victims of the earthquake in urban centers last
year were paid a compensation of Rs 0.15 million with soft-term loan
facilities for another Rs. 0.3 million, the government was not
prepared to pay even Rs. 50,000 for the houses damaged in the
riots."
Muslim
industrialists too find themselves at odds in the face of the given
situation since they suffered heavy losses. The compensation policy
for the riot-hit industries and shops, has a major loophole. They can
either avail a soft-term loan or a 10 per cent subsidy, not both.
Meanwhile,
the Supreme Court on October 22 had issued notices to the central
government, Gujarat state government and the National Human Rights
Commission on a petition filed by a noted writer and 29 others seeking
reopening of the relief camps for riot victims pending the completion
of the entire relief and rehabilitation operations, besides transfer
of all riot-related cases to the Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI).
The
state government should impose fines on officials if riots ever
erupted in their area and also begin departmental and criminal
proceedings against such officials, the petitioners requested the apex
court.
