NEW DELHI, January 14 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Human Rights Watch Tuesday, January 14, slammed the Indian government for its role in last year’s sectarian violence in the western state of Gujarat and for using tough new anti-terror laws to crack down on political opponents.

“Human Rights Watch’s investigations, and those of Indian human rights groups, revealed that much of the (Gujarat) violence was planned well in advance ... and was carried out with state approval and orchestration,” the New York-based rights group said in its annual report, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Bitter communal violence, sparked by the torching of a train coach last February 27 in which 58 Hindu pilgrims and activists died, claimed around 2,000 lives in the ensuing months.

Most of the victims were Muslims.

The report described in detail horrific acts of violence and stressed that state officials and the police were directly involved in the violence.

“In many cases, the police led the charge, using gunfire to kill Muslims who got in the mobs” way,” it said.

It also castigates nationalist groups comprising the Sangh Parivar (family of Hindu groups) for active complicity in the riots.

“The violence in Gujarat underscored the volatile consequences of rising Hindu nationalist sentiment propagated by the Sangh Parivar,” the report said.

It accused New Delhi of exploiting rhetoric surrounding the global war against terrorism “in order to target religious minorities and political opponents.”

It cited as an example the government’s decision to push through the tough new Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), under which several Kashmiri leaders were detained without trial.

“POTA has been implemented against political opponents in various parts of the country to make a point,” Human Rights Watch said.

The arrests of Kashmiri leaders Yasin Malik and Syeed Ali Geelani led to concerns that charges against them under POTA are politically motivated, it said.

Muslim majority Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both countries.

The report also accused the Hindu nationalist central government and the Sangh Parivar of other human rights violations in the past year, saying they had failed to provide protection to “the historically discriminated groups in other parts of the country, including Christians, Dalits (the “untouchable” caste) and tribals.”

The revision of history books to include hate propaganda against Islamic and Christian communities was part of the Hindu revivalist campaign, the report charged.

The watchdog also listed a series of attacks on Christians, churches and lower-caste members, highlighting an incident in which five low-caste youths were lynched by a mob.