After maintaining an initial silence, the international community is finally condemning the anti-Muslim ethnic cleansing that is entering its third month in Gujarat. During the first month, only foreign newspapers and T.V. stations covered the horrible events in which thousands of Muslims have been mercilessly killed and burnt alive, their homes and businesses burnt and about a quarter million forced to live in refugee camps.

An international human rights group joined Western countries in blaming the Gujarat government for failing to control riots in the state. The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) said that the Gujarat police had “completely failed” to protect the mainly Muslim victims of the violence.

During the first month only Bangladesh, Pakistan and Iran came forward and condemned the brutal killings of the Muslim community in the state. Another Muslim country, Indonesia, made its displeasure known by canceling an agreed upon Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate with India in fighting international terrorism.

The second month saw things changing and governments around the world increasingly started to show their discontent with what was taking place while the Indian government at the center not only refused to recognize the enormity of the situation but even gave clean chit to the chief architect of the pogroms, Chief Minister Narendra Modi, and kept him in his job despite mounting internal demands for his ousting.

Many countries have asked the government of India to control the riots in Gujarat. The visiting Finnish foreign minister, Erkki Toumioja, was publicly rebuked by an official spokesman for voicing concern at the on-going saga of violence. In a newspaper interview on April 19 Mr. Toumioja had described the violence in Gujarat as “a matter of great concern… The pictures of carnage are very disturbing. We are concerned, as we are when something of that nature happens anywhere in the world.”

Many countries have expressed similar opinions. These included Switzerland, Canada, Germany and Holland. Though American human rights bodies have been openly critical, the Bush administration has avoided a direct comment on the carnage. State Department spokesman Phil Reeker regretted the violence and said on April 16 “it is very important to seek a peaceful resolution to their differences, because this type of violence doesn’t benefit anybody.” The U.S., U.K. and Canada have asked their citizens to cancel any trips to the state of Gujarat.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, Christina Rocca, who was in New Delhi on April 10, has also rapped the Indian government for the events in Gujarat. She told the media in the capital that “The events in Gujarat were horrible. We are deeply saddened by them. We hope that peace and stability soon return to the state.” She also added on the same occasion, “We hope that there will be some kind of movement towards maintenance of communal harmony in the state.” There are also reports that U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has personally ordered that a close watch be kept on Gujarat since the state started to burn.

Britain was among the countries which sent a team to the troubled state to get a first-hand account of the macabre ethnic cleansing there. Britain had a special interest: four British nationals, all Muslims of Indian origin, were attacked by the marauding mobs while traveling in Gujarat. Three of them were snatched from their car and lynched. The body of only one of them has been positively identified. The fourth was grievously injured and has since been treated and flown back to London. He will serve as a first-hand witness in cases soon to be filed in British, Belgian, American and Indian courts as well as the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

The BJP leadership is shuddering by the very thought that soon an international red corner notice will be issued against their hero, the chief architect of the pogroms who still presides over the carnage. Proof of his direct responsibility is said to be stronger than that of Milosevic.

British High Commission’s secret report was leaked a few days back by the Hindustan Times newspaper, generating red faces in the Indian Home Ministry, presided over by Mr. Modi’s godfather, Mr. L.K. Advani, who is keeping a studied silence even though he represents the burning state in Parliament and had been quick to give clean chit to his protégé.

The British report sent to the Foreign Office in London said that the continuing violence in Gujarat is “aimed at removing Muslim influence from parts of the state.” The report placed the death toll at around 2000, against the government figures of around 800. The British team reportedly came to this figure from information shared by civil rights groups, victims’ families and state police officials.

The British report makes a very significant remark that the post-Godhra violence and massacre in Gujarat was pre-planned. It says that if the Sabarmati (train) tragedy hadn’t happened, another flashpoint would have been created to justify the pre-meditated violence as “reaction.”

The report is also very critical of the RSS family of ultra Hindu outfits which are playing the guiding role in the riots. It identifies the VHP and Bajrang Dal as the main instruments for realizing the ghettoization of Muslims all over Gujarat. The team also observed that in some areas the police had been specifically instructed not to act while in some others the police force was communally polarized and looked the other way.

The BBC confirmed this report on Thursday, April 25. It quoted from the report that “the violence had all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing” and that “reconciliation between Hindus and Muslims is impossible while the chief minister remains in power.” The BBC quoted the document as saying that “the violence, far from being spontaneous, was planned, possibly months in advance, carried out by an extremist Hindu organization with the support of the state government… The aim was to purge Muslims from Hindu areas…”

The European Union has issued a strong statement condemning the violence in Gujarat. Since New Delhi was reluctant, on one pretext or another, to receive an E.U. delegation, the E.U. delivered the demarche to the Indian ambassador in Madrid last Wednesday, according to reports in Indian newspapers Saturday, April 27.

Expressing concern, the E.U. statement said, “over 800 people mostly Muslims have died in a series of reprisal killings by Hindus since February 27 when a Muslim mob torched a train carrying Hindus burning to death 59 people… The message is that the protection of minorities and upholding of human rights is important.” The E.U. statement added that “the carnage in Gujarat was a kind of apartheid… and has parallels with Germany of 1930s.” The declaration has been written on the basis of a report by the E.U.’s own team which has visited Gujarat. The E.U. report concluded:

Godhra served as a pretext for triggering the violence that followed in the state; the post-Godhra violence was preplanned and the pattern suggests that the attempt was to purge Muslims from Hindu areas: the chief minister instructed senior police officers not to intervene in the rioting; the state and central governments failed to meet the immediate humanitarian needs of the victims and the prime minister visited Gujarat only on April 4 [more than a month after the eruption of the riots].

China has also rapped the Indian government over the ongoing riots in Gujarat. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said, “We hope to see India maintaining tranquillity. It is our hope that India will maintain social stability and unity among various ethnic groups.”

However, it has come as a rude shock to Indian Muslims that most Muslim and all Arab countries have preferred to look the other way. There is no whimper of protest on the official level. Indian Muslims have felt insulted and many writers have suggested that instead of showing undue concern for Arab or Pan-Islamic causes Indian Muslims should now concentrate their eyes on the home turf.

The Indian government is increasingly embarrassed over the mounting criticism from leading world powers. But it has resorted to defiance to deflect this criticism. The most common refrain is that Gujarat is an “internal matter” and that no foreign country should interfere in such cases. Critics at home and abroad say that the issues of ethnic cleansing and genocide are not internal matters, especially in view of the Indian government’s clear failure and reluctance to arrest the developments.

India has registered its discomfiture over the British High Commission’s report. In response to a question on the international reaction to Gujarat, the External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said, “all the countries are well aware of the steps the Government of India has taken. We have the capacity and the will to deal with incidents of this nature. Our secular credentials are in no way diluted.”

Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee moved a step further Thursday and claimed that India “did not need any lessons in secularism from the West.” The government of India and its spokesmen still live in a fools paradise deluding themselves to believe that “normalcy” has returned to the ill-fated state and that what is happening there is an “internal matter” of India. No one has been accepting this logic since Bosnia, Kosovo and East Timor.