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Muslim women decry injustice of Indian police and army in a genuine refugee camp in Ahmedabad. |
By
SU Rahman, IOL South Asia correspondent
AHMEDABAD,
April 3 (IslamOnline) - On the eve of Indian Prime Minister Atal
Bihari Vajpayee's visit, Modi government is busy faking refugee camps
in Ahmedabad in order to offer an unreal picture to the distinguished
visitor. Only one out of the two camps the premier is expected to
visit, is real.
The
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has already indicted the
Gujarat state government for not properly handling the situation and
has sought an immediate CBI probe into certain critical cases,
including the train carnage.
According
to reports, the Prime Minister is likely to make a brief visit to
Godhra as well which witnessed the train carnage – an incident which
was used for launching the subsequent anti-Muslim violence in the
state, claiming over 800 lives, according to official figures.
Unofficial figures are many times higher.
Vajpayee
is expected to announce certain relief measures to the victims of the
communal carnage who are staying in the camps.
Out
of over 200,000 internal refugees in Gujarat – the result of the
month-long violence – there are 71,153 people housed in 46 relief
camps in Ahmedabad. In only one camp at Shah-e-Alam durgah in the
walled city, there are more than 8,000 riot-victims.
Ahmedabad
witnessed large scale arson and looting Wednesday, April 3, in Gomti
Nagar area. A youth was burnt alive in the communally sensitive
Shahpur locality.
Three
Muslims were injured in police firing. Rioters are not allowing
ambulances to rescue the injured. According to a report, 45 injured in
today's violence are being treated in the city's Sarabai Hospital
alone. A curfew has been re-imposed in some Muslim dominated areas of Ahmedabad
since Tuesday night. Life in Hindu areas remains normal, though.
A
multi-religious peace delegation visiting the state at present was
forced by the extremist elements to leave the Ishwar Bhawan in the
upmarket Navrangpura area of Ahmadabad, where they were supposed to
stay overnight.
Since
the announcement of the prime minister's visit, the state machinery
has been working overtime to spruce up the camps and dole out money to
victims. Gujarat chief minister’s fate is hanging in balance and
depends much on the impression he manages to give the visiting prime
minister.
Meanwhile,
five people from the minority community were burnt alive Tuesday,
April 2, in a mob attack in Ambasa village, 60 kms from Ahmedabad, and
four others were injured in the attack which took sleeping villagers
by surprise.
One
person was killed and four others injured in police firing in Umreth
town of Anand district Tuesday night, police said Wednesday. A large
number of houses and shops were set on fire in Umreth. A curfew
remains imposed on Anjaar in Kutch since Tuesday where three places of
worship were damaged. Fresh violence was reported from Vadodra.
Despite
the continuing violence, the Modi government claims everything is
quiet in Gujarat. It has, moreover, built fake relief camps of 'Hindu'
victims to show them to the Prime Minister during his visit Thursday.
The idea is apparently to convince the Prime Minister that the
post-Dodhra riots were not a one-sided affair.
Indu Jain, editor of Naya Marg, a fortnightly published in Ahmadabad,
who visited one such camp in Karkaria near Dhor Bagan, told
IslamOnline that the government is preparing to show the camp refugees
to the prime minister as victims. According to latest information,
more such victims are being brought to these fake camps in order to
impress the visiting prime minister and the media people who will be
accompanying him.
Renowned social activist Swami Agnivesh, chairperson of the United
Nations Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery and
Secretary-General of Bharatiya Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, is part of the
multi-religious peace delegation visiting Ahmedabad now. He has
confirmed the report about the fake camps.
Agnivesh
visited the camp in Karkaria which is being spruced up for the prime
minister's visit tomorrow, and told IslamOnline that it is a fake camp
made up in order to divert the attention of the prime minister and the
world away from the atrocities still perpetrated against the Muslims.
He
further observed that unlike the real victims in ordinary camps,
residents of fake camps behave in a different manner and have
difficulty in recounting their experiences.
Mukesh Gurjan, Gujarat state president of Dalit Sena, told IslamOnline
that rioters of the VHP (World Hindu Council) are extensively using
Dalits – the so-called untouchables – to carry out their plans.
