A report from Dhaka two days ago said that about 350 Gujarat victims have reached Bangladesh. Many are going to Britain, East Africa and the Gulf where their close relatives are settled.

Inside India, non-Gujarati Muslims in Gujarat had already fled the state

 with the start of the pogroms. Now even Gujaratis are moving to other states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar etc. Within Gujarat itself Muslims in exposed areas are moving to densely populated Muslim localities.

Within the relief camps and without, there is no end to their plight. As authorities try to close camps and claim day and night that things are normal, violence continues unabated.

The daily toll for the last two weeks has been around a dozen or more. Mobs still rule the state, while the paranoid Home Minister LK Advani has started parroting that Muslims are planning revenge using the underworld and the Pakistani military intelligence (ISI). This will give the authorities another handle to beat Muslims with.

There is strong apprehension in Muslim minds that the supercop KPS Gill has been sent to Gujarat with precisely this mission of crushing Muslims.

Mobs are still ruling Gujarat streets. Relief camps are being attacked. Muslim concentration areas, which got away during the previous phases of the pogroms, are now being attacked and this is sending more people to the relief camps.

Yet the Gujarat state chief minister Narendra Modi has stated recently

Girls in refugee camp

 that all camps will be closed by May 31. His administration has started closing camps despite resistance by the inmates.

Reports from reliable sources said that four out of the seven camps operational in Dahod district have been closed down. Three were in Dahod town -- Ghanchi Panch, Majlis-e-Hussaini and Sabjefaros, while others were at Sukhsar, Fatehpura, and Jalod talukas.

In a major blow, the state government’s abrupt decision to close down four camps in Dahod has affected over 2,000 victims. This has left the victims bitter, and generated a feeling of unrest and helplessness among the Muslims of the area.

"The situation is just not conducive for these refugees to return home. They fear they will get killed by their neighbours," said Bina Shrinivasan, an activist and relief worker in Ahmedabad, who got the message from a camp in Dahod. M. Haji, coordinator of the relief camps in Dahod, was more forthcoming and charged the government with creating a false sense of security amongst the people by closing down these camps.

Exposing the farcical behaviour of the government, Haji said, "By forcing the closure of the camps, government wants to show that peace has returned and people have returned home. But this is a big farce." "These people have lost their homes and livelihood and were dependent on the State to keep hunger at bay. Now, they will also have to worry about arranging food," Haji complains bitterly.

The story from the refugee camps in Sabarkantha district is no

 different. Muslims in Sabarkantha district, who became riot victims, also moved to refugee camps. However, it is only after two months that realisation dawned upon them that they would be allowed safe passage to their homes only on the condition that they withdraw the reports filed with the police against individuals who led the mobs during the violence and instead file fresh complaints blaming the violence on nondescript mobs.

Nearly 24,000 terror-stricken Muslims, who fled from 207 villages in Sabarkantha district, are refusing to return to their original dwellings because of life-threatening attacks and arson to their property.

According to Khadim Lalpuri, president of the coordination committee of all Sabarkantha relief camps, the survey that was undertaken by the coordination committee confirmed that 101 persons died in communal violence in Sabarkantha against the official figure of 41. It also lists 62 persons as missing, most of them belonging to Kidiyad village of Malpur taluka.

Children in refugee camp

However, a district-level meeting of senior officials held recently worked out an action plan to disband all relief camps within a month, but those living in the camps are too terrified to return to what used to be their 'homes.'

Available reports indicate that there are still 160 camps functioning across the state of Gujarat. 47 camps are spread in Ahmedabad itself. While four of the camps at Dahod have been closed down, Ahmedabad is witnessing a spurt in the number of camps. The number of refugees at two of the largest refugee camps in Ahmedabad, the Shah Alam camp and Dariyakhan Ghummat camp has considerably increased recently. Instead of a decrease in their numbers a fresh camp has been added during the last few days because of recent attacks in Khanpur, Mirzapur and Shahpur areas of the city, which has left thousands of people homeless.

Even in some of the districts, where Muslim villagers have attempted to return, they have been met with attacks and threats, forcing them to return to the camps.

The existing inhuman conditions, in which refugees continue to live, cut a really sorry figure. Packed like sardines, sitting up all night as there isn’t enough space to lie down, lack of water to drink or for ablutions, lack of food, clothes, medicines -- all make Gujarat a living hell.

The helpless victims of the communal carnage in Gujarat have been cornered and increasingly find themselves at the edge. With each passing day their plight continues to worsen. Thousands of men, women, children and newborn babies are living under open skies with only bedsheets to save them from the scorching heat.

Women in refugee camp pleading for help

Many are not getting even the meager rations supplied by the authorities. Compensation is not being paid to many since they cannot bring official certificates confirming the deaths of their dear ones or the burning of their houses. Even if it comes, the 'compensation' is usually so pathetic that it serves no purpose.

Recently a trader who had lost everything died of heart attack when he was given a cheque for rupees 5000 ($102)! Another person who was given a compensation of rupees two thousand met same fate, according to media reports.

The refugees are not left in peace even inside the relief camps. Even here they are being constantly attacked by mobs. The Dariyakhan Ghummat camp was repeatedly attacked by mobs during the last week of April who demanded its removal from the area.

Bharat Barot, the legislative assembly member from the area and state minister for civil supplies, even wrote to Gujarat home minister asking for the shifting of the camp since the Hindus in the area felt threatened. But when the minister’s plea didn’t work, mobs started attacking the camp hoping to frighten them into moving away. The minister is reported to have led the attacks on the refugee camp.

The process of the migration of riot victims has already started from Gujarat to different states of the country. The bordering state of Rajasthan has become a prime destination for the haunted refugees. Besides, the state of Andhra Pradesh (AP) has also become one of the favoured destination. The AP government is offering land and facilities to the uprooted to start a new life away from their tormentors in Gujarat.

Refugees are continuously pouring into Rajasthan for shelter. According to Rajasthan government sources, victims began fleeing into the state from the first week of March itself. Most of the groups, who fled Gujarat, had already sent away their children and women.

Most of the people, who had earlier migrated from Narayanpet in Mehbubnagar district in Andhra Pradesh to Ahmedabad, have also fallen victims to the riots. At least 100 families of Narayanpet have now returned home from Ahmedabad with shocking tales of brutalities.

Some 15 people belonging to Narayanpet were among those killed in Ahmedabad.

An injured man in a refugee camp

Many other Gujarati families, who have some relatives or acquaintances in Hyderabad have also started arriving. Ghiyasuddin Babu Khan, president of a voluntary organisation in Hyderabad, said that his organisation has prepared a plan for rehabilitation of 65,000 of the nearly three lakh displaced persons. Initially 400 houses will be built at the cost of Rs. 20 million, he said.

The government is forcing people to go back to their burnt houses. Even if local Hindus are ready to allow them, the condition is that the victims have to give them sworn statements on judicial paper that their reports to the police were lies, that it was the Muslims who provoked the Hindus by airing provocative slogans.

These affidavits also include a written pledge from the victims that they will not indulge in trades and professions preferred by Hindus. As if this is not enough, the returning victims are also required to appear before village councils in person to repeat their fake apology and reiterate pledge of good conduct..! In most cases the locals forcibly prevent the victims from returning and threaten them that if they did greater horror will visit them.

The Gujarat events have also had their effect on the Indian Muslim community in general. The process of Muslim ghettoisation has been accelerated. A fear psychosis is compelling Muslims to leave exposed and Hindu-majority areas to live in Muslim localities. 

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