NEW
DELHI, August 22 (IslamOnline)- About 500 Muslims missing in the
Gujarat pogrom remain untraced even after six months. Private
humanitarian organizations working in the state presume that they are
dead.
The
500 reported missing, now presumed dead, raise the toll (as per human
rights groups) to 2000. An unsympathetic Gujarat government, widely
seen as a silent backer of the carnage, puts the figure at 1000.
However, there are few takers of the government’s claims.
The
government has been saying 377 went missing after the riots, according
to complaints registered at police stations. As the killings had
widespread police complicity, policemen did not register many
complaints. Victims have complained that their reports to police
stations were often changed by police personnel on duty.
Two
skeletons of Muslim youth recovered earlier this week from a drain in
Ahmedabad confirms worst fears that most of the missing were actually
killed and their bodies hurriedly disposed of.
Even
before the victims are rehabilitated, the state’s ruling Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) has decided to take out a “Gaurav rath yatra”
(pride chariot march) on September 3. BJP’s anti-Muslim attitude and
its role in the Gujarat carnage worries traumatized Muslims.
The
Hindu nationalist BJP is afraid that the anti-Muslim feelings aroused
during the Gujarat pogrom might die down with the passage of time. The
party has always gained from Hindu resentment against Muslims. Hence
it wanted early elections, but the powerful Election Commission has
shot down the proposal.
To
keep the fires of anti-Muslim hate burning, the party is determined to
take out the march on September 3. It had planned the march on July 4,
but widespread protests against it forced BJP to postpone the march.
Non-BJP
Political parties were so deeply incensed at the wickedness of the
plan that deputy Prime Minister LK Advani, a major Hindu nationalist
hardliner, had to intervene to stop the march. This showed the great
opposition from public opinion because Advani himself had been the
author of such marches in the late eighties and nineties of the last
century which left hundreds of Muslims dead in their trail.
The
National Human Rights Commission expressed extreme displeasure at the
July 4 march plan, warning of another round of bloodshed. But this
time the party is determined to indulge in its favorite pastime of
brinkmanship.
Perhaps
BJP has no legitimate recourse left to hold on to power except
indulging in such irresponsible acts. Public opinion is likely to go
against it in the months preceding election because nearly all of its
claims about the causes of Gujarat violence have turned out to be
untrue.
It
began the anti-Muslim carnage by saying it was in reaction to the
burning of 59 Hindu pilgrims traveling by rail on February 27 at
Godhra railway station. Later investigations have dented many claims
of BJP regarding the attack. The only way left for keeping the Hindu
rage burning is by carrying out a march heavily laden with anti-Muslim
symbolisms
