May 9^th, 2002

 

            Headlines:

 

·       Punjab refuses force for Gujarat  (Times Of  India)

·       Modi's men get jittery, say BJP taking a beating  (Times Of India)

·       Gill readies blueprint to tackle Gujarat (Times Of India)

·       Govt gives Z-plus security cover to Gujarat (Times Of India)

·        1 killed as riots resume in Ahmedabad (Times Of India)

·        Gujarat's Muslims live in terror( BBC UK )

·       Three more die in Ahmedabad, police save two youths (www.rediff.com)

·       SPECIAL REPORT: After targeting community, now they hunt those who walk alone (Express India)

·       Dahod collector ordered closure of camps (Times Of India)

·       RSS to hold Khaki March in Gujarat (Asian Age)

·       Muslims fear Gill will flush them out like terrorists (Hindustan Times)

·       Police under pressure to go easy (Indian Express)

·       Call for adequate relief to female victims in Gujarat  (Times Of India)         

         Opinions:

 

·       Rural Gujarat is not immune to the madness (Indian Express)

 

 

Punjab refuses force for Gujarat
PTI
[ THURSDAY, MAY 09, 2002 5:54:08 PM ]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=9374677
 
NEW DELHI: Punjab on Thursday refused to spare its police force for
deployment in trouble-torn Gujarat, a request made by supercop K P S
Gill after his appointment as security adviser to Chief Minister
Narendra Modi.

An official press note of Punjab government issued here said Punjab
police was "committed" permanently in the areas adjoining Jammu and
Kashmir and in normal policing duties with just one battalion
available in the reserve. "Therefore, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh
has regretfully decided that no police force could be spared," the
note said.

Gill had recently requested Punjab government to make available India
Reserve Battalion (IRB), a force set up during his tenure as the
state director general of police to crush militancy in Punjab in
eighties.

Copyright © 2002 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved

Modi's men get jittery, say BJP taking a beating
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
[ WEDNESDAY, MAY 08, 2002 11:21:01 PM ]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Articleshow.asp?art_id=9297383
 
GANDHINAGAR: For the first time since the communal disturbances began
in Gujarat on February 27, several top Cabinet ministers questioned
the ability of the state administration under Chief Minister Narendra
Modi to control the continuing violence in the state.

They also wanted to know what exactly was the brief for ``super cop''
K.P.S. Gill. The ministers including the Industry Minister Suresh
Mehta, who is number 2 in the Cabinet, Water Resources Minister
Narottam Patel, Finance Minister Nitin Patel, Energy Minister Kaushik
Patel and Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Fakir Vaghela
raised the issue at Wednesday's weekly cabinet meeting here.

Mehta, who fired the salvo, particularly asked the CM to explain why
K.P.S. Gill was appointed security adviser. The view was strong among
all the ministers that the BJP's image was taking a downward turn as
a result of the ``inability'' of the government to control the
situation.

They said that both Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Union
home minister L.K. Advani had said that the riots were a ``blot on
the face of the party.'' ``How should one explain to the ordinary
party workers when such statements are made by the Central
leadership? What is the meaning of such statements?'' asked several
ministers.

The ministers, expressing concern on the law and order situation,
said the effectiveness of the police was going down, the business
community was getting disillusioned with the party, there was
virtually no combing operations in areas which are known to be hot-
spots of tension.

They said that everything possible should be done to stop the
violence. The CM, who had never before faced such ire from the
ministers, was on the defensive. He explained away by saying that
steps such as appointment of Gill, starting of combing operations,
and finding out the culprits were being taken.

Coming out of the Cabinet meeting, a senior minister told this
correspondent on condition of anonymity, ``We said there should be
enough preparedness to fight the difficult situation arising out of
the disturbances. We were assured that Gill, with his commando force,
would effectively curb violence."

Copyright © 2002 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved

Gill readies blueprint to tackle Gujarat
LEENA MISHRA
TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ WEDNESDAY, MAY 08, 2002 10:26:34 PM ]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Articleshow.asp?art_id=9294345

AHMEDABAD: On Tuesday night, Ahmedabad police discovered a brand new
indigenous weapon - tennis balls stuffed with explosive powder and
shrapnel, which make a deadly bomb.

The discovery came after a massive combing operation in Khiskola Pol,
Kalupur, where violence had been carrying on since Monday night.

The findings in the now abandoned area included acid bulbs, glass
bottles, glass powder, cans and other things, that will not be out of
place in a household or a scrapyard. What made them important was the
fact that all could be assembled into lethal weapons.

The foray by the local police seemed an attempt to bring the real
criminals to book, before supercop K P S Gill and his crack commandos
could lay their hands on them. Speculations about Gill mounting a
Punjab-style combing operation also seem to have a hand in sending
them into overdrive.

On Tuesday, Gill held a three-and-a-half-hour meeting with senior
police officers in police commissioner P C Pande's chamber, which was
also attended by director-general of police K Chakravarthi.

Gill is said to have assessed the situation in the city and inquired
in detail about Naroda Patia and Chamanpura massacres.

Unconfirmed reports said that Gill had also apparently sought the
help of the local police in identifying certain locations. It was not
confirmed whether this was a precursor to Punjab-type search
operations, especially in the minority-dominated areas.

A minister in the state government wanted the entire Juhapura area
searched. ``After the massive killing that followed Godhra, the
ruling regime is now fearing a major minority backlash and hence the
combing plans,'' said an official.

Despite rumours of AK-47 and country-made revolvers having been seen
in certain areas of the city, police seizures only show various
indigenous bombs, swords, metal pipes, hockey sticks and acid bulbs.

``If someone keeps acid, kerosene, kitchen knives, rags or sticks in
his house, it is not an offence, since these are things used for
domestic purposes,'' contends a deputy commissioner of police. But
this, he feels, will only provide police with more ammunition to pick
up and exploit innocent people.

Though `combing' means searching on the basis of specific information
for contraband stuff, it has come to mean `sanitising' under the
present circumstances, feel an official.

``The police can under Section 165, CrPC, conduct searches without a
warrant, only if they feel that there are possibilities of evidence
disappearing if there is a delay,'' said a DIG-rank officer.

What interpretation of law will Gill and his men arm themselves with,
remains to be seen, feel the local police.

Copyright © 2002 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.

Govt gives Z-plus security cover to Gujarat
AFP
[ THURSDAY, MAY 09, 2002 12:07:11 PM ]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=9350910
 
NEW DELHI: The government is sending 2,000 anti-riot troopers and
elite commandos to riot-hit Gujarat to help supercop K P S Gill
contain the violence, officials said Thursday.

Another 1,000 policemen from Punjab are expected to reach Gujarat to
prop up Gill's reported plans to raise a non-partisan squad to stem
the rioting.

"Eight companies (2,000 soldiers) of the Central Reserve Police Force
are being dispatched to Gujarat from various parts of the country," a
home ministry official in New Delhi said.

The official also said some 200 Black Cat commandos would leave soon
for Gujarat to help Gill.

Copyright © 2002 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.

1 killed as riots resume in Ahmedabad
PTI [ THURSDAY, MAY 09, 2002 11:40:04 AM ]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=9348699

AHMEDABAD: A youth was burnt after being stabbed to death and four
persons were injured in a bomb blast as violence continued unabated
in parts of the city.

The body of the youth, who was stabbed to death late Wednesday night
when he was coming back from work in Vatva area, was later set
ablaze, police said adding, with his death the toll in the renewed
violence on Sunday has reached to 28.

Four persons received burn injuries in a crude bomb blast in
Maninagar area where tension mounted after stone pelting incidents,
police said.

In another incident, panic gripped the Paldi area after a crude bomb
exploded, police said adding, it was work of some miscreants
intending to create tension in the area.

Police rushed to the tension gripped areas and brought the situation
under control.

Indefinite curfew continued in Vejalpur and Kalupur areas of the city
and in Sarkhej in Ahmedabad rural district, police said.

Indefinite curfew also continued in Lunawada town of Panchmahal
district which witnessed group clashes and arson on Wednesday, police
added.

Copyright © 2002 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.

Gujarat's Muslims live in terror
By Jill McGivering
BBC South Asia correspondent
May 9, 2002.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1977000/1977246.stm
 
It is now more than two months since the Indian state
of Gujarat erupted in bitter religious violence.

Unofficial figures say more than 2,000 people have
died, the vast majority Muslims killed by Hindus who
constitute more than 80% of the state's population.

Independent reports accuse hardline Hindu
organisations of orchestrating the violence with the
support of India's ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) government.

Fresh deaths are still being reported almost every day
and an estimated 150,000 Muslims are still sheltering
in relief camps.

Attacks

In a mosque turned relief camp in the city of
Ahmedabad, 16,000 Muslims are crammed together inside
the walls of the compound in fear of their lives.

The men were shouting: 'Who do you Muslims think you
are? Kill them!'

Muslim victim Abdul Jabar
It is more than two months since these people were
forced out of Hindu-dominated neighbourhoods - they
still feel unsafe.

While we were there, chaos broke out - news of
shootings nearby and injured Muslims were rushed to
the camp for help before being taken to hospital.

Some of the injured were treated at the camp.

Nassir, whose hand was badly burnt, told us what
happened.

"The mob came with police - they started setting fire
to our shops and houses - when we tried to come out,
the police opened fire."

Looking the other way

A short drive from the camp, we found the riots still
raging, and a group of police officers standing by
watching but doing nothing to stop the violence.

Just yards from where the police were standing, we
passed the blood-stained bodies of two Muslim men in
the road - one dead, one still dying.

There are 16,000 in one camp alone

Officials later said the riot started when some Muslim
families tried to go back to their homes from relief
camps and were set upon by Hindus.

Most of those sheltering in the camps fled from
Hindu-dominated areas and local Hindus still seem
determined to stop them returning.

In other camps, we met Muslims who had had the same
experience.

Abdul Jabar has visible head and face wounds. He says
six local men beat him up - the police did nothing to
stop them.

"The men were shouting: 'Who do you Muslims think you
are? Kill them!' There was a police post at the corner
and I screamed for help. I said to the mob, the police
are right there! They said: 'We don't care - they're
on our side.'"

Bias charge

From the beginning, Muslims have accused the police,
overwhelmingly Hindu, of deliberately standing by and
failing to protect them.

This was confirmed by an independent report by British
officials.

Now more than two months later, Muslims say it is
still the case.

Today there's no place for Muslims

Father Prakash,
rights activist
But it is hard to know if this is still the result of
direct orders from political leaders or a symptom of
the general collapse of law and order.

RK Mishra of The Pioneer newspaper is a veteran
investigative journalist. He says the authorities have
simply lost control.

"It's developed momentum of its own. When you send a
signal down the law and order machinery saying you
have to look the other way, it starts looking the
other way."

Hindu hardline drive

But while some see the continuing violence as a lack
of control - others see something far more sinister.

Many say privately that the violence is part of a
careful plan by Hindu hardliners supported by the BJP,
to drive Muslims out of mainstream areas.

Father Cedric Prakash is a Jesuit priest and a human
rights activist.

At night there's a lot of activity in all-Muslim areas
so we're frightened

Hindu resident
"Today there's no place for Muslims, Christians in the
state have already been bashed up several times, there
are moves to remove the Christians too.

"Soon it will be the other minorities... Exactly what
[happened] in Nazi Germany."

A minister in the Gujarat state government, Ashok
Bhatt, explained to me the BJP's view that Muslims,
not Hindus, are causing the violence.

He thinks they are in league with the ISI, the
intelligence agency of Pakistan, India's perceived
enemy.

That paranoia about a Muslim plot runs through many
Hindu neighbourhoods. We visited an area which used to
be peacefully integrated - pre-dominantly Hindu but
with a Muslim minority.

Now though, all the Muslims have fled and the Hindu
residents here seem convinced that local Muslims are
now being armed by Pakistan and preparing to attack.

"We don't know exactly how they're getting arms but at
night there's a lot of activity in all-Muslim areas so
we're frightened," said one man.

But despite the fact many Hindus seem convinced of
this, no-one can produce any evidence at all that it
is actually happening.


Copyright 2002 BBC UK. All rights reserved.

Three more die in Ahmedabad,
police save two youths
rediff.com,
Thursday May 9, 2002.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/may/09train4.htm
 
One person was stabbed fatally and two others injured
earlier this week succumbed even as police saved two
minority youths from an armed mob in Ahmedabad on
Thursday.

Nearly 200 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, who
arrived in Ahmedabad from Delhi, were deployed in
Gomtipur and Dariapur -- two of the worst-hit
localities in the ongoing communal violence.

Two youths belonging to a minority community were
saved by the police when they were about to be
cornered by an armed crowd in Behrampura.

Police opened fire and lobbed teargas shells to
disperse stone pelting mobs in Salatwada and Dariyapur
injuring one person.

Two rounds were fired and 23 teargas shells burst to
scare away clashing groups in the Delhi Darwaja area
under the Madhupura police station.

A few houses belonging to members of minority
community were burnt in Idgah circle under Madhupura
police station, while four persons making crude bombs
in Maninagar area were injured when the bombs went of
accidently.

Copyright 2002 rediff.com. All rights reserved.

SPECIAL REPORT: After targeting community, now they
hunt those who walk alone
Janyala Sreenivas
Express India.

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=17052
 
Ahmedabad, May 8: A lecturer of ITI, Sarkhej, is
intercepted by four people while on his way to work on
Tuesday morning and burnt alive.

A truck driver, unaware of the trouble in Sarkhej,
drives straight into a mob lying in wait near
Juhapura. He’s also burnt alive.

Two daily-wagers cycling to work from Dhor Bazaar are
pelted with stones on Monday, then bludgeoned to
death.

Two residents of Parikshitalal Nagar, Behrampura, on
their way home, were burnt alive by a mob on Sunday
evening.

WHILE mobs attacking entire neighbourhoods has so far
marked violence in the city, there’s a new pattern
emerging in recent incidents: mobs targeting
unsuspecting individuals. And police say this could be
because of the long spell of violence that has now
deepened the divide.

Over the last three days, innocent citizens, educated
people, have been waylaid by mobs and done to death.
Ironically, most of these people were either on their
way to work or were hurriedly home on hearing reports
of violence in the city.

Take M A Kothawala, the 35-year-old lecturer, who was
going to work on his two-wheeler. It was his beard
that gave him away. When he slowed his scooter, he was
stopped by four people — they stabbed him and them
burnt him alive. Vikas Sahay, Superintendent of
Police, Ahmedabad Rural, says Kothawala was going to
college and probably the miscreants identified him due
to the beard.

On Monday, two unidentified youths riding on cycles to
work were stoned to death. There was no visible sign
that gave their religion away but it was as if the mob
was waiting. ‘‘No one knows their identity. We do not
know what the provocation was and doubt if there was
one. Even we have not been able to identify them after
two days. We only know they belong to a particular
community,’’ C A Makwana, Inspector of Kagdapeeth
police station says.

‘‘There is so much hate between the two religions that
as soon as they see any one of the other community
they are attacked. The sad part is that innocent
people are being killed,’’ says Special IG Chitturi
Surendra Prasad.

Wednesday: four killed
At least four people were killed in police firing late
Tuesday night as rioting continued in Gujarat, even as
security advisor K.P.S. Gill held discussions with
police top brass. Five policemen were injured while a
BSF jawan was attacked in Maninagar area. As many as
33 people were arrested in this connection, police
said. One country-made pistol, live catrideges, 33
crude bombs and a sword were recovered from them.

Copyright 2002 Express India.All rights reserved.

Dahod collector ordered closure of camps
AKSHAYA MUKUL
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
[ WEDNESDAY, MAY 08, 2002 11:31:53 PM ]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=9298132

 
NEW DELHI: Contrary to Union Home Minister L K
Advani’s claim in the Lok Sabha that there was no
information on closure of relief camps in Gujarat,
there is plenty of evidence on the conduct of such a
campaign.

The Times of India is in possession of a letter
written by Dahod collector S R Pandor on April 26 to
the mamlatdars of Dahod, Jhalod and Limkheda, asking
them to close two relief camps, except in Sanjeli,
which were set up on March 6 through a government
order after the communal riots began.

The letter says, ‘‘People should be asked to go back
since they have been given relief and assistance to
build houses.’’ Mamlatdars were asked to intimate
co-ordinators of the relief camps so that they be
closed by April 28.

The two camps which were closed following the order
are Gulistan Relief Committee Camp I and II. The first
one had 964 inmates and the second one 994.

Copyright © 2002 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved

RSS TO HOLD KHAKI MARCH IN GUJARAT
By Sanjay Basak
Asian Age Online,
New Delhi, May 8.

http://www.hclinfinet.com/2002/MAY/WEEK2/5/AAOInsideNN6.jsp

 
The RSS is ready to go ahead with its summer camp in
Gujarat and take out a route march in “full RSS
uniform and accompanied by the RSS band.”

The camp is expected to be attended by the top RSS
leadership, including sarsangchalak K.S. Sudarshan and
Mohan Das Bhagwat. Neither the Centre nor the state
government has yet objected to the idea of holding a
RSS camp in a Gujarat already torn apart by communal
riots.

Sources disclosed that local RSS leaders are already
in touch with the state administration, in particular
with chief minister Narendra Modi, to “bring the
situation under control.” The RSS scheme to bring the
situation under control includes closing refugee
camps; telling people of the minority community living
in the camps to return home; starting resettlement
work, ending the segregation of Hindu and Muslim areas
and holding peace talks.

The RSS summer camp, called “Sangh Siksha Varg,” is
expected to be held in mid-May, according to RSS joint
spokesperson Ram Madhav. He, however, said the camps
were an annual RSS event.

Reacting sharply to the RSS plan, CPI(M) Rajya Sabha
MP Nilotpal Basu told The Asian Age that “such camps
and marches are uncalled for at this juncture and
would result in grave provocation.” He said such camps
in Gujarat would “aggravate the situation.” Mr Basu
wondered how the government could allow the RSS to go
ahead with such plans when the situation in Gujarat
was far from normal.

The Gujarat camp is to be attended by shakha pramukhs
and other RSS office-bearers, Mr Madhav said. Apart
from holding ideological discourses, the camp will
also conduct physical training and lectures by
adhikaris. At the end of the camp, the RSS
swayamsevaks intend to take out a “route march in full
RSS uniform and accompanied by the RSS band.” Mr
Madhav said the route march and band were part of the
training programme.

Mr Madahav, who said the camps were generally held in
RSS-run “vidya mandirs (academic institutions),” added
that the venue for the programme in the state was “yet
to be decided.” He said the camps have already started
elsewhere and that the first was held on May 5 in
Kerala.

Copyright 2002 Asian Age. All rights reserved.

Muslims fear Gill will flush them out like terrorists
Rathin Das
Hindustan Times,
(Gandhinagar, May 8)

http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/090502/detNAT19.asp

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Contrary to what would be expected, security advisor
K.P.S. Gill's arrival in the state has not assuaged
the minorities' fears. In fact, it has only made them
more apprehensive because Chief Minister Narendra Modi
has explained that Gill is there as an expert on
terrorism in border states, and this is being
interpreted as an indication of an imminent crackdown
on minority ghettos.
In reaction, some minority-dominated areas even have
posters proclaiming "All Muslims are not terrorists".

Umarbhai, who sells soft drinks, says, "We do not have
any faith in this state government or the Union
government. Gill fully knows who was responsible for
the attacks on the minorities."

"Minorities are victims here," he said, wondering why
Gill's presence in Gujarat was being seen as a
parallel to his flushing out terrorists from Punjab.

Akhtar Hussain of Juhapura is not very optimistic in
his expectations of what Gill can achieve in Gujarat.
He feels the police are partisan, and points out how
two young boys killed in Wednesday afternoon's firing
were shot at in the chest and head.

On the other hand, political observers and bureaucracy
in Gujarat are still unclear about the kind of powers
Gill will wield. They too are sceptical about his
success in bringing the violence to an end.

One political observer said Gill's appointment cannot
serve any purpose as the implementing authority would
be the same state police under the same chief
minister.

Social scientist Achyut Yagnik believes Gill's
appointment was announced on the eve of the Rajya
Sabha debate on Gujarat only to illustrate that the
Centre was serious about bringing back peace to the
state.

During his first visit to the state for a preliminary
assessment of the situation, Gill had distanced
himself somewhat from the state bureaucracy by meeting
senior police officials at the CRPF camp at Chiloda.

But, though arrangements for his office and residence
here are being speedily finalised, no Government
Resolution (GR) on his appointment had been issued
yet.

Secretariat officials here are tight-lipped about the
latitude of powers that will be conferred on the
former Punjab DGP. But, sources said, speaking on
condition of anonymity, Gill's role would be only in
an advisory capacity.

"It will be up to the chief minister to accept or
reject his advice," said one source.

©Hindustan Times Ltd. 1997.

Police under pressure to go easy
Rohit Bhan
Indian Express.

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=17055
 
Vadodara, May 8: AFTER shunting some upright police
officers for taking preventive action in Kutch and
Bhavnagar, politicians have now turned their attention
to riot-affected Panchmahals district. The police are
reportedly being pressurised to go easy on some
frontline Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in the
district, some of whom have been charged with murder.

BJP workers and leaders gheraoed Kalol police station
on Wednesday after a murder charge was registered
against Chandar Patel, an office-bearer of the Taluka
BJP, who was subsequently arrested. Patel is alleged
to have lead a mob which set ablaze seven persons
belonging to the minority community in Aral village.
Police sources said that the case was registered
following complaints by some survivors. According to
police sources, party office-bearers warned the police
that another round of violence will be initiated if
the BJP leader was not let out. Till last reports came
in, the party workers still gheraoed the police
station.

Patel case is not an isolated one. With police now
focussing on arresting those named in the First
Information Report (FIR), pressure from Gandhinagar is
mounting as several accused are, reportedly, either
BJP office-bearers or related to the party in some
manner.

President of BJP Khanpur taluka unit, Kalubhai
Maliwad, was arrested by the police in connection with
the attack at Limbadia Chowkdi on three tempos
carrying minority community labourers from
Surendranagar. Officially, 15 labourers died in the
incident, but more than 50 are still missing and
presumed dead.

Though Maliwad is currently in judicial custody and
has been charged with murder, police officials said
that investigators are under pressure to ‘loosen’
charges against Maliwad. ‘‘We also have information
that the relatives of victims were offered money to
reach a compromise that would provide the accused a
chance to achieve legal victory,’’ said an officer.

Similar pressure was mounted on the police after a
case was registered against senior BJP office-bearer
Ambrish Panchal for leading a mob which lynched two
persons belonging to the minority community in Morva
taluka.

Police officials said that Gandhinagar-based
politicians were even putting pressurising policemen
at the lowest rung too. ‘‘If they (politicians) feel
that the ‘work’ was not being done at the senior
level, they call up the police stations directing them
to withdraw the cases,’’ said a police officer.

© 2002: Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd. All
rights reserved throughout the world.

Call for adequate relief to female victims in Gujarat
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
[ THURSDAY, MAY 09, 2002 1:14:09 AM ]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=9305561

MUMBAI: City women’s groups, who visited several
districts of riothit Gujarat, have demanded that
urgent attention be paid to the plight of women, who
have especially suffered in the riots.

Speaking at a press conference, representatives of the
Awaaz-e-Niswan and the Forum Against Oppression of
Women (FAOW) said there were many single women or
widowed women left destitute with no source of income
or compensation.

It urged the government to give special relief and
rehabilitation to single women, women-headed
households and destitute women. Since resettlement
packages are given on a household basis, the needs of
single or widowed women and women-headed households
are being overlooked, said Hasina Khan of
Aawaaz-e-Niswaan.

The activists felt that special courts need to be set
up for cases of sexual violence in the light of the
large scale attacks on women in the riots. In their
visits to Vadodara, Panchamahals and Dahod districts
of the state, activists found evidence that in the
first spate of mob violence between February 28 and
March 3, women were often stripped, forced to walk
down the main roads before being raped or mutilated.

Many women were cut and burnt, mutilated and abused in
these districts, the activists said. “Similar
information is coming in from other parts of
Gujarat,’’ said Chayanika Shah of FAOW. Attacks on
women also appeared to be an integral part of mob
violence, they noted. And, because the assaults often
occurred in public, the women were not in a position
to name the attackers and often found it impossible to
go back to their houses or villages.

Complaints lodged with the police were also having
little effect in bringing the attackers to book. The
groups have also asked the Gujarat government to take
responsibility for running the relief camps with
adequate and humane facilities. The camps were mostly
running on community resources, and were in pitiful
conditions, they said.

They criticised the government’s announcement that it
would shut down the camps by May 31, saying that
maintaining a safe area was vital because of the lack
of security still prevailing in the state.

Besides, many houses and businesses had been
destroyed, leaving thousands of people homeless. In
Dahod district alone, there are 10,000 people living
in camps.

Copyright © 2002 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.

OPINIONS

 

Rural Gujarat is not immune to the madness
That’s the difference this time — villages saw the
same violence as cities

Rakesh Shukla,
Indian Express.
May 9, 2002.

http://www.indian-express.com/full_story.php?content_id=2315

Naroda-Patiya, Gulmarg Society, Best Bakery, are
today household names and speak of a barbaric violence
having taken place in Gujarat’s cities. However, the
‘golden era’, when communal killings were confined to
cities is long past. The killings in rural districts
like Panchmahals, Dahod and Mehsana, have not been
less gruesome than those that have occurred in
Ahmedabad.


Just yesterday a college teacher was killed near
Sarkhej police station, in Ahmedabad district. He had
been identified by his beard. It took me back to the
trip I made to Gujarat some days ago. Sporting a
beard, I nervously alight at Godhra and was pleasantly
surprised to encounter a large number of men with very
‘Muslim-looking beards’. People don’t give up their
cultural identity easily. Rationality may demand the
shaving of a beard to reduce the threat to life, but
the drive to adopt cultural symbols runs deep.

We arrived at the relief camp in Kalol, Panchmahal
district. Survivors from the villages of Boru, Dehlol,
Malav, Eral, start recounting their tragic stories.
Almost all the relief camps in the state are located
in Muslim areas. There is safety only in numbers.
Madina, who still bears sword cuts on her body, and
Sultani, who was gang raped as her son Faizan fell and
lay crying, relate how the path of their tempo packed
with people fleeing from the attacking mobs in their
village, Dehlol, was blocked by a Maruti. A mob of
about 150 attacked them with swords, and trishuls,
poured kerosene and burnt people. Altogether 14
persons were killed.

‘‘Respectable’’ people like the manager of a local
bank, the owner of a local theatre have been clearly
identified among the attackers by several
eye-witnesses. The Kalol police station is ten steps
from the relief camp, yet FIRs/statements with the
names of the accused have not been recorded.

Some people from the relief camp are ready to visit
their village Boru. The Hindu sarpanch of the village
had sheltered some women at the time of the attack and
this appears to influence the decision. The row upon
row of burnt houses of Muslims present a searingly
stark reality. A bit further, water is being filled
from a hand pump, children play, as ‘normal’ life goes
on in the Hindu pada of the village. The nearby ‘Kamal
Pir ki Dargah’, which both Hindus and Muslims had
visited from time immemorial, has been vandalised.

Like the exception proving the rule, numbers did not
provide safety in Sanjeli village of Dahod district.
Today, not a single one out of the 500 houses of
Muslims here, remains. The village was attacked on
March 2 by a mob of 25-30,000 with the a large scale
participation of adivasis. The ‘credit’ for mobilising
the adivasis goes to Dilsukhji Maharaj, himself a
Bhil, who runs an asham with a hostel for
schoolchildren. Dilsukhji asserted that Bhils are
Hindus. The attack, he said, was spontaneous as the
Bhils had been oppressed for ages and have now risen.
Like a textbook case illustrating the power of
propaganda, he declared that Muslims took ‘‘our’’
women and have ‘violated’ at least 100 Bhil women in
Sanjeli alone.

In the low hills is nestled Anjanwa, a sprawling
village in the Panchmahals. On March 3, the Muslims of
the village were lured into a school with promises of
safety and then attacked. Finally, those who had fled
into the forests had to be rescued by the army. Today,
the standard story of the Hindus here is that all the
attackers were outsiders. However, survivors point out
that the singling out of their homes was done by
fellow villagers.

At present the administration is busy trying to broker
a totally illegal deal of the withdrawal of complaints
naming specific individuals by the victims in return
for security to return to their old villages. Thus
will ‘normalcy’ be ‘restored’ and the embarrassing
relief camps closed down.

The writer is a Supreme Court lawyer

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