NEWS HEADLINES

GUJARAT ON STRAW LIST
FROM SHRABANI BASU
London, May 24

http://www.telegraphindia.com/archive/1020525/index.htm

Apart from asking India to de-escalate tension with
Pakistan, British foreign secretary Jack Straw will
also raise the question of Gujarat and the British
victims during his visit to India next week.

Straw has promised the British Muslims that he will
raise their concerns at the situation in Gujarat in
talks with his counterpart at the foreign ministry,
Jaswant Singh, and with home minister L.K. Advani.

The foreign secretary gave his personal assurance this
week to Sulaiman Kazi, cousin of Mohammed Aswat — a
British Gujarati who was killed during the riots.

Kazi, who along with the families of other British
Gujarati victims is planning to sue Gujarat chief
minister Narendra Modi for genocide in the
International Court of Justice in the Hague, met the
foreign secretary in London to convey his feelings.

He also handed him a copy of the report on the riots
brought out by Communalism Combat, and an academic
work into the nature of the RSS written by Dr Ram
Puniani, published by Leicester University. Kazi told
him that these were reports by Hindus and, therefore,
could not be considered biased at all.

“The foreign secretary has pledged his support before
and he reassured us this week. He was also interested
in the two reports,” said Zafar Sareshwala, an
Ahmedabad-based businessman, acting as a spokesman for
the British families who are fighting the case against
the Gujarat government.

“This is not just about the British victims, it goes
beyond that for the long-term solution for securing
communal harmony in the state,” he said.

Sareshwala has been a victim of riots in Ahmedabad
from 1969 down to the present riots. His business
premises were burnt in the March riots.

The British foreign office has informed Kazi that
Gujarat police have arrested some people for the
murder of his cousin. They have allegedly admitted to
the crime and are said to be VHP activists.

The British foreign secretary will be in Delhi Next
week. Straw has made it clear that there is a genuine
threat of nuclear conflict between the two countries
with disastrous consequences for the region if India
and Pakistan don’t pull back from their present
postures.

In the meantime, the closure of several British
consular offices in Pakistan and the withdrawal of 200
staff have left hundreds of Pakistanis stranded
without visas to enter Britain, specially at the peak
of the summer holiday season.

FROM ONE CAMP TO ANOTHER, AS A BRIDE
FROM BASANT RAWAT

Ahmedabad, May 22:

http://www.telegraphindia.com/archive/1020523/index.htm

Their wedding almost didn’t happen, but love knows no
funeral. So they got married at the only place they
could — the relief camp she had made her home.

Like the thousands of Gujarat’s riot victims who have
sought refuge in camps, Sharifa Yusuf had been living
in the Dhariyakhan Ghummat. On Monday, the 20-year-old
travelled to another — as a bride.

Sharifa’s marriage to Rajubhai Mansuri, her fiancé of
five years, was solemnised before hundreds of inmates
who, for a brief moment, forgot their worries and the
terrifying ordeal they had been through.

The inmates, mostly from Naroda-Patia and Chamanpura,
broke into cheers as the groom with his baratis landed
from Sonal, another camp in Juhapura, on Monday
morning. Sharifa’s parents could not hold back their
tears. Nor could Ataullahkhan, the camp’s in-charge.

Sharifa and her parents had been living in the shelter
since March 1, after their house in Chamanpura was
looted and burnt. Her father, Yusufbhai Ibrahim, had
deferred her marriage indefinitely, but was not happy
with his decision.

Today, he is a happier man. Although sad that his
daughter has gone from one camp to another, he feels
she will be safe with her husband.

Sometime back, Ibrahim had broached the subject of his
daughter’s marriage with Babubhai Mansuri, the groom’s
father. Mansuri was hesitant at first — the future was
too uncertain to take the risk.

But 10 days ago, he told Nazir Vora, the in-charge of
the Sonal camp, that he wanted his son to get married.

Vora’s response took him by surprise. The in-charge
asked him to finalise the date; he would make the
other arrangements.

On the day of the wedding, local residents were
invited and a special menu was prepared as an air of
festivity took over. Rajubhai’s father radiated joy.
“Like every father I am a happy man today because my
son has got married,” Mansuri said.

Mumtaz Bano Ajmeri, another inmate who doubles up as a
social worker, summed up the mood.

“For a moment everybody forgot the nightmare they had
been through when they were attacked, their houses
looted and burnt and they were forced to flee. It was
the first feeling of joy we experienced since we fled
our homes,” Mumtaz said.

After Sharifa came to her new “home”, at least three
families living in the Sonal relief camp, who had
postponed the marriage of their sons and daughters,
approached Vora. “They came to me and cried, saying
they had to cancel the marriages,” he said.

Vora, who is like a messiah to the 3,000 riot victims
in the camp, told them not to worry. “You finalise the
date,” he told them, as he had said to Mansuri before.

“I will make the arrangements,” he told Tabassum’s
father, Anwarbhai Mansuri. Tabassum and two other boys
are getting married on May 28 at a mass wedding that
is being organised.

But neither Tabassum nor her fiancé, Salimbhai, is
excited about the marriage. “There will be no
celebrations. It will be a simple affair,” says Salim.

Tabassum, whose wedding jewellery and lehenga were
looted from her house in Naroda Gam, cries
inconsolably.

“I never thought I would get married in a refugee
camp. I had always dreamt something different,
something big. It will be a marriage without any real
celebrations,” she sobbed.

Her parents and her younger sister also have tears in
their eyes. None of them thought fate could be so
cruel.

SIKH-RIOTS JUDGE JOINS PROBE PANEL
FROM BASANT RAWAT
Ahmedabad, May 23:

http://www.telegraphindia.com/archive/1020524/index.htm

The Gujarat government has appointed a retired Supreme
Court judge to the judicial commission constituted to
probe the Godhra train carnage and the communal riots
in the state, to pre-empt the apex court and the
Centre from taking action against it.

Retired Supreme Court judge Justice G.T. Nanavati will
now head the two-member commission, which has been
reconstituted by the state government to “remove any
doubts about the government’s intentions” behind the
inquiry into the communal violence in the state.

A former Chief Justice of the Karnataka and Orissa
high courts, before being appointed to the Supreme
Court, Justice Nanavati was appointed to probe the
1984 anti–Sikh riots in Delhi by the BJP-led NDA
government after it came to power at the Centre. His
name was also under consideration for the proposed
Gujarat human rights commission two years ago.

The state government had on March 6 constituted the
one-man judicial inquiry commission with Justice K.G.
Shah, a retired judge of the Gujarat High Court.
Justice Shah will now be a member, while Nanavati will
head the reconstituted inquiry commission.

“Once he comes, he would be chairman of the
commission,” said a commission official, adding,
though, that the commission’s office at Shahibaug had
not yet received any official communication about
Justice Nanavati’s new appointment.

If the purpose of appointing another judge was to
pacify the minority community and Opposition parties
who had questioned the impartiality of the commission,
then the state government has failed. The reason:
Justice Nanavati’s appointment does not fulfil the
basic demand.

“The basic demand was that the probe be conducted by a
sitting judge of the Supreme Court who should be a
non-Gujarati. Justice Nanavati is neither a sitting
Supreme Court judge nor a non-Gujarati,” said leading
advocate and human rights activist Girish Patel.

He also said the National Commission for Minorities
had recommended that a sitting judge of the Supreme
Court probe the communal riots.

UNITED ON ENEMY, DIVIDED ON GUJARAT
FROM RASHEED KIDWAI
New Delhi, May 24

http://www.telegraphindia.com/archive/1020525/index.htm

Sonia Gandhi today asked the Vajpayee regime to act
responsibly and come up with a strategy against
Pakistan that would stand the test of time instead of
indulging in mere rhetoric.

On the domestic front, the Congress president charged
the government with “monumental incompetence on all
fronts” and announced that her party would raise a
voluntary rapid action force — Sadbhavana ke Sipahi —
to wage “war against communalism”.

Addressing the AICC session at Sadbhavana Nagar, Sonia
declared that the country was one in its fight against
terrorism. “…We want the world to realise that we are
one in countering Pak-sponsored terrorism. We will
continue to extend our support to the government in
its fight against terrorism and in restoring peace in
Jammu and Kashmir,” she said, but emphasised her
party’s fundamental and unbridgeable differences with
the BJP on social, political and economic issues.

As the delegates cheered, Sonia was hailed as the
“Prime Minister-in-waiting”.

“Desh ki neta kaisa ho (How should the leader of the
country be)?” the cheerleaders raised the slogan.
“Sonia Gandhi jaisi ho (Like Sonia Gandhi),” was the
loud reply.

Three resolutions were passed during the day demanding
President’s rule in Gujarat, job reservations for
weaker sections in the private sector, continuing
support to economic reforms, good governance, focus on
secularism and a desire to explore all avenues for a
peaceful settlement of the Kashmir dispute.

Sonia said the situation on the border was “very
delicate” and asked the government to “project our
side” to the international community. “We should be
ready for tougher times ahead. No such step should be
taken that would not get results. We should conduct
ourselves as two nuclear powers,” she said. “We should
make diplomatic efforts to project our side to the
international community. They should listen to us.”

India should categorically tell Pakistan that it would
not tolerate cross-border terrorism, she asserted. “We
should act with great responsibility. At ground level,
the troops should be alert and such a situation has to
be created to prevent infiltration,” Sonia said.

The Congress chief urged the Centre to review its
policy towards Pakistan. She pointed out that despite
deployment of troops along the western border, there
has been no marked decrease in terrorist activities
and no change in Pakistan’s Kashmir policy. Neither
has Pakistan handed over the 20 terrorists demanded by
India nor has President Pervez Musharraf implemented
the assurances given in his January 12 address to the
nation, she said.

In a veiled criticism of Vajpayee, Sonia said: “Mere
words cannot be a substitute for a strategy that would
take into account ground realities and stand the test
of time.”

The leader of the Opposition minced no words while
referring to Gujarat. The orgy of violence had damaged
the country’s secular foundations and tarnished
India’s image, she said.

Articulating the Congress’ opposition to the Sangh
parivar, she said: “We reject the politics of hate. We
are with the politics that heals and not that wounds.
We must defeat those who seek to destroy our heritage.
For us, secularism is a matter of conviction and not
compulsion. We believe in freedom of religion and not
freedom from religion.”

Sonia directing the delegates to single-mindedly work
to root out communalism of all kinds. “After what we
have seen in Gujarat, we should take a resolve to
fight communalism in all forms.” Sonia said she had
given directions to chief ministers of Congress-ruled
states that there must not be any compromise in
dealing with organisations preaching politics of hate.

Spelling out the objective of setting up a rapid
action force to fight communalism, Sonia said there
was a need for the Sadbhavana ke Sipahi. Communal
forces have gained ground as they are well funded and
organised, she said, but added that the blame has to
be shared by secular forces as “we ourselves have
faltered.... Intimidated by false propaganda by our
adversary”.

Godhra chargesheets in nick of time
TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2002 12:44:28 AM ]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Articleshow.asp?art_id=10854830

AHMEDABAD: In a sudden development on Wednesday evening, the ClD
(Crime) filed chargesheets against 68 accused in the Godhra carnage
of February 27 even as the 90-day deadline for doing so is a mere
five days away!

Sources told TNN that the chargesheets were filed at 6.30 pm at the
railway court in Godhra. Fifty-seven of the accused figure in the FIR
on the burning of the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express by the mob
of 2,000 near Signal Falia. Eleven have been arrested in the second
incident, that occurred around 11.30 am, where the mob attacked the
police and the train a second time. Two persons were shot dead by the
police here, sources said.

The main charges are of rioting, murder, arson and conspiracy. Even
as theories continue to emerge about the provocation behind the worst-
ever carnage that led to the riots claiming 900 lives, it seems
investigations are not yet complete and supplementary chargesheets
would have to be filed at a later date.

Said a deputy inspector general of police, "A special investigation
team ought to have been appointed immediately for the probe. Instead,
several agencies were roped in."

Recently, the state government appointed deputy inspector general of
police Rakesh Asthana to supervise the Godhra investigation, earlier
being handled by inspector general of police PP Aagja.

The new team "re-created" the whole incident twice last month and is
said to have stumbled upon certain vital leads, one being that some
100 litres of inflammable liquid was used to burn the coach and that
there was no chain-pulling at all! Sources also said that forensic
tests on the coach have ruled out the use of any other fluid but
petrol in the carnage.

"The commonsense conclusion that 100 litres of petrol could not have
been collected at such short notice indicates there was a
conspiracy," says a senior official from CID (Crime). Yet, even after
three months, 49 more suspects, including the prime accused,
identified as Razzak Kurkur, are still absconding.

Investigations reveal that the police have found pieces of floor
tiles, bricks besides railway track stones, in the S-6 coach,
indicating that the crowd near Signal Falia was armed to attack.

Says an investigator, "If the chain had been pulled, the train would
have stopped at least a kilometre from the station. But here it
stopped barely 500 metres away, which shows that there was a sudden
drop in the vacuum pressure."

Interestingly, neither the ISI hand nor Simi involvement has been
found by the investigators.

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