Gujrat carnage: A crime against humanity
Tuesday, 6 November 2007
Ripan Kumar Biswas
IT behooves the general people and international community to voice concerns when the people of Gujarat are bent on having monsters for their administrators as because no civilised society can tolerate having murderers gloating over their murderous deeds. Gujarat tragedy evokes the scene of holocaust in our minds.
Expressing its disappointment over the limited information provided by India on the impact of 2002 Gujarat riots on women and minorities, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, asked the Indian Government to resubmit a detailed report on the impact of Gujarat massacres on 2,000 cases of casualty or so relating to the massacre and the number of sexual assaults and acts of violence against women by January 2008.
That was an ordinary morning just after one month of the 51st Republic Day of India and the last winter in the year and everyone was about to set for their daily routines when a fire was raging through couch to couch of the Sabarmati Express train near Godhra station, the western city of Ahmedabad. The incident left 59 dead where some karsevaks (Hindu pilgrims) and some ordinary passengers had been burnt to death.
Everyone was shocked and speechless at the incident, but nobody thought that the incident at Godhra was to become one of the most horrifying chapters in the nation's recent communal history. The 2002 riots in Gujrat broke out after a Muslim mob was accused of torching the train and the state left at least 2,000 Muslims dead. Many victims and rights groups at the time accused the Hindu nationalist-ruled local government of backing the violence.
According to the newspapers reports, TV footages and investigations, Gujarat's hawkish chief minister Narendra Modi, a member of India's main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), gave Hindu mob leaders three days to do whatever they wanted whereas according to an inquiry by the state-run railways later ruled that the fire on the train that sparked the riots was an accident. The state police and politicians were also involved in the heinous act.
Without going into the fact and the reason of the incident as the highest executive of the state, Chief Minister Narendra Modi issued a press release within less than 12 hours of the incident declaring war by saying, "This is not a mere communal event but a one-sided collective terrorist attack by one community." As a result, thousands of people were killed, hacked, shot, burnt, raped, their houses were burnt, dozens of mosques desecrated.
Among the many promises made by the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government during their 2004 campaign was the enactment of meaningful legislation to prevent the occurrence of "communal riots", effectively deal with them when they do occur, punish those involved, and provide for the compensation and rehabilitation of victims. For the past two years, several drafts of the Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill (2005) have been released. However, not a single one adequately fulfils any of the purported aims of the Act.
Lack of interest to impose those acts against the riots may be influencing the hawkish administrator like Modi and his government, who have been claiming that the incident in Godhra was not a spontaneous burst of mob fury that got out of hand, but a conspiracy pre-planned by significant religious and political Muslim leaders whereas for five years, the people, the courts, the press, and even the survivors have been upholding the truths that they are the killers.
The Tehelka claimed that not only the key wings of the administration, the police, the administration and the legislature were in loop to give a free hand to the rioters, but a section of the judiciary was also compromised. According to the Gujarat government's state counsel Arvind Pandya, who appeared in the Nanavati-Shah commission, revealed how the cases against the rioters were managed. Pandya further informed that even the Nanavati-Shah commission has been compromised and KG Shah, who heads the commission along with Nanavati, is sympathetic to the BJP.
Gujarat is one of the most prosperous states of the country, having a per capita GDP 3.2 times India's average and it holds many records in India for economic development, for example, 20 per cent of India's industrial output, 9.0 per cent, mineral production, 22 per cent exports, 24 per cent textile production, 35 per cent pharmaceutical products, and 51 per cent of India's petrochemical production. If it was a nation, it would have been 67th richest nation in the world above many European and Asian economies like China and Ukraine. An average income of a Gujarati family in North America is three times more than the average income of an American family.
The persons or whoever responsible for such crimes like riots or genocides should be dealt with until justice is done not only for the sake of the victims but also to protect the constitution that guarantees due process of law. In a joint statement as many as 17 Indian American organisations and 21 eminent members of the NRI (Non-Resident Indians) community in the United States urged the UPA government to impose Presidents' rule in Gujarat, arrest ''all criminals'' who confessed their crime and transfer all legal cases pertaining to the 2002 Gujarat riots to a court outside Gujarat.
Live and let live is the rule of common justice; justice demands that they should be honourably rehabilitated.
The Gujarat episode has caused restlessness and commotion in the entire world as it involves human tragedy and merits all possible help to be extended to the bereaved. It is a tragedy that humanity has to face together.
Ripan Kumar Biswas is a freelance writer based in New York
IT behooves the general people and international community to voice concerns when the people of Gujarat are bent on having monsters for their administrators as because no civilised society can tolerate having murderers gloating over their murderous deeds. Gujarat tragedy evokes the scene of holocaust in our minds.
Expressing its disappointment over the limited information provided by India on the impact of 2002 Gujarat riots on women and minorities, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, asked the Indian Government to resubmit a detailed report on the impact of Gujarat massacres on 2,000 cases of casualty or so relating to the massacre and the number of sexual assaults and acts of violence against women by January 2008.
That was an ordinary morning just after one month of the 51st Republic Day of India and the last winter in the year and everyone was about to set for their daily routines when a fire was raging through couch to couch of the Sabarmati Express train near Godhra station, the western city of Ahmedabad. The incident left 59 dead where some karsevaks (Hindu pilgrims) and some ordinary passengers had been burnt to death.
Everyone was shocked and speechless at the incident, but nobody thought that the incident at Godhra was to become one of the most horrifying chapters in the nation's recent communal history. The 2002 riots in Gujrat broke out after a Muslim mob was accused of torching the train and the state left at least 2,000 Muslims dead. Many victims and rights groups at the time accused the Hindu nationalist-ruled local government of backing the violence.
According to the newspapers reports, TV footages and investigations, Gujarat's hawkish chief minister Narendra Modi, a member of India's main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), gave Hindu mob leaders three days to do whatever they wanted whereas according to an inquiry by the state-run railways later ruled that the fire on the train that sparked the riots was an accident. The state police and politicians were also involved in the heinous act.
Without going into the fact and the reason of the incident as the highest executive of the state, Chief Minister Narendra Modi issued a press release within less than 12 hours of the incident declaring war by saying, "This is not a mere communal event but a one-sided collective terrorist attack by one community." As a result, thousands of people were killed, hacked, shot, burnt, raped, their houses were burnt, dozens of mosques desecrated.
Among the many promises made by the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government during their 2004 campaign was the enactment of meaningful legislation to prevent the occurrence of "communal riots", effectively deal with them when they do occur, punish those involved, and provide for the compensation and rehabilitation of victims. For the past two years, several drafts of the Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill (2005) have been released. However, not a single one adequately fulfils any of the purported aims of the Act.
Lack of interest to impose those acts against the riots may be influencing the hawkish administrator like Modi and his government, who have been claiming that the incident in Godhra was not a spontaneous burst of mob fury that got out of hand, but a conspiracy pre-planned by significant religious and political Muslim leaders whereas for five years, the people, the courts, the press, and even the survivors have been upholding the truths that they are the killers.
The Tehelka claimed that not only the key wings of the administration, the police, the administration and the legislature were in loop to give a free hand to the rioters, but a section of the judiciary was also compromised. According to the Gujarat government's state counsel Arvind Pandya, who appeared in the Nanavati-Shah commission, revealed how the cases against the rioters were managed. Pandya further informed that even the Nanavati-Shah commission has been compromised and KG Shah, who heads the commission along with Nanavati, is sympathetic to the BJP.
Gujarat is one of the most prosperous states of the country, having a per capita GDP 3.2 times India's average and it holds many records in India for economic development, for example, 20 per cent of India's industrial output, 9.0 per cent, mineral production, 22 per cent exports, 24 per cent textile production, 35 per cent pharmaceutical products, and 51 per cent of India's petrochemical production. If it was a nation, it would have been 67th richest nation in the world above many European and Asian economies like China and Ukraine. An average income of a Gujarati family in North America is three times more than the average income of an American family.
The persons or whoever responsible for such crimes like riots or genocides should be dealt with until justice is done not only for the sake of the victims but also to protect the constitution that guarantees due process of law. In a joint statement as many as 17 Indian American organisations and 21 eminent members of the NRI (Non-Resident Indians) community in the United States urged the UPA government to impose Presidents' rule in Gujarat, arrest ''all criminals'' who confessed their crime and transfer all legal cases pertaining to the 2002 Gujarat riots to a court outside Gujarat.
Live and let live is the rule of common justice; justice demands that they should be honourably rehabilitated.
The Gujarat episode has caused restlessness and commotion in the entire world as it involves human tragedy and merits all possible help to be extended to the bereaved. It is a tragedy that humanity has to face together.
Ripan Kumar Biswas is a freelance writer based in New York