“Final” solution?

Dost mittar: here is the report

The Citizens Tribunal Report notes, “1.4. Shri Modi played an active role, along with at least three cabinet colleagues, ininstructing senior police personnel and civil administrators that a ‘Hindu reaction was to beexpected and this must not be curtailed or controlled’.On the evening of February 27, two cabinet colleagues of the chief minister, Shri AshokBhatt and Shri Pratap Singh Chauhan, met at Lunavada in Panchmahal district along withothers. In this meeting, the manner and methods of unleashing violence on Muslims wereplanned in detail. 2.1. The facts mentioned in this report clearly establish that chief minister ShriNarendra Modi is the chief author and architect of all that happened in Gujarat after thearson of February 27, 2002. It is amply clear from all the evidence placed before theTribunal that what began in Godhra could have, given the political will, been controlledpromptly at Godhra itself. Instead, the state government under chief minister Shri NarendraModi took an active part in leading and sponsoring the violence against minorities all over Gujarat. His words and actions throughout the developments in Gujarat show that he has been openly defying the Constitution and indulging in actions which are positivelydetrimental to the interests of the country.2.2. Shri Modi was the one who took Godhra to the rest of Gujarat. He was the onewho directed the police and the administration not to act. He was the one who refused tohelp the likes of former Member of Parliament, Shri Ahsan Jafri, and the large number ofpeople in Shri Jafri’s home, who were all butchered later on”.Similarly the NHRC Report also makes a convincing case for state complicity in the violence. “The Police administration on the 28th of February was acting under dictation ofthe BJP politicians. Two senior cabinet ministers were present in the Police Control Room –State Health Minister Ashok Bhatt was at the Ahmedabad Police Commissionerate in Shahibaug for more than three hours on February 28th and the Urban Development minister, I K Jadeja, was in the State Police Control Room at Gandhinagar for four hoursfrom 11 am onwards. Home Minster Gordhan Zadaphia was directly monitoring theprogress of attacks on Muslim localities from the room of Ashok Raina, Home Secretary

Submission to US Commission on International religious Freedoms

by Kamal Mitra Chenoy

June 10, 2002 [ Washington, D.C.]

1. The events in Gujarat from 27 February 2002 mark a turning point=20
in contemporary Indian politics. These have profound consequences for=20
the continuation of India as a multi-cultural, secular society, for=20
survival of democracy, and for the unity and integrity of the=20
country. There have been riots and pogroms in India before but the=20
Gujarat carnage is exceptional in the extent of state sponsorship,=20
official justification and cover-up, the suborning of the state=20
apparatus, and the legitimation of genocide as an instrument of=20
electoral politics.

2. Gujarat has a history of sectarian [communal] violence, going back=20
to decades before Indian independence in 1947. The small town of=20
Godhra is no exception. There was communal tension in the town and=20
the State because of proposed Hindu rites at a disputed site in the=20
town of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. Hindu volunteers travelling in the=20
Sabarmati Express train to Ayodhya or back to Ahmedabad in Gujarat,=20
had reportedly been misbehaving with Muslim passengers, both men and=20
women, for days without any police intervention. Around 7.45AM on=20
27th February some incidents at Godhra station, including the=20
attempted abduction of a teenaged Muslim girl by a Hindu volunteer=20
travelling on the train, led to stone throwing, followed by an attack=20
by a Muslim mob of 2,000 from nearby slums when the train was stopped=20
half a mile away. 1,500 Hindu volunteers on the train countered with=20
stone throwing. Fire bombs were used by the Muslim mob, and one=20
railway coach was burnt leading to the deaths of 59 Hindu passengers,=20
mainly women and children. This incident, which was a communal riot=20
in a town with a long history of communal outbreaks, became the=20
trigger and justification for the carnage that followed.

3. The Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi, who is also a senior=20
RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sanghathan: National Volunteer=20
Organization--a Hindu fundamentalist organization] leader, arrived in=20
Godhra and alleged that the attack on the train was planned by=20
Pakistani intelligence [the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)]. This=20
charge was repeated a couple of days later by federal Home Minister=20
L.K. Advani, also a Member of Parliament from Gandhinagar, the=20
capitol of Gujarat. Ministers alleged that the same terrorist groups=20
who had attacked the American Center in Kolkata were behind the=20
Godhra attack, and promised to teach them a lesson. Consequently an=20
impression was created with official sanction, that the Godhra=20
Muslims were agents of Pakistan, a traditional enemy. The Chief=20
Minister insisted that the badly charred bodies of the victims be=20
sent for post mortem to Ahmedabad the same night. The time of arrival=20
of the bodies was announced over the government radio and frenzied=20
mobs came to the railway station to receive the bodies. Ram dhuns=20
[religious rites] were performed that night and the next day all over=20
Ahmedabad. The same day, the Vishva Hindu Parishad [World Hindu=20
Council] called for a `bandh` [a total strike including stoppage of=20
traffic] on February 28th in protest against Godhra. The ruling=20
Bhartiya Janata Party [BJP] supported the bandh, and the Chief=20
Minister reportedly told top officials, including from the police, to=20
refrain from interfering with the bandh supporters.

4. On 28th February organized Hindu mobs, sometimes as large as=20
20,000 controlled Ahmedabad, while the police stood by. VHP-Bajrang=20
Dal [an RSS affiliate]-BJP workers organized the mobs and led them.=20
The Minister of State for Home Affairs Gordhan Zadaphia flashed the=20
`V` for victory sign while passing rampaging mobs. Zadaphia and=20
another Minister sat in the police control rooms in Ahmedabad and=20
Gandhinagar for hours, reportedly immobilizing the police and fire=20
brigade but directing the mobs. Mobs were transported by trucks and=20
buses. They had detailed lists of Muslim institutions, commercial=20
establishments, residences and shrines. These were looted and burnt.=20
The information was so detailed that even shops with minority Muslim=20
ownership were identified and attacked. The mobs carried thousands of=20
liquefied petroleum gas [(LPG) cooking gas] cylinders which were used=20
to blow up the properties they attacked. Significantly, these LPG=20
cylinders had been in short supply for weeks. There were widespread=20
attacks on Muslim men, women and children who were hacked with knives=20
and swords, and in many cases, later burnt. There were many cases of=20
rape and gang rape, even of minor girls, and a large number of the=20
victims were then brutally killed. To cite just a couple of=20
instances: a former Congress Member of Parliament Ehsan Jafri who had=20
campaigned against the Chief Minister in an Assembly election weeks=20
earlier, called for help for hours but no help came, instead a huge=20
mob attacked his residential colony in Chamanpura. He was hacked into=20
three pieces and the rioters reportedly urinated on his body. Ten=20
women were stripped, raped, hacked and thrown into fires. Only one=20
survived. In Naroda-Patia where more than 90 people were killed and=20
many women and girls raped, an eight month pregnant women Kausar=20
Bano`s belly was slit open, the fetus extracted and both were killed.=20
The police, in most cases, not only did not intervene to protect the=20
Muslims, but in many cases connived with the rioters. In=20
Naroda-Patia, the Special Reserve Police refused shelter to the=20
Muslims and forced them in the direction of waiting mobs. More=20
Muslims than Hindus were killed in police firing. Curfew was imposed=20
more in Muslim localities than in Hindu ones.

5. Unlike in earlier episodes, anti-Muslim violence spread later even=20
to rural areas, including tribal areas, apart from other urban=20
centers. According to official estimates, less than 1,000 people have=20
died, overwhelmingly Muslim. Informed unofficial figures are much=20
higher around 2,500 but the death toll may be even higher when the=20
list of the missing, particularly in the rural areas, is checked. The=20
property and business losses are colossal and official compensation=20
is selective and niggardly. Very large numbers of Muslims have no=20
viable shelter to return to. Many like those from Naroda-Patia are=20
scared to go back. Hundreds of Muslim shrines have been destroyed and=20
desecrated. The shrine of the medieval saint-poet Wali Gujarati was=20
razed to the ground and a round built over it. More than 100,000=20
Muslims live in NGO-run relief camps throughout Gujarat. The State=20
does not run these camps and provides insufficient uncooked food and=20
other essentials for them. For example, the largest camp in Shah Alam=20
in Ahmedabad has 12,000 inmates but only 22 toilets.

6. The official machinery has been obstructive in registering cases=20
against the allegedly guilty. In most cases, the police have not=20
filed charge sheets. In the relatively few cases in which these have=20
been filed, in most cases the names of the accused are not mentioned=20
and only an anonymous mob is cited, making the cases legally very=20
weak. In the few cases charge sheets have been filed, key BJP=20
operatives have been excluded. And in most of these cases the Muslims=20
are shown as having incited the violence. For example, in the Ehsan=20
Jafri case it is recorded that he fired first on the mob, whereas=20
there is no evidence that Jafri fired at all.=20=20

7. Police officers and civil service officers who controlled violence=20
in various parts of Gujarat were summarily transferred to other=20
areas, and other, more pliable officers posted in their stead.=20
Officers sympathetic to the BJP were posted to investigate crucial=20
cases like Naroda-Patia and Chamanpura. This is a pattern throughout=20
the State.

8. All official propaganda referred to the Godhra incident as a=20
`carnage` and the subsequent violence as `disturbances.` This was=20
true not only of the Chief Minister but also of the Prime Minister in=20
the initial stages. This was intended to explain away the genocide=20
against Muslims as a `natural` reaction to the killings in Godhra. So=20
some 2,500 killings were a `disturbance` while 59 were a `carnage.`

9. In April, well before the violence ceased, the Chief Minister=20
advocated elections to the State Assembly. Clearly the attempt was to=20
cash in on the communal polarization and the antipathy of Hindus=20
towards the minority communities [Muslims, Christians] to bolster the=20
BJP`s electoral prospects. A number of political commentators have=20
alleged that the basic reason for the communal violence in Gujarat=20
was electoral, an attempt to consolidate the Hindu votes. The public=20
outcry against elections in a disturbed and disrupted State, forced=20
the federal government to rule out immediate elections.=20

10. On the basis of such information and analysis, the National Human=20
Rights Commission [NHRC] and various non-official inquiries have=20
exposed the state-complicity and according to some, state-sponsorship=20
of the anti-Muslim violence. It appears that this pogrom and genocide=20
was organized some months prior to February. The preparation of the=20
detailed lists of Muslim properties, institutions and residences=20
would have taken months of prior planning. Similarly, the stocking of=20
LPG cylinders, weapons, organization of transport, deployment of=20
forces, would have taken time and considerable organization.

11. Despite such reports, the BJP State government is contemptuous=20
of such criticism. It dismissed the NHRC report as insulting the=20
sentiments of millions of Gujaratis. Police intelligence has reported=20
that the Chief Minister in recent weeks has campaigned in rural areas=20
implicitly castigating the Muslims on the basis of a Hindu=20
fundamentalist agenda. Just a couple of days ago the Governor of=20
Gujarat, a RSS leader, stated that Assembly elections were now=20
possible. So the cynical game plan of the State government to make=20
electoral gains at the cost of a section of its own electorate has=20
been exposed once again.

12. The Gujarat genocide has very serious implications for Indian=20
democracy. India is the most variegated and diverse society in the=20
world. It has some 3,000 communities speaking some 150 languages and=20
dialects. Any attempt to impose a rigid Hindu fundamentalist agenda=20
on such a diverse people is bound to lead to vigorous resistance,=20
possibly Balkanization. If a State government, like in Gujarat, is=20
able to carry out genocide with impunity, it means that the secular=20
edifice that guarantees multicultural democracy in India has been=20
gravely eroded. This is bound to have a demonstration effect all over=20
the country. Muslims are around 14 % of the population. When a=20
section of the Sikhs who totaled just 2% of the population revolted=20
against Indian rule with Pakistani support, in the 1980`s there was a=20
bloodbath. In the case of Muslims, given the Pakistan-backed=20
insurgency in Muslim-majority Kashmir which has brought India and=20
Pakistan to the brink of war, the threat is even greater. If the=20
Muslims of Gujarat feel that they will not receive justice, as seems=20
very likely, some of them and other co-religionists may be drawn to=20
terrorism to seek revenge. In view of Pakistan`s support to=20
anti-Indian terrorists, there is every possibility of such embittered=20
individuals obtaining foreign support. If rumors about Al- Qaeda=20
presence in Indian Kashmir are correct, then such elements may well=20
link up with Al-Qaeda. After the Mumbai riots in December=20
1992-January 1993, the Mafia don Dawood Ibrahim linked up with=20
Pakistani intelligence and unleashed terrorism in India. So a similar=20
linkage with the addition of Islamic fundamentalists like Al-Qaeda is=20
perfectly conceivable.
13. The just resolution of the Gujarat genocide is thus vital not=20
only for the survival of a multi-cultural, secular, democratic India=20
but also for the stability and peace of the sub-continent. It has=20
possible implications for the global fight against terrorism.

Simran Bibi Kiddan

``A great democracy did someone say? Ha. ``

Nahi nahi, kiddan dee democracy. I think you prefer the democratic means of the Damdami Taksal :)

It is the very same democracy you hold in contempt that has led to a form of stability and progress in India.

I don`t believe in hiding the warts of India. In fact it is good to face them head on. But in a country of a billion we have managed to hobble along and actually make progress. Forget about Pakistan. Why don`t you compare innocents dead in India versus innocents killed in China during the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution?

Keeping things in perspective, show me any other third world country in Asia or Africa that has actually managed to stabilize this level of heterogenous peoples and still provide a modicum of growth and upward mobility?

You can shove that contempt for democracy in India right where the sun don`t shine.

rajsinghi:
The direct action call of Jinnah has been discussed ad nauseum at chowk. I have no desire to revisit it.

hindvi:
Don`t know about govardhan zaphadia but I wouldn`t be surprised; and yes, Modi did transfer police officers who tried to do their job properly.

Dost mittar

Post#95

Quote:

`` VHP`s call for bandh, which even then was viewed as a signal of `direct action```

Assuming that is the case then are you willing to say that Mr Jinnah was responsible for all the mayhem/massacre riots that occurred after his `direct action` call? Should Mr Jinnah be looked at as contemptibly as VHP is being looked at?

Hindvi

Post#97

Quote:

`` you forgot gordhan Zadaphia sitting in the police control room, thus preventing or misdirecting the police.``

Any credible sources to back this up?

Quote:

`` Also the police itself misdirecting women and children into traps as at naroda. and leading the charges of the sanghis with firings against muslim men and women who were barricading themselves.``

Same as above.

No, not some planted or coloured story in the media. For media`s role has been questionable in the whole affair and it has been admitted by the investigative commitee (I do not recall the name but I think, one of the members was H K Dua, former editor of Hindustan Times) itself.

Jang,

Sorry I inadvertently directed #65 to you instead of wahi_to.

Now About 58:
Your curiosity in understanding the riots is well placed and you should read my recent 3 posts which might cater to some of your curiosity.

The history of riots in Ahmedabad started in 1714 during mughal misrule, whereas RSS was founded in 1925.

BJP became prominent in India since 1989, and Ahmedabad has seen worst riots regularly since 1940s.

Out of total riot casualities 25% are Hindu casualities and nearly half of the total riot incidents were started by Muslims.

Apart from that, I am wondering why you haven`t showed similar curiosity in understanding what went wrong with Muslims of Godhra.

Do they not deserve any attention?

The manner in which the whole community of Signla falia showed the hyena-like unity in attacking the childrens and women of the train, does it not raise any questions in your mind?

Wouldn`t you contrast the hateful announcements from the mosque to stop aid to the victims and kill them instead with the later call to secularism?

The contrast between kicking out the police of Godhra and later accusations that police didn`t protect them, doesn`t it raise any questions in your mind about the brand of secularism they follow?

Has it anything to do with the unusually high number of passports issued in Godhra and visits to Pakistan?

On 62:
Your quote:
-``If this involves lobbying the US for an invasion of Iindia if some freakazoid like you or
-Thackeray or Modi takes power, then God Willing I will do it. ``
-
-well, modi is in power in Guj and Thakrey practically rules Mumbai (he never taked
-gaddi, but acts as a remote control.). god is willing..

Well-known and nothing new.
Tthat`s the ultimate wish of any Pakistani to see India being hurt by Indians, as you`ve already exhausted your best.
And that`s the reason why Farzanas, Wastys and alike regularly put their communal venom in their writings.

dost mittar
you forgot gordhan Zadaphia sitting in the police control room, thus preventing or misdirecting the police. including modi himself actively posting out the few IPS and IAS officers who discharged their duty.

Also the police itself misdirecting women and children into traps as at naroda. and leading the charges of the sanghis with firings against muslim men and women who were barricading themselves.

there was ofcourse also the constable who saved muslims despite being shot by the mobs as reported by the Indian express.

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#80 by Urstruly

You were referring to the 1984-1994 ten-year period, whereas I misunderstood this to mean the 1994-2004 period. During the 1984-94 period, there were several tragedies such as the Mohajir-Pashtun riots and bomb blasts in Karachi. During this period, the Operation Cleanup was launched in Sindh. And there was also an armed resistance against the Zia-ul-Haq in interior Sindh. I can believe the 30,000 figure for the 1984-94 period.

Gandiv#85,87:
These articles contain as much half-truths as those you criticise. When I read these articles, there is no mention of:
-VHP`s call for bandh, which even then was viewed as a signal of `direct action`;
-Modi`s reference to Newton`s third law;
-the police looking the other way while muslims were being butchered;
-no response from police to ehsaan jaafri`s calls;
-political leaders, including congressmen, directing the mobs a la jagdish tytler etc. in 1984 in delhi;
-modi offering half as much compensation to muslim victims as to the hindu victims;
-the state govt.`s attempts to protect the criminals as is clear from the best bakery case.
There is a common misperception that gujaratis are non-violent. Cowardice and docility should should not be equated with non-violence.

i better watch out if 5-th columinst outsider (from iran) MBZ Ispahani commends me.

Dost Mittar

Quote:

`` The army was facing insurgency there and their abuses are similar to the ones being committed by the Indian security forces in Kashmir now and the even worst crimes being committed by the americans in Iraq. ``

Once again, a comparison is being made here/above more for the sake of it than it has much of substance in reality.

If Indian security forces are committing similar abuses as Pakistani forces did in erstwhile East Pakistan, then where are the millions of refugees from J&K? Have they vanished in Pakistan? And when there are no refugees on that scale then how Indian security forces could have been committing abuses on the scale of Pakistani forces? Why compare the two for the sake of it?

No matter how unholy the intentions of fundamentalist organizations like the RSS, SIMI and other such groups seeking to impose their agenda on us, the fact remains that a democratic polity, coupled with the inherent secularism of the majority of Indians (Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, etc. included) will continue to act as a bulwark against their machinations, periodic riots notwithstanding. It is precisely for this reason that even though the Gujarat administration made concerted efforts to stymie the probe, the culprits are being brought to book, one by one.

Conscientious Indians, and trust me there are an overwhelming lot of them, hang their heads in shame at the mention of Gujarat. The `India Shining` campaign may have been one of the reasons, but a significant number of Indians also disapproved of the BJP`s attempts to polarize the society, and this was also a factor that contributed to its downfall.

Dost Mittar

Post#71

Quote:

`` And yes, I agree that Morarji Desai was right about India doing a favour to Pakistan by amputating the eastern wing. Why did you think that he got Sitara-e-Imtiaz from Pakistan? :-) ``

Pray what did Morarji Desai do or contribute in creating Bangladesh?

I have noticed the smilie sign but implication here still is as if Morarji Desai played some role in creating Bangladesh.

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