[sacw] SACW #2 | 20 Sept. 02

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire #2 | 20 September 2002

__________________________

#1. Transcript of the American TV documentary "The Soul of India"
#2. Statement re Coimbatore Blasts and Kerala Political Parties=20
(Confederation Of Human Rights Organisations)
#3. Running Amok (Editorial in the Telegraph)

__________________________

#1.

[ Those in the US should tune in to the television documentary: "Soul=20
of India" that PBS is airing a Tonight, September 19, 2002 at 9 p.m.=20
ET. The Hindu right in the US had unleashed a campaign to stop its=20
airing... . Posted below is the full transcript of the programme for=20
those who may not get to see it. ]

o o o

TRANSCRIPT

SOUL OF INDIA - WIDE ANGLE Series on PBS (the American Public=20
Telivison Network)
Director/Producer: Steven Silver/Richard Clemmow
Airdate: Thursday, September 19, 2002 at 9 p.m. ET

Opening
Gujarat State. North West India. In the first few months of 2002, violence
between Muslims and Hindus has left over a thousand people dead - the
majority of them, Muslims.

Now it is July. In Ahmedabad, Gujarat's largest city, Hindus are about to
celebrate the Jagganath Rathyatra, a religious parade. About a quarter of
a million Hindus will march through the city - and its Muslim
neighborhoods.

In past years, Hindu marchers and the city's Muslim minority have battled
in the streets.

This year there are fears it could be worse.

Harish Bhatt is a Hindu from Ahmedabad.

Bhatt in the car (English)
Steven "How do you get your gun out quickly enough?"
"I'll show you sometime, how fast I can remove it. How fast I can fire
also. I require only a minute and then, it will come out. It is in my hand
and it will fire."
Steven: "Why [inaudible]"
Bhatt: "Because the rainy season is there."

Harish Bhatt retired from the air force six years ago. Now, he is a
successful businessman and Vice President of India's largest Hindu youth
movement, the Bajrang Dal or Monkey God Brigade. The Brigade has been
accused of murdering Muslims.

Today he is preparing for next week's parade. He is determined that it
will be a show of Hindu strength.

Bhatt INTV DB002 @ 1:27:22
Today's event has been organized to awaken the people of this village and
to create unity within society. Every Hindu must unite to obtain his
rights and to fight the injustice being done to Hindu society at a
national level. That's the main goal of this event.

Bhatt and his youth movement are part of a much larger Hindu alliance. The
Alliance is made up of over 50 organizations - including India's national
ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP.

The BJP also controls the government of Gujarat State. Its Chief Minister
is Narendra Modi. He is a Pracharak -- someone who has renounced sex and
marriage to work for the Hindu movement. Human rights groups allege that
when militant Hindus began killing Muslims six months ago, Modi's
government failed to take action to stop the violence.

Modi and Bhatt both aim to turn India's secular democracy into a religious
Hindu state. The slogan of their Hindu Alliance is 'one nation, one
culture, one religion, one language.'

Bhatt DV003 @00:06:48 English
Steven: Is there a future here for Muslims in Gujarat?
Bhatt: If they want to be peaceful... they... can... stay here peacefully=
=85
they can stay as a younger brother, then naturally they can stay in ...
Steven: Otherwise?
Bhatt: Otherwise, that is very difficult for them. Because, after all,
they are in minority. By power, they cannot win.

CUE 6A
Alongside 820 million Hindus, there are
150 million Muslims in India - the
second largest Islamic community
in the world.

Muslims
Mrs. Jafri and her son.

Zakia Jafri and her family are Muslims. Zakia's husband, Ehsan Jafri, was
murdered by Hindu rioters during the recent massacres.

In a week, the parade will bring thousands of Hindu militants onto the
streets once again. Her son Tanveer wants her to leave and join her
daughter in the US.

She is afraid but refuses to leave.

Zakia Jafri: 19 10 33
He used to say: "If I leave, all these poor people who have built all
these houses will also leave." He said that our children have moved away,
and we have only a short time to live, so we will spend the little bit
that is left of our lives here.

Ehsan Jafri was an Ahmedabad lawyer, poet and activist. In jail at age 14
for protesting British rule, he became inspired by Mohandas Ghandi's
vision of an India in which Hindus and Muslims lived in peace. Jafri had
dedicated his life to opposing religious extremism of all kinds.

He had been trying to prevent Chief Minister Modi and the Hindu Alliance
from taking power in Gujarat.

Zakia Jafri INTV DB47 @ 20:08:23
I think of it all the time. I think of it all the time. Something should
be done. The police did not do anything then and they aren't doing
anything now.

Gujarat's Muslims say the police helped the Hindu attackers and that
Modi's BJP government actually encouraged the massacres.

Gill arrives

Violence in Gujarat has begun to threaten the national BJP government in
Delhi. They are under pressure, local and international, to ensure that
Chief Minister Modi stops the killing. On May 3rd, they sent in KPS Gill,
a man known as India's Super-cop. Gill had retired from the police force
to serve as the President of India's Field Hockey federation. But now the
Delhi government wants him in Gujarat.

Gill SX001@ 1:01:19 (English)
Stop the violence, which was taking place. That's my main task. To ensure
that the forces which are available were utilized to the maximum. And to
`remove the fears of the minorities, because they had got into a
situation; a mindset where they did not trust the law enforcement
agencies.

In the 90's Gill crushed an armed revolt of Sikh separatists in the
Punjab. Human rights groups said he used excessive force in the name of
fighting terrorism. But by the time Gill left the Punjab he was a
household name.

Gill signs autographs & receives Muslims

When Gill arrives in Ahmedabad, Muslims from villages across Gujarat ask
him to protect them from the attacks.

Muslims talk. (English)
"I'm sure the state is going to be fine in your hands"

Gill leaves the building

Mrs. Jafri has asked Gill to help find her husband's killers.

But Gill's job is a difficult one. The Rathyatra parade is going to rally
Hindu militants in Ahmedabad - including some in the police. Gill must
force them to do their jobs, and keep the peace.

Gandhi Ashram

Friday's parade will pass close to the ashram built by Mohandas Gandhi.
Here, the great advocate of non-violence came to spread his vision of a
pluralist, democratic India. That vision has lasted more than 50 years.
But now it's under threat.

Writer and social worker Chinubhai Vaidya is a leader at the Gandhi ashram
in Ahmedabad.

Vaidya: Failed to see it coming DB41 14:30:33 (English)
I as a Gandhian feel that - and also as a citizen of this country - I feel
that we have failed to see the things that were coming, you know. This
wrong education was going on very silently at the grass-root level very
widely. And we didn't check it in time.

These days the Ashram is mostly a tourist attraction. Students avoid
Gandhi's university if they want a degree for the job market and it is
mainly scholars who order his books.

As a child Harish Bhatt himself lived on one of Gandhi's Ashrams. But even
then he did not share the Mahatma's views.
Bhatt:
Even when Gandhi was the leader, there was so much opposition to his views
that the situation deteriorated, and he was finally murdered. Even then
there were people not willing to accept his ideology.

Gandhi's main opposition came from the National Volunteers Association, or
RSS - a Hindu nationalist movement which was inspired by European fascism
and ideas of racial purity.
It did not share Gandhi's trust in the goodwill of India's Muslims. And
it opposed his policy of non-violence.

In 1947, India gained its independence from Britain. Gandhi reluctantly
agreed to a British plan that carved out a piece of India to create the
Muslim State of Pakistan.

During the partition fighting broke out between Hindus and Muslims. The
RSS joined the attacks on Muslims. The communal violence claimed the lives
of a million Indians - on both sides.

Gandhi embarked on a hunger strike -- until the killing eventually
stopped.

But the RSS blamed Gandhi for the Hindu deaths. And for the creation of a
Muslim Pakistan.

Vaiydia: RSS DB42 15:05:03(English)
There is a lot of hatred in the minds of Hindus. It is due to the
steadfast, laborious work that this RSS organization has put up. They
wanted to create an anti-Muslim mind. Actually, their aim was good. They
wanted to defend. Stand in defense of the Hindus. Here, up to that point,
it was all right. But later on they... it became their agenda. Anything
Muslim became their agenda. Mahatma Gandhi came to the fore. And Mahatma
Gandhi, he was creating a mind that was not anti-Muslim. And it was
getting popular. Mahatma Gandhi was killed because of this.

On January 30th 1948, Ghandi was assassinated by a former member of the
RSS.

BEAT

Tainted by the assassination, the RSS slipped into obscurity. But it did
not disappear.

The Trishul Sequence

Today a revived RSS is the controlling force in the Hindu Alliance, and
Gujarat is its stronghold.

Harish Bhatt is a member of RSS.

In the small village of Kheda, 50 miles south of Ahmedabad, Bhatt
initiates new recruits into the Monkey God Brigade. Each member gets a
dagger called a Trishul, which Bhatt has designed to be one inch shorter
than India's weapons laws forbid.

CUE 20A
These recruits pledge themselves to the Hindu Alliance and its most
important campaign.

Trishul Rally

Ten years ago, the RSS, and the Hindu alliance launched a national
campaign to build Hindu temples on three holy sites in Northern India.
But on each site - a Muslim mosque has stood for over 300 years.

The RSS claimed that in the 16th century Muslim invaders had built the
mosques on holy Hindu ground and that the Mosques must now be destroyed.

Their first target was the Babri mosque in Ayodya where they say the Hindu
God Ram was born. This is where the present wave of violence began.

Bhatt Pledge DB002 @ 02:28:28
PRAISE LORD RAM (twice)
PRAISE MOTHER INDIA (twice)

Bhatt SX007 7:20:50 (English)
Constructing the Ram temple is only a goal. But along with that, our goal
is to gather the Hindu religious people. To bring together all Hindus to
fight for their own religion, for their own rights.

Urmilla on the train.

In December of 1992 Urmilla Trivedi traveled with thousands of other Hindu
nationalists to Ayodya - a 2-day train ride east from Ahmedabad.

Urmilla's mother was a Gandhian but she is a member of the World Hindu
Council - another organization in the Hindu Alliance. Urmilla's job is to
initiate its women recruits.

Urmilla INTV DB013 @ 02.26.02
There was a special purpose for going to Ayodhya, to the Ram temple, to
the land where the temple is to be built. We were going to attend the
ceremony to bless the land. In Indian culture, you bless the ground before
you build a house or a temple.

Temple archives

They came from all over India to level the Babri Mosque.

Urmilla INTV DB013 @ 11.37.15
There were over 10,000 women. The ceremony was supposed to be at 11.05.
Before that, the volunteers ran and climbed the Babri structure, and
started breaking the structure. When the structure fell, we were happy. We
hoped that we could start building the temple.

Urmilla on train

Ten years later, in February of 2002, Urmilla and other Hindu activists
decided it was time to finish the job. And build a temple to Ram to
replace the mosque they had demolished.

In the ten years since, stones had been carved and prepared for the
building of the Temple.

But the police barricaded the site and prevented the construction.
Urmilla, and the others, had no choice but to head home to Ahmedabad.

On February 27th, Urmilla's train arrived at Godhra - a town 100 miles
from Ahmedabad. The station at Godhra is in the middle of a Muslim
district, where riots have broken out in the past. At 7:48 am the train
began to pull out.

Hundreds of Muslims began to pelt the train with rocks .It came to a stop.

Urmilla trackside

Urmilla INTV @ DB15 @ 15:13:48
U: It started at Godhra station. The train came and stopped here, on the
fourth track.
S: Where there many of them?
U: There were many people, more than 1000 to 1500 people. We could see
everything through this tiny gap. We could hear their voices.
S: What were they saying?
U: They were saying: "Beat up everyone, beat up everyone, burn everyone,
kidnap their girls". That's what we heard.

The Muslim mob attacked the train. Gasoline was poured into one of the
cars. Burning rags were thrown in and the car exploded into flames.

Urmilla burned train

Urmilla INTV DB16 @ 05:55:00
Then, about 10 to 12 people got out of this compartment and started
screaming and shouting: "The people with us are burning. The people with
us are burning. Please rescue them. Please get them out of there." Two of
them were girls -- five of their companions were still inside the train -
the girls were crying and screaming: "Rescue them! Get them out of there!"

Archives Train massacre victims

Fifty-eight people died on the train. Forty of them were women and
children.

Bhatt / Patel SX10 OFF:
When we went inside, 45 to 50 bodies were lying in front of me. Only when
we removed the bodies, did we realize that a disaster had occurred.

When Jaideep Patel heard about the attack, he rushed to the station.

Bhatt / Patel SX10 SYNC:
We picked up the dead bodies and put them in trucks, and then gave them to
their relatives here. The scene was so horrifying. All those corpses. To
touch the dead bodies=85 Many people fainted. One policeman collapsed right
in front of me.

Bhatt / Patel SX10 OFF:
Not just in India, but wherever there are Muslims, the people who live
near Muslims can't live in peace.

Bhatt / Patel SX10 SYNC:
Look at what happened in America. An incident like this happened on
September 11th. Now, in villages along the border of China and Pakistan,
incidents like this happen every day. Look at what's happening in Israel.
Look at what's happening in Russia. Wherever there is Islam, Islam has
taught jihad and to kill non-Muslims through Jihad. There can't be any
peace. They aren't trying to make peace. They're eager to kill
non-Muslims. So, how can you have peace?

Bhatt Speech
40 women and children went to Godhra for the first time. They didn't
consider Muslims to be their enemies. Mothers and children were in these
compartments: the dead babies couldn't be separated from their mothers'
breasts, where they had been nursing when they died. What kind of parents
would you have to be, what kind of Hindus would you have to be, to witness
these horrific murders and stay silent?

Monkey God Brigade militia

Within hours of the attack on the train at Godhra, the World Hindu
Council, the Monkey God Brigade and other Hindu Alliance organizations
called for a statewide general strike. The BJP state government endorsed
the strike. Hindu militants all over Gujarat began gathering outside
Muslim homes and shops.

The Gulbarg Society

The Jafris lived in the middle of Ahmedabad, in a small enclave, conceived
and built by Ehsan Jafri. He had named it the Gulbarg Society. Gulbarg in
Urdu means Flower garden. It was a place where Muslims and some Hindus
lived together peacefully.

Zakia Jafri
He used to like it there, because he spent his childhood there. He used to
trust everyone.

On the morning of February 28th, 24 hours after the Godhra killings,
thousands of Hindus gathered at the gates of the Gulbarg society. A second
mob massed at the back wall. They were armed with their trishuls, swords
and homemade bombs.

Zakia Jafri @ 18:01:33 OFF
What I remember the most is that we were working in the house and they
were burning the shops outside the society. Then, they started breaking
doors and they started breaking the back wall of our society.

Some of the Gulbarg Society's Muslim residents fled to the Jafri home.
They thought the police would defend his house, as he was a former member
of Parliament.

Zakia Jafri: SYNC
I was watching all this from where I was sitting on the upper floor. I
could see the looting, the burning and the smoke emanating from the
houses. The police never came.

Jafri's son: SYNC 18 : 20 : 54
When did you see him for the last time?

Zakia Jafri:
The last time I saw him was at 10 am when he told me to go upstairs. Those
were my last moments with him.

Archives violence

Downstairs Mr. Jafri called the influential people he knew, local police
and Government officials, even the police Commissioner.

At 10:30 am the Police Commissioner himself came to the Gulbarg Society.
He told Ehsan Jafri it would be all right; it would all work out. Then he
left.

Four hours later, the Hindu mob broke down the back wall of the compound,
and poured in. Police officers stationed nearby called for
reinforcements, but none were sent.

Saira Sindhi lived two doors down from the Jafri's.

Saira / Jafri - Gulbarg ruins
My brother-in-law and his wife died. This was their room. What should I
do?

Ehsan Jafri was mentoring Saira's son through law school.

Saira
They exploded a gas cylinder here=85
Archives

Saira, her son, husband and brother in law were in their house when the
mob attacked.

Saira
They exploded another one in the kitchen. We locked the door and went out.
As soon as the wall was broken, the mob came in. All my family said: "We
fold our hands and we fall at your feet. Please go away." There was no
place to go. The boys climbed up on me. They swore and I was scared
because I saw the mood outside. Then I said: "Your mum must be my age. You
might have a sister my age, or a daughter my age. Why are you doing this?"

Saira managed to fight her way to Ehsan Jafri's house, surrounded by the
rioters.

Saira's walk.
DB008 IN: 08:14:15:14 OUT: 08:14:35:09
They were throwing stones. They threw so many stones, there was no place
to stand. They were stoning continuously. We went fighting, fighting. My
brother-in-law was there, then he went upstairs. That's when the gas
cylinder exploded at their house.

When Saira arrived at the Jafri house, there were about 150 people crowded
into the ground floor.

Ehsan Jafri barricaded the house and tried to keep the front door closed.

At 3:30 p.m., the door broke. Ehsan Jafri and others were dragged out of
his house.

Mrs. Jafri in tears

Zakia Jafri: SX006 IN:03.53 OUT: 04.29.28
People told us later that he was pleading with the rioters: "Don't take
away the honor of these young girls, don't beat these young ones. I plead
beg you, if you want to kill, then kill me, but please leave these young
ones." They were misbehaving/raping the young girls in front of him. He
was not the kind of person who would fold his hands before people, but at
that time, after seeing this scene, he said: "You can take me, but let
these children go."

Jafri's fingers were cut off. Then he was doused in kerosene and burnt
alive.

Bhatt / Patel 05:04:12 SX006 IN:03.53 OUT: 04.29.28 mostly english V/O
He shot at the crowd. Do you think the crowd would simply stand there? He
attacked first, the people were just standing outside the society. They
were just gathered there. Nobody had gone to the society to attack his
house. When he fired, because of fear or whatever, there was a reaction.
It wasn't an action. It was a reaction. Just like American did with
Afghanistan. The same way, every incident that happened after Godhra, was
all reaction, not action.

Mr. Jafri did not fire but=85 DB43 16:10:34 English
He did not fire. And even if his... if... if he had fired, I would have
justified his firing because it was a question of saving those people who
came to him. So it was his responsibility. Why did he have that gun if he
didn't want to use it? He had the gun. He had to use it for the defense of
those poor people who had come to him. So... but it is said that he... he
did not fire at all. He himself when to the mob and he said, "If you want
blood, come on, kill me." And they ... they killed him and then those
people were also killed.

At least 40 people died with Mr. Jafri at the Gulbarg society. At 6:30
p.m. police reinforcements finally arrived and walked Mrs. Jafri to
safety. She says he never fired at the crowd. In the following days and
weeks, the pogrom spread all over Gujarat. Eyewitnesses told of young
women raped in broad daylight and then burnt, and parents speared in front
of their children. Across the state, Muslim homes, shops and mosques were
destroyed.

Allegation of a list DB43 16:09:29 English
There is an allegation, that these Hinduites(?) had a comprehensive list
of all the houses where Muslims resided - of all the shops which belonged
to the Muslims, all the restaurants, all the industrial bases, all the
commercial organizations - they had a comprehensive list ... this is...
that... that list, within three days, they cleansed all these things.

In the past, Gujarat's Police arrested Hindu or Muslim militants at the
first sign of violence. But the day the killing started in Ahmedabad,
there were no arrests.

When some police intervened, they were themselves attacked. Some Muslims
who called the police were told "we have no orders to help you."

Gill 01:09:35 English
There's no excuse. And when you are going to protect some place, you
protect it properly. We cannot accept scapegoating. And this community is
now a scapegoat for what was done in Godhra. And you cannot accept people
spell a vicarious punishment. And you are punishing these people because
somebody belonged to the same community and did this. And it's hard
accepting there is no end to it.

Cut to refugee camp

There are over 100,000 Muslim refugees as a result of the attacks. They
are living in camps all over Gujarat, their homes destroyed.

Saira now lives in a camp in the middle of Ahmedabad. She survived the
attack at the Gulbarg Society by pretending to be the Jafri's Hindu Maid.
But she had to leave her dying son behind.

Saira INTV
In a month we would have begun the fast for Ramadan.

The Muslim refugees are still not secure, and they are cut off from their
homes and businesses.

Rathyatra Preparation

Monday, July 8th.The Rathyatra procession is four days away. Thirty-five
elephants are brought into the city for the ceremonies. In the past,
elephants have been used to charge into police and the crowds.

Religious leaders and holy men begin to arrive. And so do thousands of
marchers.

On May 6th, three days after Gill's arrival, the police chief who failed
to help the Jafri family was transferred.

Gill arranged for Commissioner KR Kaushik to replace him.
Kaushik is a devout Hindu with a long history of dealing fairly with
communal violence in Gujarat.
Gill and Kaushik placed a ban on public gatherings - which ended the
on-going violence.

Gill Meeting with Muslims

Ahmedabad Streets

GILL SX003
Steven (re-recorded): Do you think that the police perceived that they
might be victimized by their own ministers if they did act?
Gill: In a way... in a way that is... true. And I would emphasize the word
'perceived' which you used. It was a perceived... it was a perception in
the minds of the police officers. Because when they started acting, no one
really did anything.

Gill needs to get control of the situation fast. As an outside adviser, he
works for Chief Minister Modi. But he ignores the chain of command.

Some Muslims from a village report an attack. Gill phones the Village
Police Superintendent directly His reputation is enough to ensure an
immediate result.

Gill Meeting with Muslims
Yes, yes, thank you. God willing, we'll be in touch. We'll co-operate
with you because you're helping us. We're going to be at peace while
you're here, I don't know after that. We suggest you don't leave, make it
your home here.

Cut to Bhatt in the Car

Hamish Bhatt is heading out of town, looking for new recruits from the
villages to join in Friday's procession.

It's not difficult to find them. Many of Gujarat's villages are run by the
RSS - and other organizations in the Hindu alliance.

Bhatt in the car but cheated from 05:11:05
Bhatt VO car SX05 IN 5:11:02:19 OUT: 5:11:30:29 revise TC.
Using RSS as a medium, we try to unite all parts of society. The group
ideology is one of patriotism, but they include individuals' thoughts.
Where there are farmers, they've created an organization for them, Kisaan
Sangh. Where there was a need for a political party, they raised the BJP.
Where there's a religious need, they can work with religious leaders and
solve these problems.

The World Hindu Council of America raises funds in the United States.
Organizations in the Hindu Alliance use the money to construct new
villages that bring Health Care, education and social services to millions
of people in Gujarat.

Patel DB037 @ 1:13:00
We've made such a village (Dumado) and named it Khrisnatown.
sync
There we've made a temple and a school. Everywhere, a temple and a school,
these are the criteria of Vishva Hindu Parishad. Education, meditation
meaning health and spiritual knowledge.

In the village schools, the Hindu organizations provide extra-curricular
lessons in Hindu pride and patriotism. In some, students learn about the
campaign to build the Ram temple in Ayodhya and must memorize the names of
the Hindus killed at Godhra. There are also bodybuilding gyms and yoga
classes.

Patel: Rathyatra=85 DB38 11:25:24
Can the weak, lean person fight? No one accepts him anywhere, so these
gyms are for that. Bajrangdal is for young people.
Just like moving the sword, that's going to be there. The gyms are for
that. We run the gyms for that. If the gyms are strong, if the Hindu youth
is strong, the nation will be strong, society will be strong.

Rooftop

Harish Bhatt's recruits train in an Indian Martial Art- a form of hand to
hand combat using sticks, swords and trishuls.

Preparations for Rathyatra

Friday July 12th, 6:30 am. It is the day of the procession the crowds
gather outside the Jagganath temple where the procession will begin.

Last night, Kaushik's police arrested a Hindu priest and seized weapons he
was hiding. Harish Bhatt spent part of the night trying to get him out of
prison.

Kaushik conducts his final inspection. He and Gill have shortened the
parade route by two-thirds. They have brought in 87 companies of armed
paramilitary units - almost 15,000 police officers in all

The police have been on the street since dawn as a warning to the
militants.

They received intelligence that Muslim militants are planning to attack
the Hindu marchers. Gill and Kaushik fear that there are others planning
attacks - both Muslim and Hindu.

Many Muslims on the procession's route evacuate their homes. But others
have nowhere else to go. They hoard water and food in case new riots break
out and they have to lie low.

Mrs. Jafri fears her family is still a target. They are staying in a safe
house.

Jafri
Zakia Jafri:
This can happen whenever the Rathyatra occurs. Look at how many people
were arrested. Guns were confiscated. During the Rathyatra, if someone
threw a stone, it was controlled. But when so many people died in
Ahmedabad, and so much happened, no one showed up until 6.30 in the
evening.

Rathyatra

At 10:30 the festivities are in full swing. Several hundred thousand
people march in the procession. The elephants lead the way.

The marchers welcome Chief Minister Modi. He has survived the accusations
against him. To Hindu hard-liners, he is even a hero. He climbs on the
lead float to be acclaimed by the crowd.

Along the way the crowd yells anti-Muslim slogans.
Bhatt
Yells.

Gill has arranged for loudspeakers to blare patriotic Indian songs in
Muslim areas. The Hindus can scarcely object. And they drown out any
Anti-Muslim taunting from militants.

Whenever the crowd surges towards Muslim homes, the police quickly push
them back.

Around midday, Kaushik gets a call. His police have located the five
armed Muslim extremists - the ones who had planned to attack the march.
They are arrested.

Hindu Alliance leaders have complained to Harish Bhatt that they are
restricted because there are too many police around.
.

Bhatt DV03 @ 00:14:19 english
Why are they so afraid? Why governments are afraid? Why this much police
and other forces to be deployed here? This is a public concern. Public
celebration. Why should anybody interfere with that?

Village / Slow mo Trishul kid

The procession is over. Gill's work has paid off. No one has been hurt
during the 125th annual Jagganath Rathyatra.

But in the small village of Kheda where Harish Bhatt earlier held his
recruitment rally, violence erupted as Muslims and Hindus, armed with
bottles and homemade bombs, fought in the streets.]

FADE TO BLACK

Epilogue

Modi

In addition to human casualties, there have been other losses. Twenty
thousand Muslim homes and 360 mosques were destroyed, and an estimated
$2.3 billion dollars was lost by local businesses.

CUE 62A

Narendra Modi now takes credit for the peaceful festival. There is an
election coming soon and he plans to run again for Chief Minister.

The 100,000 Muslims in the refugee camps cannot return home to register
for the election. So they will not be able to vote.

KPS Gill returns to Delhi and his job at the Hockey Federation. He says
that the state of Gujarat is now safe and that trust between the Muslims
and the police has been restored. India's national BJP government has
pegged the death toll at 850 people. Human Rights groups put the number at
more than two thousand.

KPS Gill INTV @ DB034 07:02:33 english
Steven: Do you think we will ever know the truth about the violence that
happened after the Godhra. Would a truth commission work here?
Gill: "You have spent how many days, weeks, in Ahmedabad
Steven: "Yeah? It'll be two."
GILL: "Two weeks. Has any of those involved spoken the truth?

Gujarat's police have arrested 62 Muslims for the attack at Godhra
station. The state government claims to have arrested several thousand
Hindus - including forty or so for the Gulbarg Society killings - but many
were immediately released without charge.

Jafri Home
Granddaughter plays in the yard. She braids the granddaughter's hair.

Mrs. Jafri is still living in Gujarat with her son, a daughter and her
grandchildren.

Steven:
Do you think you will ever live at the Gulbarg Society again?
Zakia
Normally, I don't think about going. But sometimes, I think that the upper
floor of the house is still intact and that I should stay there. My kids
will repair the house and when I start living there maybe others will also
return.

Urmilla Trivedi still works for the World Hindu Council.

Urmilla INTV DB035 @ 13.40.20
Whatever's happened in the aftermath of Godhra was necessary so that those
people would understand that whatever it was they did in Godhra, it should
not have happened. At that time, they burned 58 people alive. If we had
not opposed, they would have attacked again and again. They would not let
the religious processions go ahead, they would burn Hindus. That's why it
was essential to teach them a lesson.

The RSS and the Hindu Alliance now have 20,000 private schools with two
and a half million students across India. Each year they add a thousand
new schools.

Vaidya english
It's fascism DB42 15:15:35
It's not a religious thing, it is fascism. That's what we call it. I think
it's fascism... out an out. And we have to fight it out.

Bhatt INTV DB049 @ 21:06:25 english
Lord, Lord Ram!
We ask all Muslim community also if they are our brothers, if they want to
stay peacefully in this country, they shall hand over these three temples
without quarrelling, no more riots, no more problems. Only three (?) are
required. But if three are not given, we'll try for three thousand. That's
what we'll do.

CUT TO Varanasi.

In many parts of India, Hindus and Muslims live peacefully together.
The Hindu Alliance members hope to complete the Ram temple in Ayodhya
before the end of 2002. They will then turn to India's holiest city,
Varanasi, to build a temple to Vishnu in place of a 300-year-old mosque.

_____

#2.

www.humanrightskerala.com
Ph: 0471- 476262
E-mail: chro@r...
CONFEDERATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANISATIONS (KERALAM )
3, Ram's Cottage, Ambalathumukku, Pettah, Thiruvananthapuram =96695024 S.In=
dia

Statement=20
September 19, 2002
Coimbatore Blasts and Kerala Political Parties
Chief Minister A. K. Antony=92s statement that the Kerala police had=20
opposed Abdul Nazar Madani=92s parole without consulting him justifies=20
the stand that we had been maintaining from 1998 on Coimbatore bomb=20
blast case.
We always held that it was under Union Home Minister L. K. Advani=92s=20
direction that arrests were conducted throughout South India in the=20
name of "Coimbatore terror" and in violation of federal system of=20
governance. People belonging to all South Indian states, including=20
Andhra and Karnataka, were arrested as accused in Coimbatore blast=20
case. This was a calculated Sangh Parivar scheme to create an=20
impression of "Muslim terrorism" in whole of South India, especially=20
in Kerala, where the BJP does not have effective foothold. As in=20
Coimbatore bomb blasts, there were deeper conspiracies and vested=20
interests of power politics behind the case investigation and arrests=20
=96 all of which are not yet known. The top police officials of Kerala=20
were able to take an "independent decision" to oppose Madani=92s parole=20
because both UDF and LDF have been using Madani=92s arrest since 1998=20
for narrow power-vote bank interests, and without identifying the=20
real Sangh Parivar political schemes behind it. Questions as to who=20
control Kerala police, and from whom do they take directions in=20
matters related to Coimbatore blast case had once again came into the=20
fore now.
Both the ruling-opposition fronts of Kerala must come forward to take=20
effective measures by rectifying their mistakes at least now. By=20
initiating both legal and official joint efforts, they should=20
question as to how nine Keralites, including Madani, were=20
incarcerated in a prison outside the State for the past 55 months=20
without bail or valid evidence, and at the crest of baseless rumours=20
and propaganda spread by Sangh Parivar. While welcoming Chief=20
Minister Antony=92s statement that Madani=92s bail was not a closed=20
chapter, we request him to instruct police officers not to take=20
"independent decision" any more on matters related to Coimbatore=20
blast.
Major portions of Tamil Nadu S.I.T. charge-sheet, running into around=20
18,000 pages, contain references to Madani's "terror speeches"=20
delivered in Kerala ten years ago and the cases pending in Kerala=20
Courts on it. However, Madani was exonerated by court verdicts in at=20
least in six such cases after his arrest in Coimbatore blast =96 which=20
was deliberately unmentioned in the charge sheet by T.N. police.=20
Therefore, the Kerala Government must either withdraw all such=20
pending speech-cases or constitute a special court to ensure its=20
speedy trial. The fact that no case was initiated against Sangh=20
Parivar leaders like Uma Bharati, who made more provocative speeches=20
than Madani in Kerala during the same period, shows the Sangh Parivar=20
influence within Kerala police force.
Kerala Government must institute a special investigative team to=20
probe into the back ground and evidence upon which nine Keralites,=20
including Madani, were arrested as accused in Coimbatore blast case.=20
In August last week, the "Havala" case accused Surendran had given a=20
confession to Mumbai police and court that he had given more than Rs.=20
100 crore for the Coimbatore bomb blasts. Details of this confession=20
as to whom did he give the amount, and why he was not yet included as=20
accused in Coimbatore bomb blast case warrant thorough investigation.=20
Kerala government=92s interference to protect the rights of all=20
innocent Malayalees facing violations of different governments=20
outside the State is in tune with the federal system. It is because=20
of the unwillingness of both UDF-LDF governments to take up this=20
responsibility that the exact reasons behind the murders of two=20
prominent industrialists of Kerala -- Rajan Pillai and Thakhiuddin=20
Wahid in 1995 at Tihar jail and a Mumbai street respectively =96 is=20
still shrouded in mystery.
The nine Keralites including Madani who remain as accused in=20
Coimbatore blast case during the past 55 months are facing nothing=20
but blatant rights violations of State terror from Sangh Parivar.=20
We, therefore, urge all the concerned not to limit or belittle this=20
into parochial interests of power-party politics and by equating it=20
as poll promises or broken poll promises. Since staging violent=20
protests on this issue in Kerala will be cited as evidence by the=20
State against freeing Madani, we urge all the concerned to keep away=20
from such actions. Violent actions will only abet the Sangh Parivar=20
interests.
Mukundan C. Menon (Secretary=20
General)=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=
=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0
Dr. Abdul Salam
(Secretary)

_____

#3.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1020920/asp/opinion/story_1214806.asp
The Telegraph
September 20, 2002
Editorial

RUNNING AMOK
When it comes to sheer brazenness and shamelessness, Mr Narendra=20
Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat, not only takes the cake, he=20
takes the bakery as well. It is not clear if he engineered the pogrom=20
in Gujarat, but this much is indisputable that he took no steps to=20
quickly quell the killings. This act of deliberate indifference would=20
have been enough to shame any decent human being. But the words=20
=B3decent human being=B2 are difficult to summon up to describe Mr Modi.=20
His utterances about Muslims, about Ms Sonia Gandhi and about the=20
chief election commissioner, Mr J.M. Lyngdoh, have all proceeded from=20
bad to worse. This is not just a display of bad taste. Mr Modi has no=20
taste. It is the display of an ideology that has run amok. Mr Modi=B9s=20
anti-Muslim and anti-Christian vituperations grow out of a fanaticism=20
that has been glorified by the sangh parivar as Hindutva. It is an=20
ideology of hatred and violence and therefore completely unsuited to=20
democratic politics. Mr Modi is thus oblivious to the simple fact=20
that he is the chief minister of a state in democratic India and not=20
a political leader in a fascist country. What is frightening is that=20
within the sangh parivar, Mr Modi is not an aberration. On the=20
contrary, he may well represent an increasingly dominant and vocal=20
tendency. One has only to recall the recent statement of Mr Ashok=20
Singhal, the president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, hailing the=20
Gujarat pogrom as a very successful experiment.

There are enough grounds to suspect that even within the Bharatiya=20
Janata Party, the wing of the sangh parivar wedded to democratic=20
politics, Mr Modi enjoys considerable support and his actions and=20
utterances receive approbation. There can be no other explanation for=20
the fact that Mr Modi, despite all that he has said and that has been=20
revealed about him, continues as chief minister of Gujarat and is=20
considered by the BJP to be the leader with the ability to score an=20
electoral triumph in the state. The BJP is thus not averse to running=20
an election campaign with a pogrom as its rallying cry. Premised on=20
this is the belief that a victory in Gujarat will be a sanction for=20
the spread of anti-Muslim violence elsewhere in the country. The=20
signs are ominous, especially as there are no indications that the=20
prime minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, is taking any steps to rein=20
in Mr Modi. This is compounded by Mr Vajpayee=B9s earlier failure to=20
sack Mr Modi in the immediate aftermath of the violence. Mr=20
Vajpayee=B9s private views about Mr Modi are fast losing their=20
relevance. As long as Mr Modi remains chief minister of Gujarat, it=20
will be reasonable to assume that he does so with the official=20
blessings of the prime minister.

Copyright =A9 2002 The Telegraph

_____

#4.

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