[sacw] SACW #2 | 24 May 02

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire Dispatch #2 | 24 May 2002
http://www.mnet.fr
__________________________

#1. Letter to the Editor - The Times [UK] : The risk of nuclear war=20
over Kashmir (Brian Cloughley)
#2. India: PRESS RELEASE - Condolence Meeting in memory of Abdul Gani Lone
#3. Gujarat's Jobless: Idle Hands As Devil's Workshop (Darryl D'Monte)
#4. India: Communal Carnage & Political Opportunism (P. Radhakrishnan)
#5. Modi, India's Milosevic (Gulam K. Noon)
#6. India: Carnage Victims & Modi's Future Hangs Under Dark Clouds (Batuk V=
ora)
#7. New website, 'Qalandar: Islam and Inter-Faith Relations in South Asia'

__________________________

#1.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,59-303400,00.html

Letter to the Editor of The Times (London)

May 22, 2002

The risk of nuclear war over Kashmir
>From Mr Brian Cloughley

Sir, Your perceptive leading article, "Axis of instability" (May=20
18), draws timely attention to the dangers of conflict between India=20
and Pakistan, nations possessing nuclear weapons for which they lack=20
adequate command and control systems. A punitive raid by India across=20
the border or the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir would be=20
disastrous. One can understand the frustration of the Indian=20
Government concerning its inability to combat terrorists who cross=20
the LoC, as they undoubtedly do, no matter what might be claimed to=20
the contrary. But an Indian attack, even with limited ground=20
objectives, would not "teach Pakistan a lesson", as so often claimed=20
by extremists. It would start a war. There is little doubt that the=20
first nation to imagine it faced major territorial loss would bring=20
its nuclear weapons to heightened readiness. Neither country has an=20
effective real-time intelligence capability, and there is the=20
probability of over-reaction to incomplete or erroneous information.=20
This could well lead to a nuclear exchange. The catalyst of conflict=20
is Kashmir. There will be no reduction in tension until an approach=20
to a solution is determined. At the meeting between the prime=20
ministers in Lahore in 1999 it was agreed that efforts would be=20
intensified "to resolve all issues, including the issue of Jammu and=20
Kashmir", and although the Agra discussions last year were not=20
successful, the way ahead still lies in talking rather than fighting.=20
Let there be energetic encouragement by the EU, the US and the UN=20
Security Council for Islamabad and Delhi to start talks, very soon.=20
The alternative is growth of distrust and hatred - and the=20
ever-increasing likelihood of a nuclear war. Yours sincerely,
BRIAN CLOUGHLEY,

May 18.

_____

#2.

CO-ORDINATION COMMITTEE ON KASHMIR
1182, Chhatta Madan Gopal, Maliwara, Chandni Chowk,
Delhi-110006
Phones: 2623980, 3951911

24th May 2002

PRESS RELEASE

Condolence Meeting in memory of ABDUL GANI LONE

A condolence meeting was organised at Indian Social
Institute, New Delhi
on Thursday,the 23rd May 2002, under the auspices of
Coordination Committee on Kashmir, to mourn the brutal
assassination of
Abdul Gani Lone on 21st May in Srinagar. Large number
of representatives
from various human rights groups and social
organisations participated in the meeting. Eminent
Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande, Kuldip Nayar, Dr. Gauri
Bazaz Malik, Maulana Shafi Moonis, A. Rasheed
Usmani, N.D.Pancholi paid glowing tributes to the
memory of departed soul. Participants included Mrs.
Mohini Giri, Sayeda Hamid, Achin Vanaik, Sonia Jabbar,
Kamal Mitra Chenoy, Sajid Ahmad, Vidya Subramaniam,
Jai Sen, Uma Chakravarti, Anuradha Chenoy, Aditya
Nigam and Gautam Naulakha.

The condolence resolution passed in the meeting
recalled the struggle of Mr.Lone for democratic
rights and civil liberties of the people of Jammu &
Kashmir against State repression, passion of his
commitment for 'Azadi' for his people, his periodic
detentions and sufferings in Indian jails for his
convictions and his striving to find peaceful
solution beyond gun culture. The meeting offered its
heartfelt sympathies to the members of his family.

The organisations represented included Citizens For
Democracy, PUCL, PUDR, Forum For Democracy and
Communal Amity, Champa-The Amiya and BG Rao
Foundation, Akhil Bhartiya Rachnatmak Samaj, Guild of
Service,
Students Islami Organisation, Muslim Women's
Forum,Indo-Pak People Solidarity, Aman Ekta Manch,
Coalition For Nu-clear Disarmament & Peace(CNDP),
Indian Radical Humanist Association, Centre For Study
For Developing Societies,Nishant Natya Manch and
Indian Social Institute.

N.D.Pancholi
Convenor
_____

#3

http://203.199.93.7/articleshow.asp?art_id=3D13799647
The Times of India, MAY 24, 2002

Gujarat's Jobless: Idle Hands As Devil's Workshop

DARRYL D'MONTE
The appeal in newspapers by prominent Gujarat citizens, calling for=20
an end to the communal conflagration, betrays anguish that such=20
terrible events could be taking place in a state known for its zest=20
for business.
However, Gujarat has become increasingly communalised in the last two=20
decades and Ahmedabad is a riot-prone city. There was even greater=20
shock when "cosmopolitan" Mumbai erupted in the wake of the=20
destruction of the Babri masjid 10 years ago.
Surprising though it may seem, there is at least one common thread=20
that links the violence in these two cities (which once belonged to=20
an undivided Bombay state).
This is the rapid decline of formal employment. It is not common=20
knowledge that it was Ahmedabad, rather than Mumbai, which was the=20
"Manchester of the East".
The cotton mills played an even more important part in this city's=20
life than in Mumbai, which had the port and related activities.=20
According to the Dutch sociologist Jan Breman, who has been studying=20
Gujarat for years, there were some 1,60,000 workers engaged in 64=20
textile mills in the late 1970s. In the first wave of closures in the=20
early 1980s, 40,000 labourers lost their jobs.
The new industrial policy of 1985 claimed even more jobs. By 1997,=20
the workforce had shrunk to 25,000; towards the end of the 20th=20
century, as many as 52 mills had closed. Breman records that while=20
the first wave of deindustrialisation aroused indignation in the=20
Capital, politicians and the media lost interest in subsequent rounds.
The irony is all the greater because unlike Mumbai, Ahmedabad had a=20
pliant mill union, which was prepared to cooperate with owners in=20
selling their land, but this never happened for complex reasons.
These workers have now joined the "informal" economy, which means=20
that they pick up casual jobs, work longer hours for less pay with no=20
security. Breman cites how such workers have employment for hardly 15=20
or 20 days a month and most of them have been forced to engage their=20
families, including young children, in supplementing incomes.
The story has been repeated in Mumbai, except that there are more=20
informal jobs in the industrial and commercial capital of the country.
While this has resulted in pauperisation of the working class, the=20
unseen impact has been the rampant communalisation. In economic=20
distress, when entire sections of the society lose their security,=20
young men demonise "the other" and imagine them to be the source of=20
their misfortunes.
It was no accident that in Mumbai in 1992, it was youth from both=20
communities that came out on to the streets. In Ahmedabad, it is=20
clear that there was a well-oiled machinery with which the pogrom=20
against Muslims has been conducted and this betrays more insidious=20
forces at work. But there is no question that the closure of the=20
mills has been at least one of the sparks that have set off the=20
attacks.
The media has reported that half the Ahmedabad mill workers were=20
Muslims and Dalits, which sounds difficult to believe, given the=20
antagonism towards both. At best, this may have been the proportion=20
among badli workers: even at the peak, 30 per cent of the labourers=20
were temporary.
Interestingly, Breman records how the first-ever strike in the city's=20
mills took place late in the 19th century when Dalit workers started=20
tea stalls. As a rule, nothing does more to promote communal harmony=20
than people working cheek by jowl; close down mass workplaces and you=20
have a sure scenario for conflict.
What the closures have achieved in these last two decades is to=20
ghettoise Ahmedabad. During the first round, the ghettos were formed=20
within the neighbourhood itself. A Muslim former jobber in a textile=20
mill who lived in Gomtipur told Breman that he had been tipped off by=20
a Hindu friend about the impending trouble this time.
In the second wave, Muslims were hounded out of areas where they had=20
lived for generations. He cites how Juhapara, on the right bank of=20
the river, has emerged as a huge enclave and now come to be known as=20
'mini Pakistan'. Due to such ghettoisation, Muslims have come to be=20
identified as "an anti-social, criminal underclass". Only the other=20
day, newspapers mentioned how flats in a Muslim neighbourhood, which=20
had otherwise lain empty, were now in great demand and their prices=20
have risen sharply.
There was less ghettoisation in Mumbai nine years ago. It was the=20
Shiv Sena which was then on the rampage, wreaking violence for=20
imagined wrongs inflicted by the 'other'. The Sena also draws in=20
youth from the Parel-Lalbaug industrial area and from former mill=20
families, who now face a bleak future.
Its MP, Mohan Rawale, hails from such a family himself and has been=20
elected from Mumbai South-Central, like Datta Samant before him. The=20
deindustrialisation of Mumbai has also led to its criminalisation,=20
with gang leader Arun Gawli's den virtually in the shadow of a mill=20
chimney.
These are all indications of the price that society has paid, and=20
will continue to pay, for the decline in jobs in the organised sector.

_____

#4.

From
Dr. P. Radhakrishnan
Professor
Madras Institute of Development Studies
79, 2nd Main Road, Gandhinagar, Adyar
Chennai 600020

When the Censure motion on Gujarat was being debated in Parliament, I=20
sent a short write-up for the leader page of a newspaper with which I=20
have had long association. After sitting on it for couple of days I=20
got a curt email regretting inability to use it. A
few days later I sent it to a journal with which also I have had=20
long association. As usual its editor was dilly-dallying, and despite=20
telling me on phone that it is topical, has not published it so far.=20
I have no reason to believe that he will do so. What I am driving=20
home is our secular progressive front especially in the Press have=20
their own vested, commercial interest, and their stakeholders of a=20
different type even in human tragedies, and they cannot be taken for=20
what they pompously write in their newspapers especially in the=20
editorials. For whatever its worth I am reproducing my write-up=20
below, as the Gujarat communal cauldron is not likely to be capped=20
in the near future.

o o o

COMMUNAL CARNAGE & POLITICAL OPPORTUNISM

The A.B. Vajpayee led government at the Centre has no reason to feel=20
euphoric about its victory, by 94 votes, on April 30-May 1, over=20
the opposition-sponsored censure motion on Gujarat under rule 184.=20
If anything, what passed for debate in the Lok Sabha, lasting for=20
17 hours, where among other things, India=92s Defence Minister, George=20
Fernandes, had the audacity to unabashedly take on and ridicule=20
Indian women at a time of much-needed healing touch and morale=20
boosting for them, and where political parties from both sides used=20
their shouting-brigades to settle political scores, only confirmed=20
again that in the continuing cold-blooded opportunistic political=20
calculations in Parliament, India had long lost its=20
humaneness, constitutional morality and democratic ethos, -- all=20
with much more ominous portends and dark forebodings.=20

The first salvo by Union Coal Minister, Ram Vilas Paswan, who=20
resigned from the NDA on April 29th, severing his party, Lok Jan=20
Shakti=92s, ties with the NDA and deciding to vote against it on the=20
censure motion; followed by the acerbic, abasive, and acrimonious=20
attacks by the opposition parties cannot be without such strain=20
on the shameless BJP; and the shrill claim of =93Gujarat=92s pride=94,=20
which he had already trampled upon brutally and mercilessly, much to=20
the chargin of any self-respecting Gujarati, was not even a fig-leave=20
to cover a Modi fully stripped and paraded in public gaze, nay global=20
gaze, albeit in a metaphorical sense.

While the stripping may be of some comfort to the opposition, seen=20
retrospectively and prospectively, it is still in the nature of the=20
comfort of the Ostrich; for this stripping by itself may not go far=20
enough to bury the spectre of Hindutva, bury its political mask, the=20
spectre of BJP, or at least rid the BJP of its crime of betraying=20
secularism and pluralism - the cornerstones of Indian democracy,=20
betraying its Constitutional mandate to protect the citizens=20
irrespective of caste, class and creed, and to protect the religious=20
minorities from the tyranny of the Hindu majority, and more=20
importantly, the tyranny of a Hindutva-dominated and=20
Hindutva-obsessed state. If anything, the censure motion would have=20
made it even more emboldened, irrepressible, and irresponsible.

It is in this context the hypocrisy, double-speak, and rank=20
opportunism of India=92s political class articulating the perfidies of=20
power needs to be exposed time and again, though the debate did not=20
succeed in doing so. That raises at least seven issues.

One, what made Ram Vilas Paswan a modern Rip van Winkle, to=20
supposedly realise after about two months=92 stoic silence that the=20
Gujarat carnage was communal violence, that the NDA Government at=20
the Centre of which he was a minister did fail in discharging its=20
duties, that its refusal to rid Gujarat of its canker, Narendra=20
Modi, despite his hideous killer instinct and prevent him from=20
turning into a mass butcher of innocent people, was partisan, and to=20
try and test Gujarat as a laboratory of rabid Hindutva, which, if=20
proved a success as an experiment, could be carried out in other=20
states as well, was subverting India=92s democratic polity?

Two, despite the hue, cry, hullabaloo, and what have you, why did=20
the opposition take such a long time to decide on a censure motion,=20
though the electronic and print media had lost no opportunity to=20
condemn and expose the violence in all its crude, cruel, grave, gory,=20
and gruesome details?

Three, where are the secular credentials of the so-called secular=20
parties such as (a) the Trinamool Congress, which unanimously decided=20
to vote for the Vajpayee Government =93in the interest of stability=94 -=20
though stability to the Vajpayee Government means facilitating the=20
Sangh Parivar=92s Nazi-type purge of the minorities, and expanding the=20
BJP=92s political space for facilitating the further expansion of the=20
cultural space of the Sangh Parivar for creating a Procrustean Hindu=20
rashtra; (b) the National Conference, whose only political=20
consideration for its decision to abstain from voting was facing=20
assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir later this year; (c) the=20
Indian National Lok Dal, which is avowedly for secularism and=20
condemns the communal carnage in Gujarat but still supports the NDA=20
Government for want of any =93substitute=94 to Prime Minister, A.B.=20
Vajpayee; (d) the DMK, which justified its support to the=20
censure motion on the ground that it is part of the NDA, with=20
Karunanidhi =93declaring=94 at the same time in his inimitable=20
double-speak that it would not allow even a slight deviation by the=20
NDA from the national agenda for governance, which states that the=20
interests of the minorities will be protected; and (e) the AIADMK,=20
now in power in Tamil Nadu, with a Chief Minister who, as in the=20
nursery rhyme, has for long been turning round and round without as=20
yet falling giddy on the ground, though it had nothing to lose but a=20
lot to gain, especially its long-lost secular credentials, by voting=20
against the NDA Government

Four, while the stand taken by the Telugu Desam Party of not aligning=20
with the opposition which according to Chandrababu Naidu has been=20
highly inconsistent and opportunistic, and walking out of Parliament=20
without voting on the censure motion on the ground that the Prime=20
Minister=92s response was not satisfactory, may prima facie make sense,=20
one might ask by clinging to the BJP on the ground that it is still=20
putting =93pressure=94 on the BJP, has the TDP not fouled its own nest.

Five, apart from verbal jugglery, all the political parties which=20
participated in the debate wallow in their own political and cultural=20
quagmire of half-truths, untruths, and contradictory assertions, in=20
the process failing to set right a secular, pluralist democratic=20
polity, which is now in disarray and under systematic subversion.

Six, why did the NDA Convener and Defence Minister, George Fernandes=20
take such a long time to lead his so-called =93peace march=94, that too=20
without any positive outcome? Was it not hypocrisy at its worst?

Seven, what was the cosmic compulsion of A.B. Vajpayee for his=20
stolid refusal to dislodge Narendra Modi from Hindutva=92s hotbed and=20
put an end to the unabated communal carnage in Gujarat?

When Vajpayee visited Gujarat, he probably wept on a number of=20
shoulders including Modi=92s and asked him and others of similar killer=20
instinct how he will he show his face abroad without shame. Despite=20
this, his refusal to unseat Modi showed him in his true=20
colours. Among the few sane and lucid voices in the Lok Sabha the=20
most impressive was probably that of Omar Abdullah, who resigned from=20
Vajpayee=92s Ministry, and spoke with much erudition and earnestness.=20
In the process he drove home the fact that we have lost the moral=20
high ground that we occupied because of our track record of democracy=20
and secularism, we are now on the backfoot, having to explain and=20
defend ourselves all the time; it was possible that a =93foreign hand=94=20
was behind the carnage in Godhra, but the aftermath was worse; by=20
creating a vicious communal divide, we had played directly into the=20
hands of such people, and the General [Musharraf] must be laughing.

While Murli Manohar Joshi is busy rewriting Indian history and=20
culture to suit his obscurantism and superstitions, by a single act=20
Vajpayee could have not only rewritten Indian history and culture,=20
but more importantly also gone down in history, if not with it. That=20
is, by removing Narendra Modi from power and, as Prime Minister of=20
India, initiating penal action against him and others in the=20
lunatic fringe of the Sangh Parivar for a Nuremberg type trial; for=20
what has been happening in Gujarat for the past two months is=20
unprecedented and, if anything, similar to and even worse than what=20
happened in Nazi Germany. Now that Vajpayee has proved that he is=20
not any better than Modi, who should be tried first, by whom, and how=20
remains a larger issue.

_____

#5.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/240502/detide01.asp
The Hindustan Times
Friday, May 24, 2002=20=20

Modi, India's Milosevic
Gulam K. Noon

It was nothing but a pogrom in Mahatma Gandhi's home state of=20
Gujarat. Hindu-Muslim riots are not new to India but what is new is=20
State-sponsored terrorism. Narendra Modi's government is guilty of=20
ethnic cleansing. Modi is India's Milosevic.

It is no longer merely a breakdown of law and order but the total=20
absence of law.

An 11-year-old boy testified to the National Human Rights Commission=20
how his family ran to the State Reserve Police post to escape the mob=20
but were told to go back or be shot (by the police). He then saw his=20
mother and sister being stabbed to death.

A mother who had given birth to a baby at 10 pm was forced to run=20
with her baby at 11 am the next morning when the mobs came. She=20
escaped but her husband was killed and their house burnt down.

A nine-year-old boy watched a mob rape and kill his 20-year-old sister.

There are several similar cases of abject savagery. There are=20
hundreds of traumatised orphans in the refugee camps. About 100,000=20
people languish in those camps, mainly women and children. Their=20
breadwinners are dead. Their homes have been burnt to discourage them=20
from going back. In one incident in Ahmedabad, 50 abandoned Muslim=20
homes were burnt down. The calculation is that they will leave=20
Gujarat.

The massacre was sparked off by the horrific incident on February 28=20
when kar sewaks were returning by train from the disputed=20
mosque/temple site at Ayodhya. The struggle over Ayodhya has raged=20
for 10 years and Hindu militants, including politicians now in power,=20
have built their political fortunes on it; but in the process they=20
have polarised the country.

On February 28, rabid Muslims surrounded a bogey and burnt it in=20
Godhra. Nothing can justify this killing of 58 people. Their=20
murderers should be brought to justice and dealt with severely. Such=20
criminals cannot call themselves either Hindu or Muslim. God does not=20
condone murder.

Retribution was swift and deadly. Muslims were systematically hunted=20
down and killed. These were not spontaneous revenge killings. The=20
mobs were provided copies of electoral rolls to help them identify=20
Muslim localities and businesses. Modi's ministers were sitting in=20
police stations to direct operations. All this has been well=20
documented by the Indian press.

The police turned partisan and refused to register cases of rape and=20
murder of Muslims. Decent officers, who did their duty and protected=20
the people, were promptly transferred. The administrative service=20
abdicated its responsibility - it takes only one district magistrate=20
to bring a riot under control in a few hours if he does his job.=20
Sixty-three days later, the killings were going on.

Modi took over as Gujarat chief minister at a time when the BJP's=20
electoral fortune was waning. Modi appears to have seized upon the=20
Godhra incident as an excuse to massacre Muslims in order to swing=20
the majority Hindu votes in his favour. State elections are not due=20
in Gujarat for another year but Modi wishes to bring the date forward=20
and go to the polls now. His disgraceful move to gain political=20
capital from the carnage was supported by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and=20
L.K. Advani. Only the hue and cry raised by the press has temporarily=20
stalled the plan.

One of the biggest disappointments has been Vajpayee. He was given=20
credit for being a secular, liberal man who believed in a=20
pluralistic, democratic society. No longer. That mask was torn off in=20
Goa on April 12 when his rhetoric was that of an RSS pracharak rather=20
than

of a responsible leader of a mixed electorate. Vajpayee has lost the=20
moral authority to govern. The BJP can no longer pretend to be a=20
political party that believes in pluralism and democracy.

Politicians have meddled for so long with the judiciary, the=20
administrative services and the police force that the steel framework=20
of which India was once so proud has turned to straw in Gujarat.=20
Veteran police chief Julio Riberio said

that Gujarat has made him feel ashamed of having once belonged to the=20
police force. He also recommended that the police and Indian=20
Administrative Service in Gujarat be abolished because Modi and his=20
ministers have taken all powers into their own hands.

Indian Muslims must take their share of the blame for the conflict.=20
They remain amongst the most ill-educated, poor and unemployed.=20
Self-styled leaders such as Imam Bukhari of Delhi - whose claim to=20
represent all Indian Muslims is as bogus as the claim of the Hindu=20
militants to represent all Hindus - have encouraged the community to=20
remain backward. It is a type of colonialism. The Babri mosque=20
dispute is a good case in point.

The mosque was a disused building in 1991 and had been locked up for=20
over 50 years. Some Hindus claim that site as the birthplace of Lord=20
Rama. Since the mosque was a disused one, the question should have=20
been peacefully resolved with Muslims accommodating the demands of=20
the majority community. A sensible Muslim leadership would have done=20
that and not make an issue out of it.

The Saudi government, for example, has destroyed dozens of mosques to=20
build roads. In Britain, a disused church has been turned into a=20
Hindu cultural centre, the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. During the Bosnia=20
conflict, 1,242 mosques were destroyed by the Serbs.

Instead, the Ayodhya conflict has raged for 10 years. Militant Hindus=20
politicised the issue and rode to power on it. Thousands of poor=20
people have died (it is always the poor who die). How many more=20
innocent lives must be lost before there is a sensible resolution?

Muslims, who chose to live in the country after 1947, as did my=20
family, owe their first allegiance to India. It is the Prophet's=20
command that a good Muslim obeys the laws of the country where he=20
lives.

The Congress has done virtually nothing in Gujarat. We have seen no=20
mass mobilisation of people, no sustained opposition to Modi on the=20
streets. There was a similar, shameful incident in 1984 when

the Congress under Rajiv Gandhi presided over the massacre of Sikhs=20
in Delhi that went un-checked for three days. Then, as now,=20
Congressmen led mobs armed with electoral lists and burnt and looted=20
Sikh homes. None of them has been brought to justice.

The naked pursuit of power in India has stripped politics of any=20
meaningful issues. Education, employment, housing or medical benefits=20
are not on the agenda. Instead, the issues are caste, religion and=20
money. Votes are counted in blocks - the Hindu/Muslim block vote, the=20
Dalit vote, the Sikh vote etc. Organised conflict is often the method=20
of scaring the votes into your corner. The greatest disservice the=20
BJP has done is to misrepresent the catholic nature of Hinduism and=20
try turn it into a dogmatic body

of beliefs. The politics of hate is threatening to tear India apart.

What message has Gujarat given to the rest of the world?

That India is unsafe. Who would want to invest in a country that=20
cannot guarantee security of life and property? India will miss out=20
on opportunities thrown up by the globalisation of the economy.=20
London-based industries that could have located their auxiliary=20
factories in India have chosen to go to China where labour is equally=20
cheap but security is guaranteed.

Overseas Indians are an emotional lot and would like to invest in=20
India - but who can risk having their business burnt down one fine=20
day? Such blatant lawlessness as witnessed in Gujarat will deter all=20
except the most foolhardy.

Deepak Parekh, chairman of India's leading housing finance firm,=20
HDFC, said: "What is a government elected for? If they cannot protect=20
innocent lives, they should go. What kind of government allows the=20
killing of women and children?"

At the very least, Narendra Modi should be asked to resign or be dismissed.

The writer is an industrialist and President of the London Chamber of=20
Commerce & Industry. These are his personal views

_____

#6.

[24 May 2002]

CARNAGE VICTIMS & MODI'S FUTURE HANGS UNDER DARK CLOUDS
by Batuk Vora

Ahmedabad: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi has found a wonderful=20
dark shadow of war and terror to hide. All the loud nationwide noise=20
for his removal seems to have been toned down on account of a=20
diversion of national attention to talks of war with Pakistan. But=20
he is faced with a most uncomfortable situation within his own BJP at=20
the same time, with a group of ministers and leaders expressing their=20
discontent with his style of functioning and fear of possible=20
backlash in much unaffected areas like Kutch, Saurashtra and=20
South-North Gujarat during the elections not far away.

Thousands of victims of communal carnage, on the other hand, have no=20
place to hide; they continue to be roasted under hot sun doing=20
nothing but waiting for a chance to go back to their destroyed homes,=20
without enough compensation or safety. 'Perhaps this talk of war with=20
Pakistan has given not only the government but the opposition a good=20
reason to abandon us'. lamented Muzzafar Ahmed, a survivor in a camp=20
here who lost his wife, daughter and a son during the carnage at=20
Gomtipur area. This 'camp' is located inside Kabrastan, a cemetery !

Not a word about their miserable existence was uttered in a=20
2000-strong meeting of the BJP supporters gathered here at Town Hall=20
last weekend under the slogan of 'Nation First', convened by the BJP=20
president Rajendrasingh Rana and Minister of State for Revenue Haren=20
Pandya. Incidentally, Pandya himself is accused by some survivors of=20
actively participating in the job of destroying the properties of=20
minority community in his own Ellisbridge constituency on Feb. 28 and=20
March 1st.

'I saw him stopping by on a street near the police van and patting an=20
officer on the back saying 'take care of our boys!,' said Razaq=20
Sheikh, a bank employee residing in Paldi area. 'Boys' means those=20
saffron banded sword and petrol bomb waving crowds roaming and=20
targeting each of the minority members properties.

However, not a word of reference to Narendra Modi too, who was=20
neither invited nor spoken of, in this ebullient gathering. Local=20
media reported a kind of serious attempt by a few so called=20
Modi-dissidents in the party to create an alternative within BJP=20
itself. Talks about possible change in the leadership of Gujarat BJP=20
has already gripped BJP circles, with former chief minister Keshubhai=20
Patel, who is now shunted to Rajya Sabha and who is said to have=20
refused to accept any ministerial position at the center under the=20
grounds of his failing health, secretly propping up a revolt. Modi's=20
animosity to Keshubhai is not a secret.

"My mother died here in the camp because of jaundice. My brother was=20
killed when he tried to check out our destroyed home," wailed a=20
20-year Shabnam in Gomtipur camp area, not knowing what to do, left=20
alone in this violent world.

Modi's advisor supercop Gill appears to be trying hard to=20
re-establish some semblance of law and order, but there is very=20
little movement in providing the necessary security and relief to=20
enable the survivors to resettle again. No government land or any=20
plan to build houses for the survivors has been announced so far,=20
except Rs 38-crore worth of houses planned by a Muslim charity body.=20
Lok Samiti leader veteran Gandhian Chunibhai Vaidya is one of the few=20
leaders who have been trying to make concrete arrangement for=20
rehabilitation here in consultation with police officials and

VHP_Bajrang Dal inspired 'conditions' for the survivors to come back=20
to villages continue to be imposed while the district officials fail=20
to create secure conditions. "One of the major drawbacks of the=20
government efforts to rehabilitate the victims is their inaction in=20
arresting those accused Bajrang Dal and VHP activists mentioned in=20
various FIRs in Vadodara city," said Jagish Shah, a leading Sarvodaya=20
activist involved in relief and rehabilitation at Vadodara.

Shah said there were 772 refugees at Jamatkhana camp in Vadodara and=20
"I found that major problem before them is their unemployed status,=20
doing nothing day after day, while most of their cart or vending=20
locations now captured by so called Hindu labourers. Secondly, their=20
FIRs are still pending and no criminal elements have been arrested,=20
resulting into this fear of going back to their destroyed places of=20
residence and work."

"It is because of some of the most noble-minded and secular activists=20
like Isaak Chinwala that a lot of solace and concrete relief are=20
being provided to the victims here," Shah said. Vadodara has faced a=20
different kind of violence at the hands of those fascist forces- they=20
have destroyed a few homes of even Hindus just because they lived=20
peacefully with Muslims, at Rajarani Talao Panigate area.
Role of the police in Vadodara district has come under heavy fire=20
from those social activists who have stood by the victims. Activists=20
like Jagdish Shah, Trupti Parekh of Bharuch district, Rohitbhai and=20
Kiritbhai, Jehannara and Sherbano, Ismail and Manzoor Saleri- all of=20
them launched a Satyagraha on last April 30 from Mogalwada to=20
Lehripura. All of them were lifted from the streets and arrested.=20
They were joined by even a 90 year old Bohra community lady Khurshid=20
Chachi. Muslim community found something encouraging as if they saw=20
their life coming back with a bang! THE END

______

#7.

Date: Thu, 23 May 2002 23:51:56 +0000

Dear Friend,
Please visit our new website, 'Qalandar: Islam and Inter-Faith=20
Relations in South Asia' [www.islaminterfaith.org]
The first issue [May 2002] includes:
1. Interview of Maulana Wahiduddin Khan on Islam and Inter-Religious Dialog=
ue
2. 'The Sufi Saints of Ayodhya' by Vidya Bhushan Rawat
3. 'The Chishti Sufis of India' by Yoginder Sikand
4. 'Hazrat Bulbul Shah: The First Sufi Missionary in Kashmir'
5. Book Reviews on Islam

Regards,
Yoginder Sikand

--=20
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