SAN-Feature Service
SOUTH ASIAN NEWS-FEATURE SERVICE
November 7,2007
Gujrat catastrophe: A crime against humanity
Ripan Kumar Biswas
Gujarat tragedy, gruesome in nature, horrifying to look, vibrating on the lips of every body evokes an un-canny sensation in our minds.
SAN-Feature Service : One can change the state sponsored genocide to carnage, program etc., depending on how one feels about the situation. One can even change sponsored to "aided," "abetted," or allowed," depending on the severity of the situation as well, but the basic point remains that it is these riots, which are sustained and in which there is a great loss of life, property, livelihood and dignity and overall the death of humanity.
It behooves the general people and international community to voice concerns when the spineless and hate-filled people of Gujarat are bent on having monsters for their administrators as because no civilized society can tolerate having murders gloating over their murderous deeds. Gujarat tragedy, gruesome in nature, horrifying to look, vibrating on the lips of every body evokes an un-canny sensation in our minds.
Expressing its disappointment over the limited information provided by India on impact of 2002 Gujarat riots on women and minorities, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, asked the Indian Government to resubmit a detailed report on impact of Gujarat massacres on 2,000 casualties or so cases relating to the massacres and the number of sexual assault and violence against women by January 2008.
That was an ordinary morning just after one month of the 51st Republic Day of India and last winter in the year and everyone was about to set for their daily routines, but the country was waiting to be marked with February 27, 2002 gruesome tragedy and its horrified aftermath when a fire was raging through couch to couch of the Sabarmati Express train near Godhra station, the western city of Ahmedabad, which left fifty-nine casualties in where some karsevaks (Hindu pilgrims) and some ordinary passengers had been burnt to death.
Everyone was shocked and speechless at the incident, but no body envisaged that the incident at Godhra was to become one of the most corrosive ruptures in the nation's recent communal history. The 2002 riots in Gujrat broke out after a Muslim mob was accused of torching the train and the state left at least 2,000 Muslims dead and many victims and rights groups at the time accused the Hindu nationalist- ruled local government of backing the violence.
According to the newspapers reports, TV footages and investigations out of government sources, Gujarat's hawkish chief minister Narendra Modi, a member of India's main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), gave Hindu mob leaders three days to do whatever they wanted whereas according to an inquiry by the state-run railways later ruled that the fire on the train which sparked the riots was an accident. The state police and politicians were also involved to fuel the heinous act.
What people had needed then were justice, the uncompromised truth, and a healing touch from their government. And after more than four and half years when people came across the bitter truth the state-sponsored brutality through satellite TV channels Aaj Tak (Until Today) and Headlines Today, based on the secretly recorded by a reporter of the investigative news magazine Tehelka (Sensation) with several men allegedly involved in the anti-Muslim attacks admitting that they were spurred on by Hindu groups allied with the government, the high officials of the state blocked the broadcasting.
Without going into the fact and the reason of the incident as the highest executive of the state, Chief Minister Narendra Modi issued a press release within less than 12 hours of the incident declaring war by saying, "This is not a mere communal event but a one-sided collective terrorist attack by one community." As a result, thousands of people were killed, hacked, shot, burnt, raped, their houses were burned, dozens of mosques desecrated.
Among the many promises made by the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government during their 2004 campaign was the enactment of meaningful legislation to prevent the occurrence of "communal riots," effectively deal with them when they do occur, punish those involved, and provide for the compensation and rehabilitation of victims after the fact.
For the past two years, several drafts of the Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill (2005) have been released. However, not a single one adequately fulfills any of the purported aims of the Act.
Lack of interest to impose those acts against the riots may be influencing the hawkish administrator like Modi and his government, who have been claiming that the incident in Godhra was not a spontaneous burst of mob fury that got out of hand, but a conspiracy pre-planned by significant religious and political Muslim leaders whereas for five years, the people, the courts, the press, and even the survivors have been upholding the truths that they are the killers.
The Tehelka claimed that not only the key wings of the administration, the police, administration and legislature were in loop in giving a free hand to the rioters but also a section of the judiciary was also compromised. According to the Gujarat government's state counsel Arvind Pandya, who appeared in the Nanavati-Shah commission, revealed how the cases against the rioters were managed. Pandya further informed that even the Nanavati-Shah commission has been compromised too and KG Shah, who heads the commission along with Nanavati, is sympathetic to the BJP.
Gujarat is one of the most prosperous states of the country, having a per-capita GDP 3.2 times India's average and it holds many records in India for economic development like 20% of India s industrial output, 9% mineral production, 22% exports, 24% textile production, 35% pharmaceutical products, and 51% of India's petrochemical production. If it was a nation it would have been 67th richest nation in the world above many European and Asian economies like China and Ukraine North America is three times more than the average income of an American family.
The persons or whoever responsible for such crimes like riots or genocides should be dealt with until justice is done not only for the sake of the victims but also to protect the constitution that guarantees due process of law.
In a joint statement as many as 17 Indian American organizations and 21 eminent members of the NRI (Non-Resident Indians) community in the United States urged the UPA Government to impose Presidents' rule in Gujarat, arrest ''all criminals'' who confessed their crime and transfer all legal cases pertaining to the 2002 Gujarat riots to a court outside Gujarat.
Live and let live is the rule of common justice; justice demand their honorable settlement and their rehabilitation. The Gujarat episode has caused acute restlessness and commotion in the entire world as it involves human tragedy and merits all possible help to be extended to the bereaved. It is a tragedy against humanity to be faced jointly.—SAN-Feature Service
Ripan Kumar Biswas is a freelance writer based in New York
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