FYI - News related to human rights and religious freedom in India
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INDIA: More homes burned in Orissa. Statement by the bishops
by Nirmala Carvalho
10/20/2008 14:17
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=13526&size=A
Extremists are violating the curfew. Raids on domesticated animals, and celebrations amid the ruins. The bishops proclaim a total lack of trust toward the government of Orissa. Singh's proposal to rebuild the destroyed churches has been denounced by fundamentalist groups.
 Bhubaneshwar (AsiaNews) - Groups of Hindu radicals have burned a number of homes belonging to Christians over the night of October 19, in the district of Kandhamal (Orissa). The government of the state says that the situation "is returning to normal," but the bishops of the region, in a statement published today, say that "the Christians of Kandhamal have lost faith in the state government, and they feel that their fundamental right to live has been totally taken away by the constitutionally elected government."
Fr. Manoj Digal, head of rural affairs for the social center of the diocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar, tells AsiaNews that "every night, defying the curfew imposed from 10 o'clock until 5 in the morning, extremist Hindu groups roam around the villages in these remote areas with flashlights, bringing destruction everywhere they go. On the night of October 19, a number of homes belonging to Christians were burned in the area of Ratingia and Kurmingia. The few homes that were spared from the destruction in August were razed to the ground."
"After the physical destruction and human casualties," the priest continues, "now it is the turn of the animals. Hens, goats, buffalo and oxen are being stolen. In various villages, after the destruction of the homes belonging to Christians, the extremists are killing the goats and hens, and celebrating amid the ruins of the Christian village."
Similar raids have taken place at the hospital of the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa's order) in Srasananda. The facility served leprosy and tuberculosis patients, and had already been destroyed by Hindu extremists last December. After being partially rebuilt, it was attacked again last August.
In recent days, Oscar Lete, the superior of the house, was able to visit the village and the remains of the hospital. "This time," he tells AsiaNews, "the extremists really did destroy everything: mattresses, pillows, shutters, doors, everything was destroyed. The domesticated animals were stolen, and so was our food. Everything has become desolate and despoiled."
The ransacking and destruction of farming resources makes the return of Christian to their land increasingly unlikely. "At least 12,000 Christians," says Fr. Manoj, "have abandoned the refugee camps set up by the government, and have migrated to neighboring states, where they will have to begin a new life with absolutely nothing, not even an identification document. It is a tremendous human tragedy, an extremely serious violation of human rights."
The government of Orissa continues to give assurances that the situation is returning to normal, but this is not convincing.
In a joint statement published today, the bishops of Orissa and the Indian bishops' conference instead say that "after 54 days of attacks on Christians in Kandhamal, the situation in the district and in other parts of Orissa is still tense and insecure. Christians are afraid to return to their villages as threats of death have forced many of them to flee in to the forest or to live in dehumanizing condition in state-run relief camps. The camps have become half-sized - not because the people have returned to their respective villages, but because they have migrated to other districts and other states in search of safety. Christians of Kandhamal have lost faith in the state government and they feel that their fundamental right to live has been totally taken away by the constitutionally elected government.
The bishops are urgently calling for the opening of investigations into the violence, the killing of 60 Christians, the rape and destruction, and demand "just and adequate compensation" for the people and institutions affected.
In recent days, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has met with representatives of the World Council of Churches. He has promised them that the government is concerned about rebuilding the damaged or destroyed churches, and has decided to send a commission to preparer a reconstruction plan. Its members will include Christians.
Singh's statement has been criticized by extremist groups. The group for tribal affairs in Kandhamal, connected to the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), has immediately come out in opposition to the proposal. "Not a single church on the lands of Kandhas would be allowed in Kandhamal," says Laxmikant Das, secretary general of the group.
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I begged, told them I'm a soldier... I was told I'm Muslim, nothing else'
Posted online: Oct 15, 2008 at 1050 hrs
MUZAMIL JALEEL & SUKANYA SHETTY
INDIAN EXPRESS
http://www.indianexpress.com/story_print.php?storyid=373414
SRINAGAR/DHULE, OCTOBER 14 : EID was usually the time BSF soldier Arif Hussain Khati came home to Dhule in northern Maharashtra from his posting in the militancy-torn Jammu and Kashmir.
However, this year, the festivities turned nearly fatal for him. Three days after Eid, on October 5, Hindu-Muslim riots broke out in Dhule, and the soldier who puts his life at risk everyday in Bandipora, guarding the country's borders, had to beg frenzied mobs to spare him and his family.
They burnt his uniform, his identity card, even his gallantry certificates, besides ransacking the house, says the Constable, posted with the BSF's 51st battalion. "I saw my house being set on fire by our own neighbours. They were in thousands. Then they tried to throw my brother Sikandar into the fire. My wife fainted," Khati told The Indian Express. "I pleaded with them. I told them I am a soldier. I told them I am fighting for the country at the border. They didn't listen. For the first time in my life, I felt alone. I was told I am Muslim and nothing else."
But what hurt him more, Khati says, was the indifferent attitude of the police. "The situation was tense since the day riots broke in Dhule. We were anticipating attacks. But not one policeman came to rescue us," he said. "We spent the entire night outside the police station urging the officer to register our complaint. Instead of assuring us relief, the police asked us to leave our house at the earliest."
The violence in Dhule started as a minor conflict over some Muslims allegedly tearing up posters put up by local Hindu groups urging Hindus to wake up following the spate of bomb blasts around the country. But it soon escalated, resulting in 10 people being killed and nearly 200 injured. It also spread to areas like Khati's Shirud village, which is about 25 km from Dhule town.
Khati was given a job in the BSF on compassionate grounds in 2002 after his father Riyaz Khati, also a Sub-Inspector in the force, died on duty. "I have taken part in several (counter-insurgency) operations but I have never felt scared. That day, I was frightened. I thought we will all be killed," said Khati, who has been living with relatives in the neighbouring town of Malegaon since the attack.
Late last week, when The Indian Express visited Dhule, Inspector-General of Police S P Gupta claimed: "Khati is just floating stories. Earlier, he asked us to provide transport to the neighbouring village of Challisgaon claiming he had to resume work. Now he says his house has been ransacked. Since he is in Malegaon now, he should first lodge a complaint with the Malegaon police."
But bureaucratic wheels have since moved, what with the BSF promising to take up the matter with the Maharashtra administration and also assuring Khati and his family help. On Tuesday, an FIR was finally registered in Malegaon, eight days after Khati and his family were targeted.
The experience has made Khati distraught and bitter. "I have been serving for years now and I had never felt that I was treated differently because I am a Muslim. In my battalion, we are all like brothers. But here it is different. I have no home now," he says, adding that the family plans to move to Muslim-majority Malegaon. "We feel safe in our area, amongst our people."
SEE ALSO:
* Livelihoods go up in smoke in Dhule (Oct 14, 2008, The Hindu)
http://www.hindu.com/2008/10/14/stories/2008101457371300.htm
* Dhule riots could have been averted (Oct 16, 2008, Times of India)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3600450.cms
* Camps in Dhule full of people who are too scared to return home (Oct 13, 2008, The Hindu)
http://www.hindu.com/2008/10/13/stories/2008101359291200.htm
* One arrested, three others detained for Kanpur blast (Oct 15, 2008, Times of India)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3598480.cms
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Key Jaipur blasts suspect wrongly accused: rights body
October 20th, 2008 - 8:59 pm ICT
Indo Asian News Service / Thaindian.com
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/key-jaipur-blasts-suspect-wrongly-accused-rights-body_100109508.html
Lucknow, Oct 20 (IANS) The People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has claimed that the police has wrongly framed Shahbaz Ahmed in connection with the serial bombings in Jaipur."The Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Uttar Pradesh police, which arrested Ahmed after a tip-off by the Jaipur police, has not been able to collect concrete evidence to prove that he was involved in the blast," Sandeep Pandey, social activist and Magsaysay award winner, told reporters in Lucknow Monday.
The PUCL also released a report that claimed that Ahmed was innocent.
Ahmed was arrested in Lucknow August and was termed by the ATS to be one of the kingpins behind the serial blasts in Jaipur May 13.
"He (Ahmed) was attending to his wife who delivered her third child in April after a major operation. How can a person plan such a heinous crime if he is in such a crisis?" questioned Pandey.
The PUCL admitted that Ahmed was a member of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) but but claimed he left the organisation soon after his marriage.
"He got married to Sadaf in 2002 and shifted to Lucknow soon to earn a living as he was not interested in his family business of carpet manufacturing. He opened a small cyber café in old Lucknow in 2004 and subsequently started career counselling and travel business from the same outlet," he said.
"In contrast to the police claim that a huge amount of money transaction took place in his bank account before the blasts, we found that the single largest transaction was of Rs.15,000 only," Pandey claimed.
"The PUCL demands that if the police is not able to gather evidence against him, he should be released and those police officials involved in framing false charges against him should be booked," he added.
The six-member fact-finding team of PUCL, besides Pandey, included former director-general of Uttar Pradesh police S.R. Darapuri and a retired inspector-general of police S.M. Naseem.
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DELHI: City Christians still scared
21 Oct 2008, 0032 hrs IST, Nandita Sengupta, TNN
TIMES OF INDIA
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-3620348,prtpage-1.cms
NEW DELHI: With much trepidation every Sunday, Father Isaac Mallik visits the makeshift Rehma Faith Church located in Peeragarhi on the farside of west Delhi. Over a month after the September 17 attack, no prayers are held, the wall and roof still broken. The police, he says, are not allowing him to reconstruct the boundary of the church.
About 20 kms away in east Delhi, Father Arul Anthony peers through the window of his office a tad too often. He runs his eyes over a sheet of telephone numbers (`contact in emergency') a tad too seriously. The same day when the Peeragarhi church was attacked, the locks of the garden in Trilokpuri's Prabhu Prakash Girja (Holy Light Church) were broken into. "We will build a temple here,'' the group of young boys in saffron bandanas had shouted, says the priest.
From December 2007 to date, four churches have been attacked in Delhi. The priests say the attacks had been carried out by a group of men carrying trishuls and shouting `Jai Sri Ram'. The churches are situated in different corners of Delhi: Peeragarhi, Trilokpuri, Dilshad Garden and Pitampura. "It is a new development in the Capital,'' says Mallik.
On the face of it, the incidents are not connected. But three features are common to all attacks. One, the attackers arrived in groups of at least 20-30. Two, they wore Bajrang Dal bandanas. Three, the attacks were primarily designed to scare. That's because, as the victims say, the attackers abused and threatened them without mentioning any specific issues.
The complaints and FIRs lodged with the various police stations are little more than muted appeals for protection, deadpan recording of the event that do little to record the sense of fear that the complainants face. The hesitation to follow up on the FIRs or complaints by the Christian community as well stems from a sense of fear, says advocate Jenis Francis. "No one wants to invite friction. So, they just let things be.''
The police are distinctly displeased that the attacks are still being talked about. The SHO of Paschim Vihar, Sanjiv Tomar, won't talk about it, "Ho chuka madam, khatam ho gaya.'' In Trilokpuri, SHO Gautam laments, "Immediate action is necessary as the public has lost all sense of tolerance.'' He then turns cold refusing to talk about the incident, despite having a letter of gratitude from the church for his proactive steps.
Weeklong police protection was provided after the incidents, but removing fear and instilling confidence is easier said than done. For young nuns especially, it's increasingly difficult to stave off such feelings.
"Before they attack any of the nuns here, they will have to attack me,'' asserts Sister Leelamma, in her monastery in Trilokpuri alongside the church. She is shaken by the events from Orissa to Delhi. For the nun, protecting her brood is now first priority.
Worse is the deepening sense of `them' and `us'. Sister Summi, a young nun, says, "They accuse us of conversions, look what they are doing.'' In the next minute, she's repentant. "See, even we are thinking `they' and `us'. It shouldn't be like that. We have to stop that.''
The `them' is a nebulous quantity. Complaints mention Bajrang Dal. But Ashok Kapoor, Delhi's Bajrang Dal convenor would rather distance himself from the violence, preferring to play down the belligerence. On the contrary, he claims his organization swings into action only when the police fail in their duty to protect Hindu rights and has nothing to so with any of the attacks. He states, "The events in Orissa were swabhavik (natural). The murder of Laxmananand Saraswati demanded such reprisal. They (Christians) are spreading fear. And the police do nothing. That is why our boys have to protect Hindu rights. We don't want `sangharsh'. Our boys have had no hand in any mob violence in Delhi. We are being maligned.''
His take on conversions is funny. "We are ready to protect Hindus, Muslims and all communities from missionary tactics,'' he says.
The scale of the events too small in comparison to attacks elsewhere in the country indicates skillful management, feels Tehmina, general secretary of the Christian Legal Association. The fact that all stakeholders the churches, police, local politicians and communities want to simply move on as if all is normal also indicates, says Francis, the presence of a fear that things can spiral out of control. But for the hapless nuns and priests alike, turning the other cheek is beginning to hurt.
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NHRC writes to police for report on shootout
21 Oct 2008, 0151 hrs IST, TNN
TIMES OF INDIA
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-3620718,prtpage-1.cms
NEW DELHI: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sent a reminder to Delhi Police commissioner to submit a report on the September 19 Batla House shootout, in which two alleged `terrorists' and special cell inspector Mohan Chand Sharma were killed. The NHRC has urged the Delhi Police to submitting the report by the month-end.
The Delhi Police had earlier claimed they had already sent a report on the matter.
The commission in an official release on Monday said that on September 23 it had asked police to submit the report on the incident within two weeks but has not heard from them so far.
The panel had directed the police commissioner to take appropriate action as per the NHRC guidelines after it received a complaint from Kamran Siddiqui of an NGO, Real Cause. According to the release, NHRC had received intimation on October 21 from the local SHO regarding the incident.
In the meantime, the commission received another communication from Sidiqqui alleging that a team of special cell cops visited L-18, Batla House. He submitted that the police team came with 2-3 bags and stayed at the house for two hours.
The commission has decided to send a reminder to the Delhi Police commissioner directing him to transit the post-mortem report of Mohd Atif and Mohd Sajid and inspector Mohan Chand Sharma as well as the inquest reports, the release said.
The commission has also asked police to inform whether a magisterial enquiry has been ordered in the matter and if so, what is its status.
SEE ALSO:
Indias human rights monitor hamstrung by rules: NHRC chief (Oct 11, 2008, New Kerala)http://www.newkerala.com/topstory-fullnews-31650.html
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Bajrang dal prisoners continue jail assault on Muslim inmates
http://www.bhatkallys.com/news/news.asp?aid=7033
Mangalore, October 19, 2008: It is 11 in the morning of October 15. Ganesh, Nagraj and Sandeep attack Dawood inside his cell as the Jailer Eshwar Naik looks on. For the fourth time in a month the issue of Bajrangi prisoners attacking Muslim prisoners has cropped up as reported by the Kannada daily Karavali on Thursday, 16th October.
The report goes on to add that the intervention of ADGP Dharampaal and a notice from the court has failed to resolve the matter. Police officials are yet to take any action or transfer the prisoners to the Bellary jail.
In a seperate incident, two Muslim inmates were attacked by their co inmates alongwith the police.
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Killed or hounded out - just for being Christian
Published Date: 21 October 2008
By GETHIN CHAMBERLAIN
in Kandhamal district, Orissa
SCOTSMAN
http://news.scotsman.com/world/Killed-or-hounded-out-.4611121.jp
IT WAS about 5:30pm last Monday when Sushil Kumar Naik heard knocking at what remained of his front door.
He peered through the holes left by the axes that the mob had used to batter their way in two weeks earlier. Outside stood a group of his Hindu neighbours, holding guns. The 43-year-old Indian air force officer was not surprised: he had been expecting them.
Like thousands of other Christians, Mr Naik has been living in fear since a wave of violence swept through the Kandhamal district of India's eastern state of Orissa two months ago. At least 59 people have died and thousands of homes and churches have been burned down.
Simmering tensions between the area's Hindu majority and their Christian neighbours were ignited by the murder of a hardline Hindu leader, Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, on 23 August.
The initial Hindu backlash drove as many as 50,000 Christians from their homes. Now a new threat has emerged, and hundreds have been forced to renounce their faith and convert to Hinduism on threat of death.
The men who called on Mr Naik at his home in the village of Gadaguda last week were not in the mood for small talk.
"You'd better convert," they told him. "If you don't convert to Hinduism, you must leave this place."
They did not say what would happen if he stayed, but Mr Naik did not really need to be told.
The men outside were the same ones who had turned up in the middle of the night two weeks earlier, smashed their way in and set his home on fire. At the time, Mr Naik had been on duty at his air force base more than 1,000 miles away in Nicobar. The only people who were at home were his wife, Binita, 36, and his 70-year-old mother, Brundavati.
"We were sleeping at the time," his mother said, "And then people came from everywhere. We heard them shouting slogans and we ran to the school."
She started to cry, wiping her eyes on her yellow sari. "They were firing guns in the air. They burned most of our possessions. We only got out with the clothes we are standing in."
The slogans the mob had been shouting were those of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) – or World Hindu Council – the hardline Hindu organisation that has been blamed for encouraging Hindus to seek revenge for the killing of the swami. The VHP blames Christians for the murder, though Maoist guerrillas have claimed responsibility.
Those slogans were enough to alert Binita and Brundavati to the danger in time. But for their neighbours, Lalia and Mandikini Naik, there was to be no escape. The couple were in their 70s; they were simply too slow to get away.
"The men barged into their house. He couldn't move fast and they cut his throat with an axe," Binita said. "His wife was also cut."
The couple were taken to hospital, where Mr Naik died two days later. His wife remains seriously ill.
Sushil Naik's family were lucky; the police arrived within a few minutes, before the fire could consume the whole house. Even so, most of their possessions have been destroyed.
But they know it is only a matter of time before the men come back, and next time they might not be so lucky.
What makes it harder to bear is that they knew the people who attacked their home. Their family has been in Gadaguda for more than 100 years; the faces of the mob were those of their neighbours, people they had lived alongside and chatted to every day.
"If it was outsiders, they would not have known which house to attack," Mr Naik said.
When police officers eventually started to look for the culprits, some of the Hindu men took to the forests. From there, they appear to be able to venture forth at will to threaten those Christians who have remained in the area.
The Christians do not believe the police really want to help find the men responsible. They point out that smoke from the Hindus' cooking fires rises above the trees every night, but no-one goes after them.
"They were able to come to my house and threaten that we have to convert to Hinduism or stay away," Mr Naik said. "I don't understand what is happening. Even if we become Hindu, what guarantee is there that they will leave us in peace?"
It is a question many of Orissa's Christians are asking: many have concluded that their only option is to convert.
Last week, in the village of Sankarakhole, a little way down the road from Gadaguda, a total of 18 people converted. They were the only four Christian families in the village. Preti Singh Patra, the priest who carried out the ceremony, said the VHP had brought him letters from the families asking to convert. They had been happy to embrace Hinduism, he claimed.
Christians who have converted say nothing could be further from the truth.
In the village of Sarangagada, 32-year-old Jaspina Naik said she and her husband had been forced to take their three children to the temple to convert. "My neighbours said, 'If you go on being Christians, we will burn your houses and your children in front of you, so make up your minds quickly'," she said.
The VHP counters that many of those who are switching to Hinduism are recent converts from Christianity who had been attracted by the economic benefits that went with abandoning their low-caste status as Hindus. The VHP's leaders claim that many of those converts were so repulsed by the killing of the swami that they have been eager to rejoin the fold.
"They saw what happened to the swami – of course they want to come back, what's wrong with that?" said Gouri Prasad Rath, the VHP general secretary in Orissa.
He told The Scotsman the Christians had only themselves to blame for trying to entice Hindus to convert.
"If there is a problem today, I feel it is because the Hindus have lost patience," he said.
"Christians are giving Bibles to uneducated people who have nothing to eat and nothing to wear. They don't even know how to read it," he said. "If you go to their houses, they have a Bible and a photo of Jesus and, by keeping all these things, they think they have turned western.
"But you look at them and they still look like everyone else, and so what's the use of having such a religion when you have the same society as Hindus?"
Few of the 800 people crammed into tents in the Rudangia refugee camp a few hundred yards back along the road from Sushil Naik's home would see it that way.
For them, the idea that they can return to live alongside the people who turned on them so brutally seems little more than fantasy.
Rajma Naik, 45, fled to the camp after a mob chased her out of her home in Gonjugra village. The Hindus had been mocking them for their religion, she said. People were running everywhere, desperate to escape. In front of her, a woman stumbled as she tried to shepherd her eight-year-old son to safety.
"She was killed in front of me," she said. "She was running with her child. She was hit and she fell and they slashed her throat and then they got the child."
There was no way she could live alongside those people again, she said, not as a Christian, not as a Hindu.
"The Hindus say they will kill us," she said.
"In my village, we've been told that if we don't become Hindus, we will be killed. But I will never become a Hindu, even if I have to die."
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Persecution of Hindustani Covenant Church Continues
The Evangelical Covenant Church
October 20, 2008
http://www.covchurch.org/cov/news/item6648
BHUBANESHWAR, INDIA (October 20, 2008) – Members of the Hindustani Covenant Church (HCC) continue to be victims of deadly violence by Hindu extremists directed at Christians in the Orissa region, writes Moderator Steven David in an email. The moderator is similar in position to the president of the Evangelical Covenant Church.
The violence erupted in August following the murder of a local leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a nationalist Hindu organization. The VHP initially blamed Christians, but the India government says a Maoist organization probably was responsible.
Food centerThis is the second time in less than a year that the VHP has led attacks on Christians in the region. Last December, Hindus destroyed 95 churches and killed at least five Christians, according to news reports.
"The situation of Christians in Orissa is still grim," David writes. "Worse is the situation of the Christians in Kandhamal (a district of Orissa) as communal tension still exists there."
Hindustani Covenant Church pastor Akbar Digal was killed recently when Hindu extremists slit his throat, David writes. Other church members have been attacked and had their homes and businesses destroyed.
The shop of Iswar Digal was destroyed, David reports. "He resisted for some time, but it did not help."
After demolishing his business, the group rushed toward his house. "He pleaded with them not to destroy his house since they already destroyed his shop, but the group did not listen to him and burned his house too," David writes. "They bit him ruthlessly and left him unconscious."
The attackers also have assaulted women. The wife of Raghab Digal was at home with her three-month-old child when a group attacked her during the night, according to David.
She fled to the forest carrying her child, but was forced to return to the village because she encountered a tiger. "She prayed earnestly so that she and her child could be saved," David says.
"The refugees are living in fear and have no desire to go back to their villages."
Mr. Raghab returned the next day from the city of Cuttack, where he had sought work, and "somehow managed to come to Bhubaneshwar with his family," David writes. They have sought shelter in a relief camp.
David says the family has no idea how long they will have to remain in the camp. If they return to the village, they will be forced to reconvert to Hinduism.
"Many Christians of Kandhamal area have left the district and scattered to other districts in Orissa," David says. Some of them have fled to the capital city of Orissa. Many left home with just one set of clothes because their houses and household goods had been destroyed.
Others are taking refuge in relief camps or with relatives, David says. They also are staying in buildings that are partially constructed or under construction.
Neither food nor jobs are available for a lot of the refugees, David adds. Mothers struggle to nurse their children.
"The refugees are living in fear and have no desire to go back to their villages at present," David says.
In cooperation with the Assembly of God church in Bhubaneshwar and another church in Balangir, the HCC is providing financial support to the victims. In both areas, roughly 300 people have sought relief from the persecution, David says. The accompanying photo shows some of the refugees being served at one of the special food centers.
"There was definitely a smile in their face, and it (has) arisen a new hope in them," David reports.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church.
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Police had faked Delhi encounter: Mulayam Singh Yadav
Indian Express
Posted: Oct 20, 2008 at 0441 hrs IST
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/police-had-faked-delhi-encounter-mulayam/375609/
Lucknow, October 19 Not giving up his party's demand for a judicial probe into the encounter at Delhi's Batla House area in which two suspected Indian Mujahideen operatives were killed, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday warned the Congress-led UPA government that delay in taking a decision could turn the public opinion against the ruling alliance and alienate the minorities.
"Confusion prevails over the police encounter among the common people, particularly the Muslims. An inquiry will clear the confusion and help the UPA government to remove the suspicion," Yadav told reporters.
"According to my information, the Delhi police had organised a fake encounter at Batla house," he added.
As for the death of a Delhi police inspector in the incident, Yadav said, "There is also some controversy over his killing in the same encounter. Only a judicial probe could find out the facts."
Asked whether his party would withdraw support to the UPA government if its demand for judicial probe was rejected, Yadav said," If the demand is not accepted, then it would add to the prevailing confusion. It is up to the Centre to decide whether to clear the confusion or take a political bashing in the next elections."
Yadav, however, said a favourable result was expected to come out of the ongoing talks with the Congress for an electoral alliance. "Discussions are going on over whether the SP-Congress alliance would be for UP only, or in the assembly elections in other states too," he said.
He said the SP will contest most of the seats in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh assembly elections slated for next month. "In Delhi, the party will contest on a few seats only," he added.
Yadav said the list of candidates for these states would be announced after a meeting of the party's parliamentary board. He said his party would launch an aggressive protest from October 21 to 23 against the Mayawati government's misrule and corruption. Party workers would violate prohibitory orders and court arrest during the agitation, he added.
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India: Police accused of summarily executing "terrorist suspects"
By Ajay Prakash and Kranti Kumara
21 October 2008
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/oct2008/indi-o21.shtml
Use this version to print | Send this link by email | Email the author
India's Congress Party-led coalition government has rejected calls from civil rights groups and some opposition political parties for a judicial inquiry into a September 19 Delhi Police assault that resulted in the deaths of two Muslim youths.
The police have claimed that Mohammed Sajid, a 17-year-old high school student, and Mohammed Atif Amin, a 24-year-old university student, were "terrorists" and participants in the September 13 synchronized bomb attack in New Delhi that killed more than two dozen people. But the police's claims have been vehemently denied by their friends, relatives, and neighbors. Moreover, the police's version of what happened on the 19th has been contradicted by numerous eye witnesses, with many asserting that the gun battle in which the Muslim youths allegedly died was entirely concocted, and that the police summarily executed them.
Indian security forces have a long history of staged "terrorist encounters," in which anti-government insurgents and in many cases ordinary civilians are murdered.
"We could not find a single person in the entire locality who could agree with the [police] story of the 'encounter'," reports a citizens' fact-finding team that visited Jamia Nagar several days after the shooting. "There is a complete unanimity in the opinion of the people about the one-sided nature of the firing and the time for which it continued. ... No one told us about an exchange of fire. It was 'only one kind of sound'."
A number of opposition parties, including the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Trinumal Congress, and the Janata Dal (Secular) have called for a judicial inquiry into the "encounter." Appearing at a rally in Delhi's Jamia Nagar neighborhood last Friday, Trinumal Congress head Mamata Banerjee openly accused the police of staging a "fake encounter."
A climate of semi-hysteria
The September 19 police action took place under conditions of semi-hysteria fomented by the government, the official opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the corporate media.
With the shadowy Indian Mujahedeen taking responsibility for the September 13 bombing outrage, the political establishment and press launched a visceral campaign against Islamic terrorism. Many editorialists went so far as to suggest that India's very existence is threatened by terrorism and urged that traditional civil liberties be set aside to confront the terrorist menace.
Police, under pressure to demonstrate that they were taking action, mounted a widespread and indiscriminate dragnet targeting Muslim youth. The Kolkata Telegraph recently shed light on the police's mindset in a recent account which stated that, "Delhi police, under attack for [their September 13] lapses, asserted they have rallied to hit back."
The police, led by special-forces armed with AK-47 assault rifles, mounted the massive September 19 operation in Delhi's Jamia Nagar neighborhood, a Muslim enclave. The ostensible aim of the operation was to capture Abdul Subhan Qureshi, a leader of the banned Students for Islamic Movement in India (SIMI) and the alleged coordinator of a series of Indian Mujahedeen attacks.
The corporate media, which revels in vulgar, sensationalist campaigns against Muslim terrorism, reported with breathless enthusiasm the police narrative of the Jamia Nagar raid, which failed to apprehend Quereshi, but did result in the deaths of Sajid and Amin. Typical was the Times of India. It ran a blazing front-page headline, "Shootout in Capital Kills 2 Delhi Bombers."
The Joint Commissioner of the Special [anti-terrorism] cell of the Delhi police, Karnail Singh, boasted, "We have been able to eliminate the chief of the Indian Mujahedeen," and the press trumpeted his claims—blithely ignoring the fact that the police's job is not to "eliminate" criminal suspects, but rather to arrest them so that they can be tried in a court of law.
Singh termed the dead youths the "masterminds" behind a series of bombings in Uttar Pradesh on November 23, 2007, in Jaipur, Rajasthan on May 13, and in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on July 26. The police thus claimed to have "solved" a series of complex cases in one fell swoop.
They have since been forced to back away from some of these claims. Nevertheless, the police and government continue to defend the raid and label Sajid and Amin terrorists.
According to a later Times of India report, the September 19 raid was mounted after police became aware that a person bearing "physical appearance of a senior SIMI [Students for Islamic Movement in India] operative" was living in Jamia Nagar. The police assault could thus well have been a case of mistaken identity, mounted because the police believed one of the dead youths was Quereshi.
To date the police have provided no proof substantiating their claims that the two students had terrorist ties. But even were such ties to be established, it would not make their summary execution any less a state crime.
The police story and the fact-finding report
The police claim that after they located the "terrorist hideout," that is the fourth-floor apartment where Sajid and Amin resided, they sent a police inspector, disguised as a salesman, to knock on the apartment door. The inspector then got into an argument with Sajid and Amin and police stormed the apartment, only to come under fire.
The police claim that the two Muslim youths were killed in an ensuing gun battle and a third young man, Mohammed Said, was captured. An "encounter-specialist," Police Inspector Mohand Chand Sharma is also said to have been shot and killed. Meanwhile, two other unidentified persons reputedly escaped.
Information collected by the citizen fact-finding team—an ad hoc group comprised of teachers, students, civil rights activists, and intellectuals concerned about police abuse and the climate of hostility whipped up by the India establishment against the country's Muslim minority—challenges the police version of events at numerous points.
As previously mentioned, it reports that local residents deny there was a gun-battle. Only one side, i.e. the police, discharged weapons.
Further, some claim to have witnessed the police drag three men from the fourth floor to the ground floor.
The fact-finding report also notes that photographs of the dead Sajid "show clear marks of 7-8 gunshots on his head from above. These shots, which are at point blank, cannot happen in the case of an encounter. Because ... where the shots are fired from a distance, the wounds open up."
The report also notes that the police claim that two other terrorists escaped is implausible. "After visiting the rear and sides of the L-18 flat [the flat in which Sahid and Amin resided] no one could have bought the story of someone escaping as there was only a single entrance, which the police had already been covering. It was impossible for anyone to jump from the fourth floor flat, as it would have resulted in near death or fatal injury."
The report also casts doubt on the police's explanation of Inspector M.C. Sharma's death. Why did a reputed "encounter specialist" participate in an operation that purportedly targeted deadly terrorists without bothering to wear a bullet-proof vest?
The release of the autopsy into Sharma's death only raises further questions. While he was said to have died from gunshot wounds, the autopsy found no bullets in his body and concluded he died of internal bleeding.
The fact-finding report also drew attention to the climate of fear that exists in Jamia Nagar as a result not only of the vast police operation staged in the neighborhood, but also the dragnet arrests of Muslim youth that both preceded and followed the Sept. 19 raid.
This sense of fear is hardly restricted to Jamia Nagar. Even the government-appointed Sachar Committee inquiry into the status of India's Muslim minority conceded that Muslims perceive themselves to be victims of police harassment.
Congress and BJP defend police
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has rejected the calls for a judicial probe into the Jamia Nagar encounter, while his National Security Advisor, M.K. Narayanan, dismissed the demand as a "travesty."
Because of the outrage in India's Muslim community, some Congress Party officials expressed concern about the Jamia Nagar encounter, but on Monday a leading party official reiterated that the Congress has not asked for an outside inquiry into the police action. "Police have done their duty admirably," said Jayanti Natrajan. "Whatever doubts might be in the minds of people must be answered by authorities concerned."
As would be expected, the Hindu supremacist BJP has also rallied behind the police. The BJP Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, has previously defended police implicated in the summary execution of a Muslim man wanted by the police and his wife. (See "Gujarat elections: BJP chief minister reverts to Muslim-baiting")
BJP spokesman Ravi Shanker Prasad accused the opposition parties calling for a judicial probe into the Jamia Nagar encounter of practicing "vote-bank" politics, i.e., of courting Muslim support, and of "causing irreparable damage to the morale of our security forces."
The BJP intends to make the charge that the Congress and its United Progressive Alliance government are "soft" on terrorism a major campaign plank in the coming national elections. It is demanding the restoration of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), legislation adopted under the BJP-led coalition government in 2002. Under POTA, scores and possibly hundreds of Muslim youth were indiscriminately arrested, tortured, and kept in jail for years without charge.
The Congress Party, meanwhile, has signaled that it will soon introduce a new anti-terror bill. On September 16, the so-called second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC), headed by Congress leader Veerappa Moily, submitted a report that called for the establishment of a new federal agency to combat terrorism, granting the state power to hold persons in "preventive detention" for up to a year, and relaxing limits on the use of "confessions" in court so as to facilitate the use of "coerced" confessions in prosecuting alleged terrorists.
In preparing India's new terror law, National Security Advisor Narayanan has reportedly had extensive consultations with the US Homeland Security Department.
"There should be a strong" anti-terror law, declared Rahul Gandhi, the Congress General-Secretary and heir to the Gandhi-Nehru political dynasty. "A powerful law, not a failed law," like POTA.
The corporate media is baying for repressive measures as exemplified by a recent Times of India editorial that declared, "At this time of crisis, some of the liberties that we take for granted might have to be curbed to ensure that terrorists, who follow no norms and rules, are effectively restrained."
The Indian elite's anti-Islamic terrorism campaign is reactionary—serving as the pretext for building up the powers of the state and justifying the violence of security forces. And it is utterly hypocritical.
The BJP, the Indian bourgeoisie's second largest party, has repeatedly incited mass anti-Muslim violence, most infamously in 1992 with its campaign to raze the Babri Masjid mosque in Ayodhya and in February-March 2002 in Gujarat. The Congress, while proclaiming itself the cornerstone of a secular India, has an equally long record of capitulating to and conniving with the Hindu right. Under Congress-led governments, security forces have been allowed to run amuck in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
For the Indian elite, combating terrorism means unleashing the security forces against Muslim youth, thus furthering the very alienation that has led a small section to support the communalist politics of the Students Islamic Movement of India or to seek "revenge" through terrorist actions.
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Police prevents glorifying of 'Sati' woman
ANI News Service
October 15, 2008
http://www.newspostonline.com/national/Police%20prevents%20glorifying%20of%20%27Sati%27%20woman%20-200810169353
Chechar (Chhattisgarh), Oct 15 (ANI): Authorities have deployed heavy security in a village in Chhattisgarh to prevent residents from glorifying the 71-year-old woman who immolated herself by jumping into her husband's burning pyre.
Lalmati Verma, 71, of Chechar village, had immolated herself on October 11 after mourners had left the cremation site, becoming a 'Sati'.
Villagers later thronged the funeral site and offered prayers in an act of worship.
Policemen are patrolling the streets of village, which has a temple dedicated to a woman, who became 'Sati' some 40 years' ago. People here are still rooted in the belief that such women should be worshipped.
To put a dampener on Lalmati's worship by the villagers, scores of policemen have been stationed at the funeral site as well.
The residents, who seemed eager to worship Lalmati are now afraid to do so because of the fear of police.
"The villagers had gone and offered flowers and coconuts at the funeral where she was burnt. They started worshipping her like a goddess. Now, the villagers would not do any such thing as they are afraid of the police," said Budhram, aesident.
The police had arrested seven members of Lalmati's family under the Prevention of Sati Act, for not preventing her from self-immolation. They have also threatened strict action against anybody who indulged in worship or glorification of Lalmati.
"The facts that have come to light during the investigations have revealed that the villagers offered prayers at the funeral site. We will take strict action against anybody who indulges in such practices henceforth," said S.K. Mandawi, station house officer (SHO), police station, Kasdol.
The practice of 'Sati', in which a woman burns herself to death on her husband's pyre, began in medieval times when Hindu women chose to kill themselves after their husbands died in battle rather than be taken prisoner by invaders.
'Sati' was banned by British colonial authorities in 1829 but such incidents have been happening from time to time in rural areas, where it is common to find people who revere the practice as the ultimate demonstration of female honor, devotion and piety. (ANI)
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Militant killed in encounter in Manipur
Press Trust Of India
Imphal, October 20, 2008
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=&id=2ae59af9-7325-4be6-87f6-1ef9ee11a04d&&Headline=Militant+killed+in+encounter+in+Manipur
An unidentified militant was killed in an encounter with a combined team of police commandos and Assam Rifles personnel on Monday in Manipur's Thoubal district, official sources said.
Sources said the security personnel raided Thoubal Khunou area, about 30 Kms south-east in Imphal, after receiving reports that some militants were roaming there.
As they stepped up operation, two militants opened fire at the security personnel. In the ensuing encounter a militant was killed while the other escaped, the sources said.
One 9 mm pistol with some rounds of ammunition was recovered from the spot.
Over 300 persons, including civilians were so far killed in militancy-related incidents in Manipur this year.
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Mangalore: Ban Bajrang Dal, VHP - Swami Agnivesh
The Mangalorean
Oct 20, 2008
http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=97660
SHIMANTHOOR (DAKSHINA KANNADA) Oct 20: President of the World Council of Arya Samaj Swami Agnivesh said on Sunday that the Union Government should ban the Vishwa Hindu Parishat (VHP) and Bajrang Dal.
Speaking to The Hindu on the sidelines of a conference of the samaj here, he alleged that the VHP and Bajrang Dal resorted to communal violence in the country. They preached to hate other communities.
?They have been breaking law and taking law into their hands,? he said.
Referring to the recent attacks on Christian prayer halls in the State, he said: ?I condemn the attacks on the prayer halls and Christians. They were the handiwork of those minds which want to divide society. Some people are having a political agenda. I denounce such efforts.?
?Whoever disturbs communal harmony should be arrested. Organisations responsible for it should be banned,? he said.
Swami Agnivesh lauded the police action against Bajrang Dal?s the State unit chief in connection with the attacks on Christian prayer halls in parts of the State.
?The Government has sent the right message to this extent,? he said.
He claimed that he had raised the issue of banning the VHP and Bajrang Dal at the National Integration Council meeting in New Delhi in the presence of some Bharatiya Janata Party leaders.
Though the judge of the Special Tribunal found no evidence to ban Students? Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), the apex court extended the ban on it, he said.
The Arya Samaj leader said that he was against forcible conversion.
?This must be stopped. However, one has to have evidence to prove this. It should be decided by the court. One should not act as self-appointed judge. It is wrong to punish someone by taking law into hands,? he added.
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