Gujarat Riots - News from The Hindu (Archives) part II

Ahmedabad quiet, toll 431 (MARCH 3.2002)

By Anjali Mody

Homeless Muslims waiting for a meal at a dargah in Ahmedabad on Sunday. - AFP

AHMEDABAD, MARCH 3. The orgy of violence in Gujarat appears to have ended. Today only two deaths were reported, one from Godhra. Officially the death roll is 431, more than half of them in Ahmedabad. Ahmedabad was quiet, apart from two major arson attacks on a Muslim-owned petrol station and warehouse.

Curfew has been lifted in most areas of the 40 towns and cities where clashes were reported, including Naroda and Meghnaninagar in Ahmedabad, where hundreds were killed. The state administration says that curfew will be relaxed in more areas tomorrow. There was a `sense of normality in the State' today.

But, the smouldering remains of burnt-out buildings and the acrid smell of burning rubber, five days after the violence began, are a reminder that `normality' in Ahmedabad is a very long way off.

Huddled by a pillar in the city's Shah Alam Mosque Abdul Aziz, a 25-year-old tailor, from Naroda is trying to get accustomed to a new kind of `normality'. When the mob attacked his neighbourhood on Thursday they killed his wife Sabira and two of their three children. His one surviving son, four-year-old Sabir, has bad burn injuries on both arms and one leg. Aziz is one of some 1000 families, from some of Ahmedabad's worst affected areas to have found shelter at the Mosque.

They queue up to give their names, addresses, the number of their family members with them, the numbers dead or missing. The macabre count goes on as more and more people continue to arrive. Medicines at the camp are in desperately short supply, as is food. Local residents of Shah Alam can offer little help. They are fenced in by the curfew, and fear that the guns trained on their homes may actually work. And, the state administration, which absented itself as the violent mobs laid waste to this city, continues to ignore those most in need of help.

Prasad Chacko, part of a group from St. Xaviers Social Service Society, able to go around the city for the first time since the rioting started, to see if they could help, asked angrily ``is there actually a government in Gujarat? A senior civil servant answered this question for us, ``as far as this Government is concerned it's Muslims who have died, or been injured. This is a Government that does not even consider them citizens''.

Those who have been able to reach the few shelters like the one at Shah Alam are the lucky ones. In Vatwa, in the south east of Ahmedabad, where many Muslim families displaced by the riots, following the Babri Masjid demolition settled, even the injured have not been able to reach hospitals. Ansari Israr Ahmed and Mohammed Shafi, both rickshaw drivers from Alifnagar in Vatwa, are lying in a makeshift infirmary with grotesque burns all over their bodies. They were walking home on Thursday, the day of the VHP bandh in Gujarat, when they were set upon by a group of young men who poured fuel over them and set them alight.

Twice people from the neighbouring Ali Madina Society tried taking them to the nearby Vadilal Hospital, and twice they were turned back. The second time with the warning that if they came again they would be burnt. There are more in this small settlement who lie with just a sheet covering their burnt bodies. Like thousands of others in the city, forced to flee their burning homes the residents of Vatwa's Roshani Society, Tufer Park Burhani and Bismillah societies are crowded into `refuges' in dargas and under hastily-erected shamianas.

Why they cannot get help is abundantly clear. As we tried to leave, past the burnt-out remains of cars and machinery, we were stopped, not by police, but by a crowd of men from the Narol village armed with iron rods, stones and glass bottles. ``How do we know you are really `press'?'' ``Cars with press stickers are being used to carry arms and we will stop them. They accept the identity card. The name of the newspaper seems to help. Two of them gave us their names, Bharat Patel and Hiren Patel.

The curfew that keeps the Muslims of Vatwa and Shah Alam confined to their homes does not seem to stretch to the Patels of Narol. Nor to the Hindu family in Gupta Nagar that amidst the rubble and burnt offerings of communal hatred was setting out, all dressed up, in a wedding procession, or the young men in Navrangpura who were out playing cricket.

Advani lists priorities

The Union Home Minister, L.K. Advani visited Ahmedabad and Godhra today. In a state torn apart by communal hate, he laid out his priorities: ``First we have to arrest the guilty, second, to prevent recurrence of any kind of violence and third, to ensure peace and security to all sections of people.''

Mr. Advani described the Godhra attack as ``premeditated, and said that ``those who are guilty and the key planner of the entire act should be apprehended''. But, he put down five days of state-wide mayhem as simply ``nothing but communal violence''.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/2002/03/04/stories/2002030403090100.htm

Situation improves  (MARCH 3.2002)
By Manas Dasgupta

AHMEDABAD, MARCH 3. Barring a few stray incidents of arson, looting and group clashes, no other major incidents of violence were reported from any part of the riot-torn Gujarat today showing a remarkable improvement in the State after four days of orgy of violence.

As details of the violence in different parts of the State in the last four days started trickling in, the toll has officially gone up to 431 including 234 deaths in Ahmedabad. However, only two deaths were reported today, one each in Ahmedabad and Godhra.

Advani's priorities

The Union Home Minister, L.K. Advani, visited Ahmedabad and Godhra today. In a State torn apart by communal hate, he laid out his priorities: ``First we have to arrest the guilty, second, to prevent recurrence of any kind of violence and third, to ensure peace and security to all sections of people.``

Mr. Advani described the Godhra attack as ``pre- meditated and said, ``those who are guilty and the key planner of the entire act should be apprehended''. But, he put down five days of State-wide mayhem as simply ``nothing but communal violence''.

Asked about an inquiry into the incidents, Mr. Advani said Godhra and the subsequent violence were different matters.

Opposition accuses Gujarat Govt. of 'abject failure' (MARCH 4.2002)
By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 4. Putting up a united front, prominent Opposition leaders today asked the Gujarat Government to curb violence in the State and called upon the Centre to fulfil its bounden duty of providing protection to the people there.

Expressing concern that violence was still continuing, a meeting of the Opposition leaders criticised the State Government for its ``abject'' failure to protect the lives and property of the people.

``We are of the view that without the criminal negligence, if not connivance of the State Government, such dastardly events could not have happened,'' they said in a statement.

The meeting was held at the initiative of the Congress president and Leader of the Opposition, Sonia Gandhi, and attended by the former Prime Minister, Chandra Shekhar, Somnath Chatterjee of the CPI(M), G.M. Banatwala of the Muslim League, Dr. Raghuvansh Prasad of the RJD, Ramji Lal Suman of the Samajwadi Party and representatives of other parties.

It was the first meeting of Opposition leaders convened by Ms. Gandhi during the Budget session of Parliament.

At a press conference later, Mr. Chatterjee said the country was passing through a ``very serious crisis'' in the face of the continuing violence in Gujarat.

He alleged that the Army was not effectively deployed and demanded ``action'' from the Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee.

``What is the good of the Prime Minister saying that the incidents are shameful? Why does he not take action? He does not seem to have even pulled up his party's Chief Minister in Gujarat,'' the veteran CPI(M) leader said.

He accused the BJP-VHP combine of indulging in a ``sinister campaign'' against the Opposition by spreading the false propaganda that it had not condemned the attack on the Sabarmati Express in Godhra.

``All parties had condemned the Godhra incident. No violence is justifiable.''

The deputy leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Shivraj Patil, said the violence had spread to newer areas and even in curfew-bound areas, arrangements had not been made for the distribution of food and relief.

``The ghastly incidents that have happened in Gujarat have not only brought shame on our country but will also affect its unity and integrity,'' the joint statement said.

The parties demanded that relief camps with adequate security be immediately set up in all disturbed areas and that those affected be provided with medicines, food and other necessities.

They appealed to the people to maintain peace and communal harmony, which alone could promote national integration.

``People should not be provoked by the instigation provided by policies and actions of the obscurantist forces, masquerading as political parties,'' they said.

Ms. Gandhi also wrote to Mr. Vajpayee, urging him to arrange for the visit by an all-party delegation to the affected areas at the earliest.

She said that at the meeting today, the Opposition leaders had expressed the need for such a delegation to assess the situation.

Meanwhile, the Congress spokesman, S. Jaipal Reddy, denied that the arrested municipal councillor of Godhra, Mohammad Hussain Kalatha, belonged to the Congress.

The councillor had contested as an Independent and defeated the Congress candidate in the civic polls. ``It is a big lie being spread by the BJP's propaganda apparatus,'' he added.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/2002/03/05/stories/2002030507440100.htm

Stray incidents in Gujarat (MARCH 4.2002)
By Manas Dasgupta

AHMEDABAD, MARCH 4. At least seven persons were killed in stabbing incidents and group clashes in different parts of riot-torn Gujarat today even as the official toll in the past five days' violence went up to 523.

At least two persons were stabbed to death and another injured in Baroda, forcing the authorities to withdraw the curfew relaxation in the affected areas. Vijaynagar town in Sabarkantha district was placed under indefinite curfew after two persons were killed in clashes between two groups.

Army units were dispatched to Kaira district after two deaths were reported in clashes in the district headquarters of Nadiad. Clashes continued throughout the day in the neighbouring Kaira and Anand towns and in some other parts of the district.

Though the countryside remained relatively calm, at least one person was stabbed to death in Makadi village in Danta taluka of Banaskantha district. No untoward incident was reported from other villages in the State.

Life in Ahmedabad city improved but most parts of the walled city and the labour-dominated eastern parts continued to be under curfew after four stabbing incidents were reported from Astodia, Kalupur and Mirzapur Road areas. Curfew, which was relaxed for the entire day in most parts of the walled city, was reimposed in the afternoon in the areas from where violence was reported.

The State Government, while claiming that normality was fast returning in the city, said that 93 of the 96 bank branches in the curfew-free areas in Ahmedabad resumed operations today and the clearing house cleared 1.86 lakh documents involving transactions of over Rs. 741 crore.

Shahnawaz plea

NEW DELHI, MARCH 4. The Civil Aviation Minister, Shahnawaz Hussain, today urged the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, to take ``hard measures'' to restore the confidence of the Muslims in the Government and the BJP as the party's image had suffered a setback due to the Gujarat riots.

After visiting the riot-hit areas of the State along with the Union Home Minister, L.K. Advani, on Sunday, Mr. Hussain told reporters that he met Mr. Vajpayee this morning and told him that though the situation was improving in the cities.- PTI

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/2002/03/05/stories/2002030507171100.htm

Dismissal of Modi Govt. sought (MARCH 4.2002)
By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 4. As many as two dozen Muslim organisations have demanded the dismissal of the Narendra Modi Government in Gujarat and handing over of riot-affected areas in the State to the Army.

They have demanded stringent action against the perpetrators of the Godhra train massacre and the post-Godhra carnage in the State.

Urging the Centre to institute an inquiry by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court into the sequence of events, including the role of the State Government, the organisations said immediate relief should be given to all the riot survivors. Alleging the involvement of the VHP, Bajrang Dal and other Sangh Parivar outfits in the violence, they demanded a ban on the outfits.

The demands were made by the Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, the Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind, the All India Milli Council, the Jamat-e-Islami Hind, the Jamat Ahle Hadees, the Muslim Majlis, the Muslim Muttahida Mahaz, the National Development Front, the All India Qaumi Tanzeem, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and others.

In a statement, Karan Singh, Rajya Sabha member, who is also the chairman of the Temple of Understanding, appealed to all communities in Gujarat and elsewhere to shun violence and return to the path of sanity, dialogue and communal harmony.

``Recent events in Gujarat in which hundreds of innocent men, women and children have lost their lives in the lurid flames of religious hatred have not only shocked the entire nation, but have also gravely damaged our image around the world,'' Dr. Singh. said demanding that all steps be taken to apprehend the guilty and restore peace and harmony in Gujarat.

PTI reports:

The Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, Syed Abdullah Bukhari, who led a demonstration by leaders of the various Muslim outfits, alleged that the ``Gujarat Government, under Modi, is terrorising people. He should be arrested under POTO and President's Rule imposed''.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/2002/03/05/stories/2002030507420100.htm

`No discrimination in compensation in Gujarat' (MARCH 5.2002)
By Manas Dasgupta 

AHMEDABAD, MARCH 5. The Gujarat Government today clarified that there was no ``discrimination'' in announcing compensation for the victims of the riots, which followed the Godhra train carnage.

The Relief Commissioner, C.K. Koshy, said the compensation of Rs. 1 lakh announced for the riot victims was in accordance with the relief manual in operation in the State. The same amount was given to the victims of the 1992 riots.

The Chief Minister, Narendra Modi's announcement in the Assembly of a compensation of Rs. 2 lakh to the victims of the Godhra carnage followed demands from members of both the ruling and Opposition benches. Also, the incident was of a ``different nature''. However, a review of the compensation was not ruled out in view of the criticism of discrimination between the `Ram sevaks', who were killed in the train carnage, and the riot victims, mostly belonging to the minority community.

An uneasy calm prevailed in most parts of the State and no untoward incident was reported since Monday. The Home Secretary, K. Nityanandam, said the situation was ``absolutely peaceful''. The State had recorded a ``phenomenal improvement'' with no incident - of even a minor nature - reported in the last 24 hours. Except for Godhra and a few other areas, curfew was withdrawn or relaxed during the day.

The Defence Minister, George Fernandes, said the Government would review the situation in the next couple of days and then decide on the withdrawal of the Army from the affected areas.

The Gujarat Congress chief, Amarsinh Chaudhary, demanded a judicial inquiry into the riots in Ahmedabad and other parts of the State. He criticised the Government for keeping mum on a probe into the riots while promptly announcing one into the Godhra carnage.

Mr. Modi, however, told a meeting of the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry that the Government would order an inquiry into the riots.

Sonia to lead Opposition dharna in Parliament today (MARCH 6.2002)
By Javed M. Ansari

NEW DELHI, MARCH 6. The Opposition has decided to step up the heat on the Government over the Gujarat issue. The Leader of the Opposition and Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, will lead a dharna of Opposition MPs in Parliament tomorrow, and on Friday, she will join other senior leaders in an all-party delegation that will visit Ahmedabad.

The Congress put the Gujarat Government on the mat for its ``dual standards'' on the issue of ex-gratia payments to the victims of communal violence in the State. ``This decision amounts to institutionalising sectarian discrimination'' the Congress spokesperson, Jaipal Reddy, said voicing the party's objections to the Chief Minister, Narendra Modi's decision to pay Rs. 2 lakhs as compensation to those killed in the Godhra train carnage and Rs. 1 lakh to the victims of the subsequent communal violence in the State.

The Congress accused Mr. Modi of conniving with criminal gangs responsible for the mayhem in the State. ``He is taking discrimination to new heights,'' Mr. Reddy said.

Describing the train massacre as reprehensible, he accused the BJP of using the terrible tragedy to sharpen the communal divide to augment the `Hindutva' vote bank. He targeted the non-BJP secular parties in the NDA saying they were supposed to defend secularism from within. ``The statement issued by Jaya Jaitly in favour of the Modi Government shows that they have themselves been communalised,'' he added.

He rejected the BJP claim that some Congress corporators were involved in the Godhra massacre. ``It is a big lie to state that the Godhra nagarpalika chairman belongs to the Congress. He is an independent and actually defeated the Congress candidate,'' Mr. Reddy said.

The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) national secretary E. Ahamad, who returned from a tour of Gujarat, accused the State Government of ``criminal negligence and callousness''.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/2002/03/07/stories/2002030706080100.htm

All-party team refuses to meet Modi (MARCH 8.2002)
By Manas Dasgupta

The Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, visiting riot victims at the Daryakhan Gumat relief camp in Ahmedabad on Friday. - Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

AHMEDABAD, MARCH 8. An all-party delegation of Parliamentarians, including the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, which visited riot-torn Gujarat today reportedly refused to meet the Chief Minister, Narendra Modi.

Some members of the delegation are believed to have told the Government protocol officials that they believed that Mr. Modi was the ``culprit'' in the entire episode and that there was no meaning of listening to his ``explanations''.

Though the official programme did not include a meeting with the Chief Minister, Mr. Modi was keen on meeting the leaders to give the official version of the events.

While initially it was planned to take the delegation to Gandhinagar for a meeting with Mr. Modi, on being turned down by the members, Mr. Modi offered to come to the circuit house annexe in Ahmedabad, where the delegation was meeting representatives of various organisations, but that too was not acceptable to the MPs.

Later, a team of officials led by the Chief Secretary, G. Subba Rao, called on the delegation and briefed the leaders on the steps being taken to restore normality and providing relief and rehabilitation to the riot victims.

The officials were thoroughly grilled by the Opposition party leaders and the meeting, scheduled for about 30 minutes, lasted for over two hours.

The delay forced Ms. Gandhi to leave Ahmedabad without meeting a Congress delegation and a large number of Muslim leaders waiting for hours to call on her.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/2002/03/09/stories/2002030906010100.htm

One stabbed in Gujarat 

AHMEDABAD, MARCH 10. Barring a stabbing incident in Rajpipla town of Narmada district, the situation in Gujarat, which witnessed an orgy of communal violence since February 28, was normal.

Indefinite curfew was imposed in Rajpipla following tension after one person was stabbed to death. In Ahmedabad city, night curfew remained in force in the four police station areas of Vejalpur, Bapunagar, Rakhial and Gomtipur.

- PTI

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/2002/03/11/stories/2002031106090100.htm

Modi need not quit: Advani 
By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 11. The Union Home Minister, L.K. Advani, today strongly defended the action taken by the Gujarat Government in controlling the communal riots while rejecting the Opposition's demand for the resignation of the Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, and an inquiry by a Supreme Court judge.

In his reply to a short-duration discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the Gujarat situation, Mr. Advani refuted the Opposition's charge of police inaction and cited instances where the police moved in to save many lives. However, he invited sharp protest from the Opposition which staged a walkout charging Mr. Advani with having made an ``irresponsible'' statement.

The debate, spread over two days, ended on an acrimonious note with members of the Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the CPI(M), the SP, the RJD and Shabana Azmi (nominated) disputing Mr. Advani's clarification.

The Home Minister said the State Government had already instituted a probe and the Centre normally did not order a parallel inquiry. Action would be taken against all those found guilty of dereliction of duty. He said the Opposition had the habit of seeking the Chief Minister's resignation as often as they could and cited a similar demand after the Gujarat earthquake.

Mr. Advani said the thought of his resignation had crossed his mind in the past _ after the Amarnath killings, when even some Opposition MPs dissuaded him from stepping down.

He conceded that the Gujarat violence was a `black mark' and that it diluted the BJP-led Government's claim that the number of such clashes had come down while the party was in power. It also cast a shadow on the Government's effort to fight international terrorism which was backed by religious fundamentalism.

Mr. Advani said the reaction to the Godhara incident and the aftermath was ``selective''. All such incidents were `shameful' and there was no rationale in killing innocent people on the basis of religion. ``The situation does not permit anyone to indulge in communal violence; it is wrong.''

However, it was his defence of the police that led to sharp reaction from the Opposition which charged Mr. Advani with `misleading', the House.

Reeling off statistics, Mr. Advani said that never before in Gujarat, which had a history of disturbances, had such communal violence been controlled within 72 hours.

To persistent queries, he claimed that a large number of those killed belonged to the majority community. Even in the housing society, where a former MP was burnt alive, 180 people were rescued by police and in Bhavnagar, some 400 children were shifted to safety from a `madrasa' after mobs moved towards it.

Earlier, Mirza Abdul Rashid (National Conference) said the occurrence of communal disturbances were creating problems in Jammu and Kashmir also where people were now questioning whether Sheikh Abdullah's rejection of Jinnah's two-nation theory was correct.

PTI reports:

Later, in the Lok Sabha, Mr. Advani, replying in a similar vein, said that ``sweeping allegations against the police, the administration and the Chief Minister are highly unfair and totally unjustified.''

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/2002/03/12/stories/2002031205090100.htm