The inconsolable Rausen Ara Bibi, wife of Kamaruddin
 

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The government of Jammu and Kashmir has curtailed the Amarnath Yatra, an annual pilgrimage for Hindus, and asked the pilgrims to leave the state immediately after the Army reportedly revealed intelligence inputs confirming the possibility of a terror attack.

The order that has been issued by the Home Department, cites “intelligence inputs of possible terror attacks” as the reason for the notification.
The order said, “Keeping in view the latest intelligence inputs of terror threats, with specific targeting of the Amarnath Yatra, and given the prevailing security situation in the Kashmir Valley, in the interest of the safety and security of the tourists and Amarnath Yatris, it is advised that they may curtail their stay in the Valley immediately and take necessary measures to return as soon as possible.”

The Amarnath Yatra started on July 1 and was expected to end on August 15. It was earlier suspended till August 4 in view of inclement weather forecast in the Valley. Around 3.5 lakh devotees have performed the annual pilgrimage so far. This figure is reportedly 30% more than last year.

Earlier in the day, the Army said it had information that Pakistan was planning to disrupt the annual pilgrimage.

Chinar Corps Commander Lt General KJS Dhillon said, “In the last three-four days, there were confirmed intelligence reports that terrorists backed by Pakistan and its army is trying to disrupt Amarnath Yatra and based on that a thorough search was conducted. We had major successes in these searches.”

Per NDTV, among the Army’s finds were a landmine with Pakistan ordnance factory markings and an M-24 American sniper rifle with a telescopic sight. The Yatra route was being “sanitised for three days”.

The Army and troops held a joint press conference against the backdrop of reports of an increased presence of troops in Kashmir.

“The searches are still going on. The Pakistan Army is desperate to disrupt peace. This will not be allowed to happen. No one can be allowed to disrupt the peace,” said Lt General Dhillon.

Over the past few days, the movement of troops to the state, where central paramilitary personnel are being airdropped in sorties, has fuelled speculation about security threats.

A 100-company or 10,000 personnel of central forces were ordered for the state about a week ago and they were in the process of reaching their posts. The reports of a surge in troop deployment coincided with inputs that the centre is on high alert for August 15 Independence Day celebrations, when terror groups allegedly planning attacks in India are active.
 

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New Delhi: “One has to be alive to be a patriot,” former Indian health secretary K Sujatha Rao wrote on Twitter on May 13, 2019, referring to election debates that focussed on issues of “nationalism and terror and not health”.

The data back Rao’s assertion of misplaced priorities.

In 2017, terrorism claimed the lives of 766 Indians, or 0.007% of all deaths, while health reasons claimed 6.6 million Indians, or 90% of all deaths.

In 2017, the last year for which comparable data are available, India’s spending on defence was double its health expenditure, according to the 2017-18 budget.

Poor investment in health and education directly impacts the country’s productivity and economic growth. Indians work for six-and-a-half years at peak productivity, compared to 20 years in China, 16 in Brazil and 13 in Sri Lanka, ranking 158th out of 195 countries in an international ranking of human capital, as IndiaSpend reported in September 2018.

8,000 times more deaths from ill-health than terror
There were 9.9 million deaths in India in 2017, with a death rate of 717.79 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the 2018 Global Burden of Disease (GBD), a global estimate of morbidity and mortality published by the University of Washington.

Communicable, maternal, neonatal and nutritious diseases caused 26.6% of all deaths in India, and non-communicable diseases caused 63.4% of all deaths, while injuries accounted for 9.8%.

Deaths by conflict and terrorism fall under the “interpersonal violence” category, accounting for 0.007% of all deaths, or 766, according to GBD data.

Terrorism claimed fewer lives, according to another database: there were 178 terror incidents reported nationwide in 2017, killing 77 and injuring 295, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal.

Deaths due to diabetes (254,500), suicides (210,800), infectious diseases (2 million) and non-communicable diseases (6.2 million) put together are 8,000 times the deaths caused by terrorism (766).

Defence vs health vs education spending
“… Hlth [Health] & edu [education] need to be top (sic) & [at] least 8% GDP allocated 2 [to] them,” Rao wrote in her tweet.

India’s public health spending is among the world’s lowest. With a fifth of the world’s population, India’s public expenditure was 1.02% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015, IndiaSpend reported in June 2018.

While India’s public-health spending was estimated to be 1.4% of GDP in 2017-18, the equivalent proportion of GDP spent on health in the Maldives is 9.4%, in Sri Lanka 1.6%, in Bhutan 2.5% and in Thailand 2.9%.

India is the fifth largest defence spender in the world. The defence budget in 2017-18 was Rs 4.31 lakh crore ($ 72.1 billion, using 2017 rates), or 2.5% of GDP, as per Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, a think-tank. This is double the health budget that year, according to our analysis.

About a fourth of the defence budget, or 24%, goes towards pensions.
 

Source: Economic Survey 2017-18, Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses

In 2017, India’s school education budget, including central and state spending, was about Rs 4.41 lakh crore ($ 73.8 billion) or 2.6% of GDP, more than defence and health separately. However, almost half of India’s grade V students cannot read a grade II text and more than 70% cannot carry out division, according to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2018, IndiaSpend reported in January 2019.

India had the second-lowest score for quality of education in South Asia in 2016 (66 out of a possible 100, just ahead of Afghanistan’s 64) and behind group leader Sri Lanka (75), IndiaSpend reported on September 25, 2018.

Health and education need more money
While India’s health budget is rising–in 2018 it was double of what it was in 2010–as IndiaSpend reported in January 2019, it is still inadequate, considering that India is home to a third of the world’s stunted children, has the highest number of tuberculosis patients and reports among the world’s highest out-of-pocket expenditure, an indicator of public healthcare failures.

The National Health Policy of 2017 talked about increasing public-health spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2025, but India has not yet met the 2010 target of 2% of GDP, IndiaSpend reported in April 2017.

The National Policy on Education, which guides India’s approach to education, has since 1968 recommended a minimum spending of 6% GDP on education but that target has never been met. There have been “pervasive and persistent failures in implementation leading to sub-optimal utilisation of the resources provided”, the 2016 document said.

(Yadavar is a principal correspondent with IndiaSpend.)

Courtesy: India Spend

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After math of deadly attacks in Sri Lanka at churches which took hundreds of innocent lives and created an environment of fear and grief, Muslims from all walks of life from Islamic Jamaats to IT professionals, Housewives to Social organisations & Educational institutions , children and the elderly gathered on 28th April morning, the time of prayer mass,  at various churches to share love, warmth and express solidarity, support and stand with our brethren during these tough times with a message that no force can break this brotherhood.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Courtesy: Two Circle

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Although more than twice as many terrorists were killed in 2017 (218) as in 2013 (100), there was a sharper increase in civilian deaths–57 in 2017, up 185% from 20 in 2013.
 
Despite the increasing number of terrorist killings, terrorists succeeded in attacking the Sunjwan Army Camp, where six army personnel, one civilian and three terrorists died.
 
As many as 324 security personnel have died at the hands of terrorists over the past five years. Terrorists killed 83 security personnel in 2017, a 36% increase from 61 in 2013.
 
This shows an overall worsening of the security situation in the state.

Source: South Asia Terrorism Portal
 
There was some improvement in 2017 over 2016: 83 security personnel were killed in 2017, down 6% from 88 in 2016; 218 terrorists were killed, up 32% from 165 in 2016.
 
Terrorism-related deaths had increased 31% in the one year since the Indian Army conducted what it described as “surgical strikes” in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK), IndiaSpend had reported on September 29, 2017.
 
(Sethi is a Mumbai-based freelance writer and geopolitical analyst.)

Courtesy: India Spend
 

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Here is what happened:

♦ Attackers drove van into pedestrians on London Bridge before stabbing people in Borough Market
♦ Prime minister says too much ‘tolerance of extremism’ in UK
♦ 48 injured people taken to hospitals
♦ General election campaigning suspended

Full report: Police shoot dead three suspect after London attack

In the event of a major ISIS-inspired action in Britain, what principles do far-sighted – and brave – politicians need to observe? First published on 20 January 2017.
 

Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire/PA Images. All rights reserved.

"A few months before the 7/7 attacks in London in July 2005, and in the wake of the Madrid bombings, I went to a meeting that the Bishop of Bradford had convened to try and think through how a multi-confessional city like Bradford might respond if there was a similar attack in the UK. He brought together representatives from the local mosques, the police, the Council, the youth service and community groups, and I think this might have been one of the factors that helped maintain a degree of calm and resilience in the city when the 7/7 attacks came. Remembering this was part of what prompted me to write the following piece for openDemocracy in January, which was republished on 23 March in the light of the attack in Westminster.
Following last night’s terrible attack at the Manchester Arena, it may be helpful to look at the original column again. Now that we are in middle of a very fractious general election campaign it may be that the final few paragraphs, especially the last one, are particularly salient."
Paul Rogers  23 May 2017

Another 7/7-type attack in the United Kingdom is likely. In the aftermath, it will be essential to respond carefully with responses that seek to explain the wider context.
In London, the inquest has opened into the deaths of thirty British beach tourists in Sousse, Tunisia in June 2015. Eight others were killed in the ISIS-facilitated attack. Many questions remain over the warnings given and the levels of security offered.

The assault, as well as causing great grief to family and friends, had a substantial national impact. Yet this was less than the bombings of London's transport network on 7 July 2007, when fifty-two people were killed on a bus and three underground trains. (The four perpetrators also died). It remains the defining event for Britain in relation to political violence, closely connected to the Iraq war although this was strenuously denied by the Blair government at the time.

This “disconnect” has remained a feature of British attitudes to al-Qaida, ISIS and other extreme Islamist groups, even if some people pointed out at the time that the loss of life on "7/7" was no higher than the daily loss of life in Iraq.

Now, nearly twelve years later, the war goes on with a similar disconnect – there is simply no appreciation that Britain is an integral part of a major war that started thirty months ago, in August 2014. It may take the form of a sustained air-assault using strike-aircraft and armed-drones, but its intensity is simply unrecorded in the establishment media. This is a straightforward example of “remote warfare” conducted outside of public debate.

Thus, when another attack within Britain on the scale of 7/7 happens, there will be little understanding of the general motivations of those responsible. People will naturally react with horror, asking – why us? Politicians and analysts will find it very difficult even to try and explain the connection between what is happening "there" and "here".
The straightforward yet uncomfortable answer is that Britain is at war – so what else can be expected? It may be a war that gets little attention, there may be virtually no parliamentary debate on its conduct, but it is a war nonetheless.

There are several factors which underpin this approach.

The post-9/11 western-led wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya have left three countries as failed or failing states, killed several hundred thousand people and displaced millions. This causes persistent anger and bitterness right across the Middle East and beyond. While the Syrian civil war started as the repression of dissent by an insecure and repressive regime, it has evolved into a much more complex "double proxy war" which regional rulers and the wider international community have failed to address. This adds to the animosity.

The situation in Iraq is particularly grievous, given that it was the United States and its coalition partners that started the conflict and also gave rise directly to the evolution of ISIS. The Iraq Body Count project estimates the direct civilian death-toll since 2003 at more than 169,000. After a relative decline over 2009-13, an upsurge in the past three years has seen 53,000 lose their lives through violence.

Since the air-war started in August 2014 the Pentagon calculates that over 30,000 targets have been attacked with more than 60,000 missiles and bombs, and 50,000 ISIS supporters have been killed. But there is abundant evidence that western forces have directly killed many civilians. AirWars reports that:

"As ISIL was forced to retreat in both Iraq and Syria, the year [2016] saw a dramatic jump in reported civilian deaths from Coalition airstrikes. A total of between 2,932 and 4,041 non-combatant fatalities are alleged for 2016, stemming from 445 separate claimed Coalition-caused incidents in both Iraq and Syria."

ISIS, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS), and other groups have no air-defence capabilities yet are determined to continue the war, seeing themselves as guardians of Islam under attack by the “crusader” forces of the west. At a time of retreat they will be even more determined than ever to take the war to the enemy, whether by the sustained encouragement and even facilitation of individual attacks such as Berlin or Nice, or more organised attacks such as in Paris and Brussels.

The aims of these groups are threefold:
* Retribution via straightforward paramilitary actions, responding especially to the current reversals in Iraq.
* Demonstrating to the wider world, especially across the Middle East, that they remain a force to be reckoned with.
* Inciting as much anti-Muslim bigotry and hatred as possible in the target countries.

In the last of these they are greatly aided by the attitudes of Trump, Le Pen, Wilders, UKIP and other western political phenomena, especially the incitement of fear of refugees which reached its height in Britain in the closing days of the Brexit campaign.

A repeat 7/7–level attack in Britain is probable, although when and how is impossible to say.  Again, it will not be easy to respond. But in trying to do so, two factors need to be born in mind.
First, the aim of ISIS and others will be to incite hatred. Any tendency to encourage that is doing the work of ISIS. This can and should be said repeatedly.

Second, the links between the attack and the ongoing war in Iraq and Syria must be made. That Britain is still at war after fifteen years suggests that some rethinking is required.

Politicians who make these points will face immediate accusations of appeasement, not least in the media. But however difficult the case, it needs to be made if the tide of war is to be turned.

About the author:
Paul Rogers is professor in the department of peace studies at Bradford University, northern England. He is openDemocracy's international security adviser, and has been writing a weekly column on global security since 28 September 2001; he also writes a monthly briefing for the Oxford Research Group. His latest book is Irregular War: ISIS and the New Threat from the Margins (IB Tauris, 2016), which follows Why We’re Losing the War on Terror (Polity, 2007), and Losing Control: Global Security in the 21st Century (Pluto Press, 3rd edition, 2010). He is on Twitter at: @ProfPRogers
 

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I am writing this historic letter to you. I am making you aware of what is happening in the country after analysing history and assessing historic truth as well as the current situation, and warning you…. I have come to make you sleepless…. The life subscription for the Parishad is Rs. 2,000. The life subscription for Vishwa Hindu Samachar is Rs. 600. Donate Rs. 15,000 (rupees fifteen thousand) for each family of those arrested. Give the traitorous Muslims a taste of patriotism by boycotting them socially and economically……Peace cannot be attained by begging: Crores of united and powerful Hindus will be able to establish peace and security in the country.

Such a stringent economic boycott will suffocate those elements and break their backs. Then it will be difficult for them to live in any corner of the country. Friends, start this boycott from today so that no Muslim will have the guts to lift his head before us and live. Have you read this newsletter? Then make 10 copies and distribute it amongst our brethren….
— A true Hindu patriot

“Yeh kaum saamne hove nahin; yeh kaum kabhi aage badhe nain; yeh poore setting ke saath hua hai kaam!”
(That this community should not be seen or heard, should never move up in life; plans were swiftly put into operation to realise this objective)

These words, spoken by Usmanbhai Malek from Por village in Gandhinagar district barely 45 minutes drive away from the epicentre of hatred in Gujarat –Ahmedabad — on March 25, 2003, seem to sum up the situation.  The cycle shop that he had run for decades, catering to Hindus and Muslims alike, was destroyed, as were the 80 homes belonging to 400 Muslims in the post-Godhra genocide on the night of February 27-28 2002. In the traumatic months that he and other refugees from this area spent at the Mandali camp, a Hindu cycle shop was swiftly installed in its place. Today the Patel dominated village has no more use for Malek’s services and he and all other Muslims who are not solely dependent on land, face crippling economic and social boycott.

This coupled with clear attempts to pressurise victim survivors into not fighting for justice, makes everyday life in Gujarat an appalling and frightening experience.

Muslim women from over 40 households who used to work as agricultural labourers are not entertained, and youth who drove transport vehicles have had their businesses taken over. Hunger and deprivation continues to hit the 400 Muslim residents of Por, with over 70 young persons out of jobs. The total strength of this Patel dominated village is 5,000, of which Muslims number 1,100. Women were also involved in milching cattle, an occupation that is today unavailable to them as they do not have access to buffaloes that were either stolen or driven away. The mosque in Por, which was systematically pulled down using a bulldozer belonging to the municipal corpration, has however been re-built. While some of the village elders such as Nathubhai Nagar are trying to break the social boycott, others  insist that for Muslims,  the quid pro quo for leading a normal life will be their withdrawal of the pending criminal case where 35 villagers have been accused of rioting and arson. With the survivors adamant on getting justice, (senior advocate Allah Rakha is appearing for the victims), the deadlock, stealthily, continues.

In Por, Kasimbhai has been unemployed for over a year, after he lost his tabela and five milch cattle in the pre-planned destruction. He incurred a loss of Rs 1.5 lakhs and is one of the rare victims who received the full Rs 50,000 promised as house compensation. Recently he has bought, on loan, two buffaloes from a relative and is attempting to eke out a living.

A similar situation prevails in many of the other villages of Gandhinagar rural district. In Adalaj, 25 homes were rebuilt and people have returned, without work however. Kunadasa and Koba have just one Muslim home each. Jametpura has 10-15 Muslim homes, and  residents of Khoraj  with 250 homes also face stringent boycott. In Khoraj, actually, the post-Godhra tension and violence was cleverly used to capture the kabrastan by force, that too, by the panchayat leader, Ganpatbhai Patel. He summoned terrified Muslims on the night of February 27-28, 2002 itself and told them directly that if they wished to live there in peace, they would have to hand over the graveyard land to the Patels because the land lies near their homes and “aakhon mein ata tha” (it offends our sight). If they did not agree it would be burnt down. Terrified, Muslims agreed and because they were given grazing land outside the village as a substitute, no case was filed.

One year after the gruesome genocide that shocked the nation, 10 of Gujarat’s 24 districts have achieved the VHP-BJP-BD aim, penned succinctly by Chinnubhai Patel in the pamphlet quoted above, which was distributed in hundreds of thousands. In most areas of Ahmedabad and Vadodara and villages of Gandhinagar, Vadodara rural, Anand, Panchmahal, Mehsana, Kheda and Dahod, insidious economic and social boycott  continues to cripple the Muslim minority that is still reeling from the effects of  last year’s brutal violence. It is only the villages and areas that have a sizeable Muslim population that has built up a steely resistance to the politics of hatred and division through the security of numbers — ghettoisation is the stark solution in post-carnage Gujarat.

Parts of hard core Ahmedabad are no better. While overt aggression and violence has subsided, and in many areas of business and enterprise a sharp cleavage may not be visible,  as Yakubbhai Shaikh of Karnavati Travels, a prosperous monopoly transport business puts it, “Dil khule nahin” (Hearts have not opened up). Despite the police having recorded a huge loss of Rs. 25 lakhs on his Hotel, there has been no compensation forthcoming except the minimal Rs 50,000. A long-time owner of the Karnavati Hotel at Vatwa GIDC, which was burnt down and has now been re-built, he painfully recalls how non-Muslims simply do not enter the premises anymore.

“My transport business is a monopoly business and I have a 16 year old relationship with factory owners so that side is okay. I still feel however, that if they had options, I would have been dumped as so many other have been.” He is hopeful however that the passage of time will heal the schism.

Divisive and corrosive sentiments in Ahmedabad run high and deep, Courts, hospitals, bastis —none seem immune. A week ago, a well-placed advocate in the Gujarat High Court (name witheld) was shocked when he could get no doctors to examine and attend to one of the 6 accused, allegedly held for a plot to kill chief minister Narendra Modi. There is scant proof of the charges levelled against the hapless accused but when one of them fell ill, doctors he contacted simply refused to see him because one, he was Muslim and two he was an accused! So much for fair trial and justice.

In another bizarre incident some months ago, a senior advocate of the Gujarat bar quietly told his junior, a Muslim, to stop attending his chambers. While no pointed reasons were given, the generally held belief among senior members of the bar is that it was the identity of the lawyer that had guided the decision.

Naroda Gaon and Patiya will be remembered for the planned and bloody decimation of over 110 innnocents, in cold blood, led by elected representatives. The changes to these mass crimes have not yet been framed. Instead of honest and fair investigations, trumped-up charges on an FIR (No. 101/2002) filed by ASI Satuji Shivaji, which did not then name the accused, has, on August 5, 2002, falsely named and led to the arrest of one Bismillah Khan Pathan and 11 others. These 12 are believed to be eye-witnesses to MLA Dr. Maya Kotdani and Gujarat VHP general secretary, Dr. Jaideep Patel’s direct participation in the violence. It is only recently that six of them  obtained bail. What is more shocking is that none of the persons who were listed in these complaints, especially the leaders of the organisations, have been arrested, no identification parade held and no action whatsoever been taken against the police officers, despite repeated allegations and complaints of police complicity.

 Several testimonies and sworn affidavits before the Shah-Nanavati Commission reveal that witnesses have identified, by name, Guddu Chhara, Suresh Chhara, Jai Bhavani Singh as accused in heinous crimes of sexual violence and rape. Yet these men roam scot-free, as do the instigators who are men and women with clout and power. Today their freedom is a daily taunt to the survivors at Naroda Gaon and Patiya, and it makes a mockery of the process of justice in this country.
 This and most of the other   Ahmedabad cases are yet to begin, and no charges have been framed by the Sessions Court so far.

Though over 110 persons were quartered and killed at Naroda Gaon and Patiya, few bodies were recovered. Before the violence, there were 825 houses at Naroda Patiya. Only 400 homes have been repaired, and in which families have returned to live. Forty-five families from here now have homes in Vatwa, while 16 homes for widows and another 25 homes were built by the Citizens Relief Services (management of Shah-e-Alam camp) around Narol-Bombay Hotel. This makes a total of 486 families. Another  140 families who  could afford it resettled elsewhere. This makes a total of 626 families within Ahmedabad. A total of 199 families from Patiya have fled. The homes are in the same state as they were after the violence erupted. Forty-five widows here receive monthly aid. But the rest of the families, who used to work as rickshaw drivers and pullers and daily wage earners are without work, on the verge of starvation. The children cannot go to school. In all, before the violence there were 445 families at Naroda Patiya, working in nearby factories. For four-six  months they lived in camps. They were replaced at work, both men and women. Today they are all unemployed because their jobs have been filled. If they get work at all, they are paid half the daily rate. This may not be called a direct boycott but it is nevertheless a fall out of the violence. Men used to be paid Rs. 100-150 a day, working in small-scale units making plastic items, while women were paid Rs. 50. Today, if and when they get work, it is at half the amount.

But it is the raw humiliation of knowing that those guilty of unspeakable humiliations and violence roam free and taunt them that makes daily life unbearable. Fatimabi, a victim survivor who lost eight family members in the massacre, has three girls of marriageable age. She used to run a flour mill. “Earlier I used to earn Rs. 400 per day, and after paying the electricity  bill used to have Rs. 350 left over. Today, there are no Muslims to give me custom and the Hindus who used to come earlier have stopped coming to my chakki. How do I survive?”

“Ham majboori mein reh rahe hai, we have to because we have homes here. Where else can we stay? We are terrified. Every 15 days or two months when there is tension, we flee our homes. Is this living?” she asks. The last time they fled was about a fortnight ago, after Haren Pandya was killed. “Yeh koi zindagi nahin hui..this is no life..my young girls, they are taunted at by the same —s who performed those acts on so many girls and women..they roam scot- free. Guddu Chhara, Suresh Chhara, Bhavani Chhara..They taunt us that ‘we will rape you.’ We want justice,” she says, “even if we remain hungry…Roti mil jati hai; lootne ke baad aadha pet se bhi aadmi ji sakyta hai.” Hame sirf insaaf chahiye.” (Food we can get; someone who has been looted of all their worldly belongings can live with hunger. But we want justice.)
 

Legal Status
Ahmedabad

• Out of 961 registeread cases, 447 cases are being consigned away as “A” or “B” final summary.
• In sector–I, out of 15 police stations, there are 496 cases registered. Out of these, 200 cases are being consigned away as “A” or “B” summary (registered complaints are wrong or accused are not available). In 293 cases, inquiry has been completed and in 3 cases inquiry is still going on.
• In the same way, in sector–II, out of 15 police stations, there are 465 cases registered. Out of these, 214 are being consigned  away as “A” or “B” summary (in 80% cases “A” summary and in rest “B” summary), in 215 cases inquiry has been completed and in 36 cases inquiry is still going on.

Gauri Beevi Mohammed Qureshi has stated in her complaint that on February 28, 2002, the police were present but did not do anything to stop the mobs. On the contrary, the police fired at the victims, and, in this firing, the husband of Ayesha Beevi one Abidbhai Pathan and Shabnam Beevi Sheikh were killed. A number of shops were looted, houses were burnt with kerosene, petrol and gas cylinders. The police were present during this entire episode and when victims approached them, the police asked them to run away elsewhere.

KK Mysorewalla PSI has been quoted in testimonies (see Gujarat genocoide 2002) as telling victims who appealed for help that, “Today your time has come. We have been told not to help. There are orders from the top.”  In an affidavit sworn before the Shah-Nanavti Commission of Inquiry, Mohammed Iqbal, a labourer residing at Naroda Patiya,  affirms that he was eye-witness to MLA Maya Kotdani, along with others whom he identified, indulging in attacks and arson. “My family and I attempted to escape to save our lives and at that time I saw Mayaben Kotdani, Bipin Singh and some members of the VHP and Bajrang Dal. They attacked and looted my house and injured my family.”

A similar refusal by the state of Gujarat to push the justice process marks the proceedings of the trial in the Gulberg society case. The ghastly massacre of former MP, Ehsan Jafri and at least 70 others at the Gulberg society, Chamanpura on February 28, 2002, shook the conscience of the nation. Two FIRs were filed by the Inspector Erda of the Meghaninagar police station. Even now, more than a year later, the trial of the above case has not  begun. The ‘charge’ is yet to be framed.  Moreover, 18 eye-witnesses to the crime, have petitioned the trial court hearing the case in a special application, and accompanied by affidavits sworn on oath, detailing the blatant attempts to subvert the investigations. Investigations were undertaken without the preliminary and necessary legal practice of recording statements of eye–witnesses.

The charge-sheets were filed by the Gujarat police in November 2002, but the charge-sheets have excluded the names of key accused named in the FIR – Ramesh Pandey, Choti, Rajesh Dayaram Jinger, Bharat, Kali, Dilip, Gabbar, Kapil Munnabhai, Bharat Kali Mansingh, Prabhudas Jain.  Witnesses petitioned the Commissioner of Police, Ahmedabad, Kaushik on November 25, 2002, pointing out this discrepancy, to no avail. This amounts to the investigating agency protecting the accused..

Eye-witnesses to the quartering, slaughter and burning alive of Mr. Jaffri have testified on oath to the fact that Police Commissioner PC Pandey visited the colony at 10.30 a.m. when the Gulberg society had been under seige by a carefully orchestrated mob of thousands since 7.30 a.m. on the fateful day of February 28, 2002. The NHRC, in its confidential report on Gujarat, has stated,“Representatives of many NGOs and some prominent citizens narrated a number of cases where they contacted the police and requested them to rescue the members of the minority community under attack from the marauding mobs but their pleas evoked no response. Shri Amar Sinh Chaudhry, former Chief Minister, Gujarat narrated to the team his futile efforts in seeking police help for Shri Ahsan Jaffery, former MP. He claimed to have personally contacted the Police Commissioner, P.C.Pandey, at 10.30 A.M. on 28 February and apprised him of the imminent danger to the life of Shri Jaffrey. The Police Commissioner assured him that police assist-ance will be dispatched rapidly. He reminded him again after receiving another frantic call from Ahsan Jaffery that no police reinforcement had reached his place and that the few policemen present were ineffective and unwilling to control the violent mob. Shri Chaudhry said that he also spoke to the CM Narendra Modi in the afternoon and found him well informed about the presence of a violent crowd outside Shri Jaffrey’s house. He also spoke to the Chief Secretary and Home Secretary between 12.30 and 2.00 P.M. Shri Jaffery was burnt alive along with his family and 39 others (total killed–50).”

Trade uionist and advocate Amrish Patel, secretary of the Gujarat Mazdoor Sabha, has recently taken up 16 cases of Muslims from Ahmedabad summarily dismissed from their workplace after 10-20 years of service on grounds of identity. He will be challenging their dismissal under section 25(1) of the Industrial Disputes Act and also on grounds of social boycott. Of the 16 victimised employees, some were small dealers, three worked as watchmen and three as clerks in small businesses. This is probably for the first time that labour laws will be used to challenge the social and economic boycott of a community.

Similarly in Vadodara, over 17 persons were dismissed from the Gujarat Electricity Board following anonymous complaints on their character being received by the authorities. All of them are Muslim.

In the Savli taluka of Vadodara rural, that has 252 villages,, Muslims live in Manjusar, Tundav*, Paladhi, Lasundhra, Gothdra*, Savli*Karchia*, Vakaner*, Ranier, Devnagar, Mokshi, Bhadarva, Desar, Pandu*Dhantej*, Vaccheshwar* (*Muslims majority). Traditionally Savli was a Congress bastion; this election brought the BJP to power. The shift has also meant a distinct shift in the atmosphere with Muslims suffering discrimination and boycott. The local police is also extremely partisan. In Bhadarva, the local Masjid pulled down with a bulldozer, was not repaired, In Sokhda, the  BJP man won seats after garnering Muslim votes in a ‘compromise’ offer for their safety therafter. Dilip (Dilavar) Dadhi, a Gharasia who had run a camp for 600 refugees until May 2002 was the chief negotiator for the Muslims.The dargah at Samliah, in Savli taluka, Vadodara remains destroyed and damaged with no repairs, one year later.

At Manjusar, 3 km from Tundva (18 km from Vadodara), also in Savli taluka, Shailesh Patel, who is the VHP president of Savli taluka unit, has his wife, Mrs. Meenabehn as the taluka panchayat member of the BJP. Shailesh’s friend, Raju Sanabhai Patel (Maya Traders), has a hooch and petrol business, and the violence was led by him. Both Shailesh and Raju had gone to Ayodhya by bus; the bus returned on March 1. Three police officials here, circle police Inspector  Katara, deputy sup. of police DN Patel (allegedly responsible for most of the atrocities against Muslims), and Tundav head constable (jamadar) Pardhi, have and continue to display a strong anti-Muslim bias. Victims stated that they sit at Maya Traders and make programmes of how “Mussalmanon ko kaisa “fit” karte hain.” (How we can fix the Muslims). The atmosphere as one drives through the villages of Vadodara rural, many of which cultivate the best quality tobacco in the country is infected by terror and suspicion.

Godhra epitomises the deep divide that prevails in the Panchmahal district of Gujarat. Villagers who returned to Pandharwada village where over 70 innocents were brutally killed, continue to eke out a minimum existence, living in terror.
The manner in which the criminal trial into the Godhra mass arson is being handled raises serious questions.  Fifty-eight Kar Savaks were burnt alive in the S 6 coach of the Sabarmati Express. That the Godhara tragedy reflected abysmal failure of State intelligence, both before and after the incident is a fact that has been stated before. The unprofessional manner in which the trial has been conducted can be judged from the proceedings. The state has arreste 71 persons who have been detained allegedly violating due process of law since they have not appeared in court since last June 2002, after their arrests.

POTA has been invoked post-facto in the Godhra case, indicating malafide intent and violating the provisions of the act itself. The Ahmedabad based government Forensic Science Laboratory report has interesting findings about the mystery of the fire, that should  warrant neutral investigations but these findings are not being taken into consideration at all.

Serum has been injected into 5 accused before questions were put to them last May 2002, in gross violations of human rights laws and international regulations.

The affidavits of six relatives, including the wife of Maulana Umerji, filed before the Supreme Court in late March 03 (in the petition filed by eminent citizens and supported by the Citizens for Justice and Peace, Mumbai urging transfer of investigations to the CBI) reveal how the due process of law has been subverted in the Godhra trial. They have appealed that in the course of the investigations fair and due process of law is not being followed, that their relatives have been wrongfully confined and illegally detained, to no avail, and therefore, the apex Court should intervene. There is a real possibility that,  in the Godhra trial, innocents will be punished and those guilty of this heinous crime will escape unpunished.
The affidavits filed by the relative of six, allegedly illegal detainees reveal:

1) The wife of Inayat Abdus Sattar Jujhara, a government servant, who was arrested for alleged involvement in the Godhra arson states that his office records show that between 11 –1 a.m on February 27, 2002 he was working at  Panan Jara Sarai Yojana, a ward of the education department of the Gujarat government. Yet, the police have stated in their statement that they have arrested him at 9 a.m.on that day when government records show to the contrary. He was wrongfully arrested and therefore his arrest was malafide.

His past record in government service has been good and he has no criminal record. Given the injustice of his arrest, she approached the Honorable trial court in an application for fair trial, yet there was no redressal.

2)The father of Ishaq Mohammad Mamdoo has also testified on oath that his son Ishaq Mohammad Mamdoo who is totally (100 per cent) blind has been wrongfully confined and named as accused in the Godhra arson. He is 24 years old and had even applied for government aid in 1997 claiming 100 per cent blindness. How could he have had any part in the crime? Due to the anguish caused to the family by the shameful detention of their visually handicapped son, his mother died out of sorrow two months ago. Their whole family has been ripped apart by the unfairness of the trial that has left them little faith in justice.

 3) The mother of Abdul Razzak, states that her son, a prominent businessman of Godhra was illegally detained for a whole year, suffering loss in personal reputation and business for alleged involvement in the arson.  She made an application to the trial court for proper investigation. Yet the court did not act. The family was kept in anguish for a whole year, her son was kept in a place they did not know, taken 156 km away to high security prisons. Shockingly, her son was also injected with serum for questioning that dulled his mind.
 

Justice Denied

Best Bakery Incident, Vadodara City
On March 1,2003 at 8.30 p.m. a mob of 200-300 people looted the Best Bakery,  set fire tao the room. A family of 5 people was burnt alive, 3 workers were hacked to death, 16 people were attacked and 4 workers injured. The incident took place after the staff from the local police Panigate police station drove by. Zahira, a victim and an eye-witness, was made to give her statement 3 times, and sign it, but the statement was not read out to her nor was she allowed to read it. Police did not come for over an hour even after being repeatedly called. The NHRC has recommended that this case requires to be investigated by CBI. The chargesheet has been filed but the trial is yet to begin.

Abasana Trial
The trial is on and victims have approached the Supreme Court for cancellation of bail after the Gujarat High Court granted bail to 29 of the 33 accused.
The criminal  trials at Ghodasar, Kheda, Kalol and Sardarpur Mehsana are underway.            

 4)  The wife and brother of of Abdur Rehman Yusuf Dhantiya have also stated that he has been illegally detained in connection with the Godhra arson when he was not even in Godhra at the time. He was in Bhudaaya, 7 kilometres away at a flour mill at the GIDC there. The person falsely accused was, it is their contention, helping to put out the fire.  Yet a man who was helping the police with water to douse the fire has been illegally detained and this shows malafide intent of the authorities. Due to this, they even approached the trial court urging for proper investigation.

5)  The allegedly illegal detention of Maulana Umerji is also a case in point. The accused, a religious preacher with a strong social conscience, has been illegally detained since February 6, 2003 and denied basic rights as a prisoner. His health, which is very frail, is faulty, he has been refused even a walking stick.

His record, during the past communal disturbances of Godhra,  in 1965, 1969, 1980 and 1989, when he helped the authorities to maintain peace by being active part of a peace committee are well known. Local DMs, DSPs and government officials have appreciated his role at times of conflict.

Mehsana is another district still reeling under the politics of the sangh parivar. While Muslims of Dasaj town have managed to carve out a secure corner for themselves —Dasaj proved a challenge to the BJP-VHP onslaught from over 45 villages last year when they held out against the onslaught led by MLA Naran Laloo Patel and others and moreover also gave shelter to refugees from nearby villages.

Says, advocate Yunusbhai Khan Faridkhan Pathan “ Position theek hai” The position is alright as far as survival goes. People living in Dasaj, about  1000-1200 of the total population of 5,500 have been left alone because we had put up a resistance…But the economic boycott is strong. They don’t let us buy from their shops; kheto mein kaam nahin karne dete. (They don’t let us work in their farms) Kaam aur roji roti cheen liya hai.(They have snatched away our daily earning)  As many as 50-60 labourers are jobless.Whatever we have is land, which is badly affected by drought this year.”

Residents in and around Dasaj  cannot even step into Patel areas of Dasaj town, nor work in their fields. The worst impact is the denial of access to shops with basic commodities —electric/cement/milk/vegetables/medical. The shops are all located on ‘their’ (Patel) side and they simply do not let the Muslim residents use them.

Says Pathan, “Even for medicines we have to go 16 km away to a town like like Sidhpur where the local situation is better. In Dasaj the boycott is very strong. The medical shop belongs to a Prajapati  and we are not allowed to go there. Dr. Narottambhai Patel, refuses to even treat us whereas one other Patel, Dr. Laksmanbhai Patel does come to our areas to give us treatment; Narottambhai follows the pratibandh (boycott).” As a result of this sustained and successful denial of access to basic amenities, Muslims have now set up their own rented vegetable outlet and shop for groceries.  They have also made arrangements for a Muslim khalifa (barber) since the Hindu one does not or cannot meet their requirements and a Muslim dhobi too, has been brought to Dasaj for its residents.

In the land of Gandhi, his bitter detractors have managed to sow deep distrust and division.

Schooling remains a critical problem for the residents of Dasaj because, again, the school for Stds IV-X, to which about 70 Muslim children need to go, is located in a Patel mohalla. The school for the little ones is regarded as relatively safe as it is at Char Rasta, Indira Nagar, a mixed mohalla, which is not such a frightening prospect.

Elderly residents from Dasaj including chacha Hatikhan Hayat Khan Pathan ex-sarpanch of the town, who had testified before a national audience in April last year and even met the then President, KR Narayanan, is bitter and sad. “Bahishkar chaloo hai… Dil toot gaye; Allah ke madat se Dasaj bach gaya. (The boycott is on. Hearts have been broken. Due to the will of god, Dasaj was saved.)The main aim was to destroy the Muslims of Dasaj who, living in 150 homes, faced an attack of huge mobs from 45 villages. “They did not succeed but we still suffer.”

Of the other towns in Mehsana district, Siddhpur and Mehsana itself are  manageable. Businesses on the highway, too, continue.

But Unjha, a huge agricultural market, has been purged of Muslims.There was unmentionable violence and marginalisation; so no one returned. The land on which the Mosque and Madrassa stood—that were destroyed by a bulldozer—is today still in the possession of the collector. Earlier, 100 persons from Dasaj would go to earn their living at Unjha, in different businesses. “This is out of the question now…who knows whether we will come back?”

Kadih is another economic centre where some business and earnings for the minority have been possible.  The former MLA and minister Niteen Patel who led the violence lost in the elections and has been replaced by a candidate from the Thakore community who has helped to restore a semblance of normalcy.

In Umta gaon, in Mehsana, where KPS Gill himself had started a rehabilitation programme, though 225 homes were built, a bitter boycott against the minorities continues. “Intermingling has stopped,” says one resident afraid of revealing his identity. “Earlier businesses ran on the barter principle; sharing of resources. Now none of that is possible. Even our barbers are separate. Bahut gandha hua.”(It is a terrible development).

No Muslims reside in Maktoopur anymore;  25 homes were destroyed and former residents are now settled in Sidhpur and Mehsana. Here, too, the Mosque was destroyed and the private land on which they stood is today being held by the collector.

Similarly, there are no Muslims left in Pilodra village though the Mosque still stands here. In  Kuwasna, Muslim residents have been unable to return because the local sarpanch is trying to bullying them into assuring the other villagers that they will return but not worship audibly. “Azaan nahin dena” (Do not give the call to prayer.)

Visnagar in Mehsana saw two major carnages were over 20 people were slaughtered brutally. None have returned to live in the Dipla Darwaza area, which is in the mdst of the Patel locality, and where severe betrayal was experienced as residents had been assured of their safety by their neighbours before they were attacked. In Pathan mohalla 13/14 families have gone back to live.

Similarly, in Sardarpur, where there was another brutal carnage,  about one and a half months back some Muslims have returned. They have no desire to stay there however. “It is a matter of months or a year. We are simply waiting for a decent price for our land and we will sell. There can be no question of living there, with those memories any more.”

Says Shahabuddin Nizamuddin Kazi, an employee of the State Transport corporation, who took three months leave to run a camp for 1,000 destitute refugees, speaks of the terrible situation at Chansama in Mehsana where there used to be 110 Muslim homes. “There is not a trace of them now. They have fled to Patan, 17 kilometres away. The land lies without owners, it is a matter of time. The homes, devastated, stand as painful relics. The entire topography of many of our villages has changed, been wiped out in front of our eyes.”

Amen.           

Archived from Communalism Combat, April 2003 Year 9  No. 86, Cover Story 1

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