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Probing Gujrat Violence.
Editorial in DAWN Newspaper.
The belated decision by a US body to probe the horrific anti-Muslim pogroms in the Indian state of Gujarat will be welcomed by human rights groups everywhere and bring some solace to the families of victims of that terrible tragedy.
There was widespread dismay that the US had not spoken out forcefully enough against the chilling and systematic attacks on Muslims when these were at their peak in April. According to official figures, some 1,000 persons were killed by rampaging mobs during the attacks. However, independent reports suggest that the figure is actually closer to 2,500, with almost 100,000 persons forced to flee their homes and live in makeshift refugee camps.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom, which reports to the US president and Congress, has decided to hold a hearing on June 10 to examine new evidence suggesting that the Gujarat state government itself had planned and executed the terrible bloodbath.
A report by India's official National Human Rights Commission hinted at this complicity when it claimed that there was a "serious failure of intelligence and inaction by the state government" during the anti-Muslim riots that gripped India's prosperous western state.
Sections of the Indian press not only accused the BJP state government of Chief Minister Narindra Modi of not doing enough to stop the carnage but also of playing a part in inciting violence against the Muslims. Police personnel and state government functionaries were accused of encouraging or looking on as the violent mobs engaged in an orgy of violence that brought back memories of the carnage during partition.
Hundreds of women were raped, people hacked to death or burnt alive during the peak of the violence. What struck observers most was the systematic manner in which Muslim homes and properties were singled out for attack by heavily armed men carrying electoral lists and mobile phones.
This was clearly not a spontaneous outpouring of rage, but a cold, calculated and systematic example of ethnic cleansing. Even today, thousands of Muslim families are leading a miserable existence in refugee camps while Muslims across India are gradually moving out of Hindu-dominated areas to Muslim ghettos.
Gradually, a system of apartheid is developing, threatening to tear India's social fabric apart. Through all this, Narindra Modi, the man accused of masterminding the carnage, remains chief minister despite angry calls from most opposition parties for his dismissal.
The union government has not only refused to sack Modi but has been lukewarm in condemning the excesses that took place in Gujarat. New Delhi also feels relieved that the hovering threat of war between India and Pakistan has drawn world attention away from the tragedy in Gujarat, where anti-Muslim violence is still continuing.
The decision by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom to reopen the case and look at new evidence should put Gujarat back into the spotlight. Human rights violations of the scale that took place there cannot be simply forgotten. It is the duty of the world community to act against crimes against humanity wherever they occur and bring to justice those responsible for the gruesome and systematic massacre of innocent men, women and children.
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