1 | zindadil
26/12/2007 at 11:51 pm

they always forget so easily

3 | zindadil
26/12/2007 at 11:52 pm

Gujarat Testifies to Extremists* Arts of killing,
http://www.themessage-inf o.com/gujarat.htm
By SU Rahman, IOL South Asia Bureau
http://www.themessage-i nfo.com/pics/MUSLIMSOFIND IA-.jpg)
AHMEDABAD, April 10 (IslamOnline) – Do you have any

inkling as to what really is happening in Gujarat, an Indian state aflame since February 27? It simply continues to burn. The state of affairs in the state, after touring it for a week, has left one speechless. Words fail to describe what has been done to Muslims there. In short, it is Bosnia re-enacted. When I started out for the state, I was almost sure that this tragic story of blood, death and fire, that has continued till today and will probably continue for a long time to come, will be told by someone else. Travel for a lone Muslim, who also happens to have a beard, could easily be his last journey. I personally came close to death twice during this one week. Thousands of people have been killed during the last one and a half months. Though the government figures have just crossed 800 casualties — the way things are being hushed up — the real figures must be very high indeed. People who are working in rehabilitation and relief say that at least 2500 people have been either burnt alive or killed. YA Charkha, an advocate who has been involved in setting up of the relief camp in Godhra, where the fire started in the first place, says that even the figure of “2500″ is not final as daily reports of killings pour in from various areas, especially villages. He says that Muslims residing in 400 villages in Panchmahal district under which Godhra falls, have been totally destroyed. Women, young and old alike, have been raped and even then not spared by the rapists most of whom are VHP, Bajrang Dal and RSS activists. Don’t ask about their men. They were killed in cold blood before capturing their women. Children as old as just two days were knifed or burnt alive. The story of Bilqis Yaqub Patel, 20, from Randhigpur near Godhra, is shattering. When her family started out in search of safety shortly after the Godhra incident, there were thirty people with her. From their village they went to Kudwazal village where they took shelter in the village mosque. Here, her sister Shamim delivered a baby boy, so her mother sent the men away. Now, there were only eight women and eight children in the family. Only her maternal uncle was around. They were then chased away by a mob. In another village, tribal people sheltered them and gave them their own clothes to help them conceal their identities. Tribal people sent two persons to escort them to Chaparwad village. Here, people recognized them and killed Bilqis’s uncle. When they were fleeing from the scene, a mob riding in a Tata Sumo vehicle chased them. These devils, who were 24 in all, killed all the children including Bilqis’s two-year old son as well as the boy her sister had delivered just two days back. Every woman, young and old, was raped by three devils each and later everyone was killed. They thought Bilqis too had died. She was lying there for two whole days. Now she is in the relief camp at Godhra. She doesn’t know who brought her there. When I asked her about her male relatives, she said she has no news about them. It is not that she does not recognize the criminals. She knows them by their names. She told me that all the twenty four people who killed her relatives and raped the women were from her own village and that they used to buy milk from her father’s dairy. As tragic as it sounds, hers is no exceptional story, though. There are hundreds of similar incidents. The case of Sharifunnisa or Fatima, who had come to celebrate Eid with her in-laws, was also no different. When rumors started spreading out, Fatima took shelter with her family in the fields outside their village. The sarpanch (village headman) assured them that nothing will happen and took them to his house. Here he brought a mob of 500 people. Eight people were killed there. She too was injured grievously when she tried to protect her husband. People in other camps too recount similar horror tales. Take the story of Fatima Bibi Yusuf Patel, now in Shah Alam Camp in Ahmedabad, or that of Jawed Hasan who is just 12 years old. All his family members were burnt alive in front of him. Everything belonging to Muslims has been destroyed with deathly precision. There are reports as to how a shop among hundreds of identical shops in a shopping complex was meticulously identified and burnt, but not much has been written as to how a shop, belonging to the majority community still stands while all the shops in the same complex have been destroyed. The lone shop in the Paldi area of Ahmedabad is still standing while all others surrounding it from three sides were razed to the ground. This was not a large departmental store with a large building, but a ramshackle tailoring shop. And to add to the mystery, this single shop amidst all the ruin is still functioning as if nothing has happened there. The destruction around this shop doesn’t seem to have bothered its owner a bit. It is the story of every nook and corner of the state. Whole housing complexes have been demolished. And curiously, not a single window pane in the adjacent Hindu housing complexes has been touched. Gupta Nagar, Al-Ateeq, Dinoori Park, Soni Ki Chal, Narol Highway and numerous other places tell the same story again and again. Muslim houses have been totally destroyed with not a single household item escaping the fury of fire. Thousands of people have fled their houses and have either moved to safer areas or have been forced to take shelter in relief camps. The fire was so intense that it even peeled the roof and wall plasters. There are several stories about the material being used to burn shops and houses. Some people told me that the material was imported from Israel to quickly dispose of dead bodies after the last year’s earthquake and the same is now being used to destroy Muslims. Batuk Vora, a former MLA and social activist in Ahmedabad, said that the material being used for setting things afire is called ‘Latex’ and was being brought from Hyderabad. I asked a local activist in Vadodra as to how these people are able to selectively destroy Muslim shops without inflicting any damage to the adjacent Hindu shops? He said that they first drill into the intended shop or house and insert this material. The resulting fire does not spill over; it only destroys everything in that particular house or shop. The story of people still living in Muslim localities is no less tragic. With no work for the past six weeks, thousands of people are starving. Farooq Shaikh, who is running Juhapura relief camp, says that people in relief camps may be a bit better off as they are at least getting food, but people outside, whose businesses have been destroyed, have nowhere to go. These people are also regularly tortured by police and paramilitary forces as well threatened day and night by the extremist outfits. People in both camps and Muslim localities keep night vigil for fear of attacks. Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, claims that the riots have been controlled and that these were merely a “reaction” of the Godhra incident. People laugh at such claims. Reenuka Sharma, a People’s Union for Civil Liberties activist in Vadodra, told me that everything was very finely planned. She said that riots against Muslims were planned much in advance before the Godhra incident. Details from municipality, telephone and electricity departments were collected long before the Godhra incident in order to identify Muslim businesses. She said the whole plan to destroy Muslims was laid down much in advance and was carried out in three phases. In the first, they targeted Muslim shops and houses in areas where they were not numerically strong. In the second phase, they attacked Muslims in mixed colonies. And now, after cleansing Muslims from mixed colonies, they are trying to destroy Muslims in areas where they form a formidable majority. Sharma added that in areas where there was no violence, local Hindus received bangles, a metaphor for cowardice, together with provocative pamphlets. This is why violence keeps spreading to other areas and still continues. Several Muslim-dominated areas in Ahmedabad and elsewhere in the state are regularly being attacked by large mobs during night. The mobs act under full police protection. Muhammad Nayeem of Juhapura said that when the rioters attacked Al-Ateeq housing colony in Ahmedabad, they were fully protected by the police. Whenever Muslims tried to defend themselves, the police fired at them. Even now, residential houses in Hindu colonies just across these destroyed housing complexes are well protected by the police who are stationed on roofs and on top floors to keep vigil. Police, who did not take any action while Muslims were being burned alive, now daily combs Muslim areas and tortures Muslim youths. On April 5, a total of 75 Muslim youths were arrested by police from Teen Darwaza area in Ahmedabad after a stabbing incident and were tortured so bad that even the refugees suffering death and destruction said they had never witnessed such brutality in their life. It is becoming a normal routine for Muslims in the state.
Mahadev Vidrohi, who heads an Ahmedabad-based NGO,told IslamOnline that action/reaction theory is being fished out by Modi to protect his skin. Virodhi says everything was pre-planned and was organized by the VHP with full Modi support. This was confirmed by Patel Shantilal Purshottamdas, a former deputy minister of commerce at the central government and four times member of Lok Sabha (Parliament). He told IslamOnline that in February, after the Godhra incident, Modi came to the town where he met VHP functionaries at the Circuit House. When they asked him what to do, he told them that you should wear bangles. Patel, who was present at the Circuit House, adds that Modi told the VHP people that nothing would happen if you add one or two zeros in response. Former Gujarat state chief minister and president of state Congress Party said that everything is planned and executed by the VHP and the RSS with full government support. He said that nothing will change till Modi government is removed.

Asked about the state government claims that the riots are planned by the Pakistan military intelligence (ISI) or some other foreign power, he laughed and said that they must themselves be ISI agents since everything is planned by these very people and no foreign power or agency is involved in it. It has been learnt from reliable sources that full-time functionaries of the VHP, Bajrang Dal and the like are on the payroll of leading business houses.

5 | zindadil
26/12/2007 at 11:53 pm

Muslims won’t leave Gujarat
‘Muslims won’t leave Gujarat but won’t live as second-class citizens’
J. S. BANDUKWALA
The BJP victory in a Gujarat is a sad day for not just Muslims but for the whole country. The party rode to power on the strength of Muslim blood and tears.

It is shocking that most Gujarati Hindus have agreed with the Modi-Togadia line of hatred for Muslims. The entire BJP campaign was based on rejecting Muslims as terrorists and Pakistanis.
Five million Gujarati Muslims have practically been marginalised. Ours is a poor community with a high rate of illiteracy. But adversity will make us stronger in the days to come. Muslims are not going to leave Gujarat. Nor will we live as second class-citizens on the charity of the Sangh Parivar.
Just as Hindus remember Somnath and Mohammed of Ghazni, Muslims will always remember Gujarat and Modi. We will never forget this pogrom and we will never allow another pogrom.
Muslims will have to change their very way of life to adjust to the emerging crisis.
Socio-economic transformation is a must if the community is to avoid becoming the new untouchables of India. Each and every Muslim boy and girl must get the best and highest education possible. Our future lies as a business community. The ideal example is that of the Jews in America.

We must know that this means women have to be treated with maximum respect and dignity. Triple talaq must be treated as un-Islamic. The whole foundation of Muslim society should rest on our women, who must model themselves on the lines of Hazrat Khadija and Hazrat Fatima.

While Muslims will always treat BJP as poison, we must be equally wary of all political parties that are aligned with it. For, by their silence, they made it possible for the Gujarat experiment to take place.

Our current worry is a communal polarisation being deliberately provoked in other states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The only remedy lies in eternal vigilance.

The Congress’s stance on secularism is quite weak. They appear embarrassed to mention the name of Gandhi and Nehru. Soft Hindutva is not the answer to hard Hindutva, but I must mention that Sonia Gandhi has her heart in the right place on the secular issue. A greater assertiveness by her will help the country.

I strongly disfavour the Mulayam Singh Yadav brand of secularism. It has become identified with the five-star culture of Amar Singh. This is making a mockery of a very grave national issue.

Islam teaches that Allah is Rab-ul-Aalmin, he is the creator of everyone and everything.

In that sense, all Hindus are our brothers and we must never hate them. Muslims will always be indebted to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi, who sacrificed his life so that we could live in India as equal citizens with respect and dignity.
We appeal to all people of goodwill and conscience in India and abroad to recognise that the Sangh Parivar is no different from the Taliban of Afghanistan. Please stand with us in this fight between Good and Evil.
Professor J.K. Bandukwala teaches Nuclear Physics at M.S. University. During the Gujarat riots, he was saved from a mob by his Hindu neighbours. But the next day, a bigger mob torched his house and car. Bandukwala then fled to Mumbai, spent time abroad and returned to Vadodara after a few months.

7 | zindadil
26/12/2007 at 11:54 pm

Gujarat Muslims denied voting rights
Sunetra Choudhury
Tuesday, November 27, 2007 (Dhanduka)

http://www. ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv /story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070 034146&ch=11/28/2007%2012 :32:00%20AM

Chief Minister Narendra Modi may have offered Taslima
Nasreen shelter but many Muslim families living in
Gujarat feel anything but welcome.

They lost their homes for wanting to vote. For the
last two months, these people have had nowhere to
live. Home for them used to be Adwal village in
Dhanduka tehsil, where they’ve lived since 1984.

But when they wanted to get themselves registered as
voters in September, they were thrown out,
unceremoniously.

”They said you’d then build mosques, a graveyard and
your houses. We are not interested in that,” said
Sadiq, Evicted Resident.

Every time electoral officials came to verify the
names of these 19 families, Adwal residents denied
they ever lived here. Members of the denotified Dafer
tribe, they used to be nomadic but they’ve long given
up their wandering lifestyle and now crave security.

”Our children have never gone to school. We want
these identity cards so they can go to school and
other things like drivers licenses,” said Gulab,
Evicted Resident.

For almost 3 decades, these people were able to work
out a symbiotic relationship with the Adwal residents,
of tending to their farms in return for a place to
live. But now democracy has created a rift.

”How can we give them when they only live for few
months. First 10 will live here, then they
will bring more people here,” said Brij Raj Sinh,
Deputy Sarpanch, Dandhuka.

These people have been living in such poor conditions
and that’s why they want voter cards, so that they can
fight to rise above these conditions.
~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘The exclusion of Gujarat’s Muslim community is
systemic, state-led’

Harsh Mander, a former IAS officer who resigned in the
wake of the Gujarat 2002 riots, was one of the first
people from outside Gujarat to report on the
bloodshed. Now, as someone actively engaged in
providing succour to the victims of the riots, he
speaks to ANIL VARGHESE on how the genocide has
assumed an economic form.

Posted on 29 November 2007

http://www.tehelk a.com/story_main36.asp?fi lename=Ws081207Gujarat.as p

You have been involved in providing relief to the
victims of the 2002 riots in Gujarat. What is the
situation in the relief camps?

In Gujarat, five years after the riots, there are no
relief camps. They have been disbanded. 2 lakh people
have been displaced; some, because they are homeless,
and others, because they are too frightened to return.
The government refused to set up relief camps.
Initially, the Muslim community mustered personnel and
resources and set up relief camps. The government
decided to go for elections 6 months after the riots
and unfortunately disbanded the camps. The situation
on the ground did not change much. Fear and hate was
still in the air. The victims were not welcome back in
their villages. They had to renegotiate their return.
The people in the villages preferred not to have them
back but if they did return, conditions were laid
down. The conditions included not pursuing legal
justice and that the sound of adhan should not be
heard. Some people, about half of the displaced, have
accepted these conditions and returned to their
villages. Even now they are living in conditions of
extreme fear and hatred. It has almost become a way of
life. People refuse to employ you and trade with you.
Of the other half displaced, some have left the state
altogether. There are others who have moved into
ghettoes. There were still some who had nowhere to go.
They were picked up from the streets and kept in
relief colonies. There are 81 such colonies. The state
government was in complete denial, leaving the
colonies with no resources and facilities. We took up
the matter in the Supreme Court. Also as a special
commissioner of the Supreme Court in the ‘Right to
Food’ case, I managed to get the state government to
admit to the need for relief for these victims of the
riots. Now these colonies have the basic markers of
relief.

To what extent has the Muslim community been
economically ostracised?

In rural Gujarat, the boycott is more visible. In
urban areas, it is also there but with the anonymity
in the urban context, identities are concealed and and
a systematic boycott is not easy to operationalise.
The spirit of boycott is still there but the practice
is stronger in the villages affected by the violence.
This continues even 5 years after the riots.

Did the conditions, which prevailed in rural Gujarat
prior to 2002 as opposed to the rural areas of the
neighbouring Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh
in areas of education, agriculture and employment,
throw up explanations for the riots?

The conditions, which led to the riots, resulted from
a intensive work by the Sangh Parivar over of a period
of 15-16 years under BJP rule in the state. Hindus and
Muslims have lived together for centuries in India. A
carnage of this magnitude was planned systematically
with the support of the BJP and that of the non State
actors like the Sangh protected by the State. And the
preparations and the manufacture of a polarised
community led to the carnage.

In 2002, the genocide with all the bloodshed drew
widespread condemnation. Has it now taken on an
economic guise?

In some ways it has been observed that 5 years since
the carnage, now, it is as or even more genocidal
because there are no weapons, mobs or bloodshed but
people continue to live in fear. That is the reality
in Gujarat in areas that were affected by the
violence. There is very little remorse and reparation.
I shall, however, underline the fact that this is not
the complete story. There have been extraordinary
individual acts of compassion from the Hindu
community. This is also the reality of Gujarat. There
are individuals who have shown enormous courage in
coming to the rescue of their Muslim neigbours both
during the riots and after.

How would you describe the present state of schools,
workplaces and agriculture in rural Gujarat?

There exists boycott of Muslim agricultural labourers
to the extent that they would employ non Muslim
labourers as far as they are available. They deal with
non Muslim shops, again as far as they are available.
Schools are not segregated yet but a significant
number of children from Muslim families have dropped
out. Parents are frightened to send their children to
school after the carnage. There is also the economic
compulsion. I see the situation in Gujarat after the
carnage as a process by which second-class citizenship
of the Muslims has been achieved. That is what is
terrifying.

Modi has been projecting Gujarat as a ‘ vibrant’
economy. The government also released the Ernst and
Young Report recently with much fanfare. Is this a
ploy to cover up the fracture that runs through the
state? With the majority community benefiting
exclusively, is Modi paying back his supporters for
their part in marginalising the Muslim community?

There is a huge amount of debate about the extent of
the economic prosperity as to whether the development
has been taking the normal course or this particular
government actually contributed to it in the last 5
years. This is certainly a part of India that seems to
be prospering. Leading industries have lined up there
to legitimise the Modi Government including the Tatas,
Birlas and Ambanis. But many experts dispute the
claims of economic prosperity –how deep it is, how
widespread it is. But for me, that is not the crucial
question. The crucial question really is this. Do a
democratically elected economy and a vibrant economy
really legitimise this fascistic politics and mass
murder? Of course the development here is not
inclusive nor is it anywhere else in the country but
the difference is that the exclusion of the Muslim
community is much more systemic, state-led here.

Is there a space for the corporate leaders to be a
little more responsible especially those operating
from outside Gujarat?

Mr ( Vijaypat) Singhania, now the chairperson of IIM
Ahmedabad, remarked in his last convocation address on
these lines; that we should get our priorities right,
not lose ourselves in the minor issue of the genocide
but focus on the economic growth. I found this
statement extremely dangerous. We have other people
like Anu Aga, Chairperson of Thermax, speaking out on
the situation in Gujarat, explicitly stating that we
cannot speak of economic growth in the context of
economic injustice, fear and hate. I don’t think the
corporate leaders have stood up and countered
adequately the injustice prevalent in Gujarat.

And the bureaucracy in Gujarat. How communalised is it
and how have the civil servants from other states been
taken on board?

With the bureaucracy there has been widespread
complicity, not just in the carnage but also in the
issues surrounding the rehabilitation and
investigation. None of this would have been possible
if the bureaucracy had put its foot down on the
matter. But there are many extraordinary examples of
courage as well from young police officers during the
carnage and the investigations that followed. By and
large the institution has been extremely complicit. I
have this question. Do the bureaucrats and policemen
crawl because they are frightened or because they
share in the project of hate? To me, the way the
communal politics has been played out is the most
dangerous aspect.

RB Sreekumar, the intelligence chief of the Gujarat
police during the riots, remarked in a recent
interview with Tehelka that the IAS and IPS officers
joined in the bandwagon of hate because they were
promised better positions and transfers in exchange.

The fact that the bureaucracy was complicit in
carrying out the carnage is beyond dispute. There
could be three reasons for their complicity. One, they
were so frightened they couldn’t take a stand; second,
they were bribed by seniors and third, they believed
in it. My observation is that sometimes it is bits of
all three but usually it is the third. If this is
actually true, this is truly frightening.

9 | zindadil
26/12/2007 at 11:55 pm

Gujarat after four years
By J. S. Bandukwala

The Milli Gazette Online

4 March 2006

Vadodra: The Best Bakery, with all its twists and turns, has become a symbol of Gujarat 2002. In all 14 people, including three Hindus were burnt alive. All of them were poor. Many more people were killed in places like Naroda Patiya and Gulbarga Society. Yet a number of factors combined to make this case the mirror of the tragedy of Gujarat. Oddly the most important was the determination of Zaheera Shaikh to bring the culprits to book.. The Bakery belonged to her family. She lost an uncle and a sister on that fateful day. In the immediate aftermath, she pledged that she would never marry until the culprits were punished. She filed the original complaint that named all of those who were finally convicted.

The Gujarat police and judicial system were equally determined to prevent any conviction. Prosecutors were appointed from the VHP. The police investigation was deliberately most sloppy, to the extent that the district administration did not even know how many people died in the burning of the Bakery. This careless attitude led the then Chief Election Commissioner, James Michael Lyndgoh to describe the Vadodara District magistrate as a joker. Narendra Modi responded by describing Lyndgoh and Sonia Gandhi as Christians defaming Gujarat. Incidentally this district magistrate came from a hard core RSS family, and belonged to the state administrative Service. He was promoted by Modi to the IAS and given the sensitive posting . The same was true of the Police Commissioner, who belonged to the State Service, but was promoted to the IPS, and made the police chief of the city. In both cases many senior IAS / IPS officers were bypassed. Needless to say these two worthies were staunch Modi loyalists, from whom the riot victims could expect absolutely no support.

In similar manner the trial judge was pulled out from retirement to preside over this vital case. He watched in silence as the prosecutor and the defence became one. Key prosecution witnesses were deliberately not called to testify. The court room was filled up by highly aggressive VHP men. Most witnesses turned hostile. The minimum the trial judge could have done was to clear his court room of all outsiders, and honestly tried to find why the witnesses were turning hostile. Instead he conducted a kangaroo trial, acquitting all the accused, and went on to blame Nehru’s industrial policies, the reservation system and even the communists for the communal riots. On appeal to the High Court, the acquittals were confirmed, with two judges, to the eternal shame on the higher judiciary, describing those helping the riot affected as anti national and anti social. This farce only confirmed that it is impossible for one community to get justice in the Gujarat of Narendra Modi.

No wonder there was a nation wide outrage, that led the Supreme Court to order a retrial outside Gujarat. As usual Modi called it an insult to the five crore people of Gujarat. Yet the persistence and idealism of Teesta Setalvad, combined with excellent special prosecutor and judge in Mumbai, saw the wheels of justice grind once again. The witnesses who were deliberately not called in Vadodara, agreed to testify in Mumbai. They identified the accused. For the VHP, the only hope lay in winning over Zaheera Shaikh, the original complainant. Even during the original trial, Vadodara was full of rumours of a BJP MLA, making fantastic offers to Zaheera. Later Tehelka.com ,in a sting operation got this MLA to admit that he paid Rs. 18 lakhs to Zaheera , to become hostile in the Vadodara trial. To regain her credibility, Zaheera flip flopped, joined Teesta in Mumbai, and accused the BJP MLA of threatening her. The next flip flop came just prior to her Mumbai deposition. She changed into a five star avatar, living in posh hotels and driving the best cars. She stood totally behind the accused and the VHP, declared piously that she would never lie during Ramzan, and went on to charge Teesta with kidnapping her to Mumbai. The poor slum girl was now a page three socialite. But her frequent flip flops destroyed her credibility totally.

The Best Bakery conviction is a huge relief for all those who value justice. Yet there is no happiness at the conviction of the accused. After all they are all from poor families. Their families will be ruined. They were provoked to a frenzy by political leaders, desperate to win the Gujarat Assembly elections. In every case examined, we have found that the fuse was lit by politicians, who cleverly vanished as soon as the violence began. They won the election by a huge margin, but the price was paid by the poor Muslims who were killed, and by the equally poor Hindus who are being convicted for that offence. Further there is hardly any mention of VIP’s in the category incitement to mob violence. A totally communalized police force saw to it that their political masters were not mentioned in any FIR.

Where does Gujarat go from this stage? Obviously the first focus must be on the large number of remaining cases, particularly the big ones, such as Naroda Patiya and Gulbarga Society. The cases must be handed over to the CBI, and tried outside Gujarat.

It is also time to expose the role of the leaders of Gujarat society , whether in Government, business, intellectual elite, Gandhians , the media and even religious figures. The then Governor did not even send a mandatory report to the President, on the breakdown of law and order in the State. The then Prime Minister went to Ahmedabad after a month of mayhem, advised Modi on his rajdharma, and then three days later at Goa, did a perfect flip flop and blamed Muslims for the killing of Muslims. Cabinet Ministers sat in police control rooms to prevent any help reaching the victims. The language press, particularly Sandesh reduced itself to the level of gutter journalism, to keep the frenzy against Muslims alive. Many Gujarati intellectuals justified the attacks on Muslims, and came out with homilies on the need to civilize the barbarian Muslims. The less said about religious leaders the better. Swaminarayn sants blessed the trishuls given out by the VHP to the rioting killers. .Jain munis ,who normally become very disturbed when people eat eggs, kept quiet, while trishuls were inserted into the private parts of women , before being killed. Even so eminent a figure as Ela Bhatt, a Magsaysay award winner, publicly declared twice, that no rapes have occurred in Gujarat. The attack on the Muslims of Kawant was started from the nearby Gandhian Ashram of Harivallabh Parikh, considered a close disciple of Vinoba Bhave. Leading businessmen and industrialist responded to the call of the VHP for an economic boycott of Muslims. No wonder today it is difficult to find a Muslim in Nirma.

Yet there were rays of hope in the darkness of Gujarat. Chunibhai Vaidya , Narayan Desai and Jagdish Shah, kept the Gandhi spirit alive. Kirit Bhatt, Indu Jani, Rohit Prajapati, Mukul Sinha and Gagan Sethi , Teesta Setalvad and their countless, silent friends, fought the forces of darkness ,at great risk to their lives. Eminent Gujaratis like Dr. I. G. Patel, Manubhai Patel and Jinabhai Darji wept at the madness that had engulfed their community. Their sense of remorse will ever live in our hearts. Nation wide, the media, senior lawyers, judges and progressive forces did everything in their power to see that Gujarat comes back to its senses. In a vital show of inter faith unity, our Christian brothers, particularly Father Cedric Prakash played a leading role in bringing Gujarat to the attention of the world .

Today the Muslims of Gujarat have substantially emerged from the trauma of 2002. Grace be to God, that instead of withdrawing into their shells, they opened out to the outside world. There has been a sharp increase in education among Muslims, particularly girls. The demand is for quality education, especially in the subjects of English, Maths and Science. The community no longer looks upto crime dons as their saviours. There is an increasing realization that we have to live with our Hindu brothers and sisters, and as such we must avoid hurting their feelings. That is a huge step forward. Further there is an awareness that Muslims have to generate wealth, through business , as the only way we can come out of poverty.

There is a healthy cynicism about political leaders. The Congress policy of soft Hindutva is widely resented. In particular the widely held notion among Gujarat Congress leaders that Muslims have no choice but to vote for them,; as the other side is saffron, touches a raw nerve among all Muslims. It was this belief that led the Congress party to avoid even a hint of identification with Muslims, all through the worst phase of 2002. It is in the vital interests of Muslims and even of Gujarat, that they be not viewed as a captive vote bank of any political party. Muslims must learn to view politics beyond their immediate concern for security. They are a part of the country, and must give greater priority to social and economic issues that touch their lives

Most important Muslims must recognize that it is in their paramount interests that a dynamic secular India must succeed. That alone can provide impetus for an Islamic renaissance ,both within India and throughout the world.. The twenty first century belongs to those who can bridge the divide between the Muslim and the non Muslim world. By Grace of Allah ,Indian Muslims are rightly positioned for this historic role.

Prof. Bandukwala may be contacted at drbandukwala@yahoo.co.in

Zindadil (Baroda, India)
2 days ago ( 2007-12-25 03:36:04 )
Gujarat Muslims: Appeal to Sachar Committee
Gujarat Muslims: Appeal to Sachar Committee

The Milli Gazette Online

5 March 2006

Following is the text of the representation made by prominent Gujaratis on February 7, 2006 to the Justice Rajendra Sachar, Chairperson, Prime Minister’s High Level Committee to probe the Social, Economic and Educational Status of Muslims Community of India, during the Committee’s visit to Ahmedabad:

Two consultations were held to discuss the socio-economic problems of Muslims in Gujarat (6-7 August 2005 and 29th January 2006) to be presented before the Prime Minister’s High Level Committee. The issues listed below have emerged from these two consultations, which are presented for your perusal. Approximately Sixty people attended the consultations.

1. Education and educational institutes:

a. Census of 2001 shows that literacy level among Muslims has improved over last ten years, but drop out of Muslims is still very high and hence the number of students going to higher education and professional courses is abysmally low. The low number of girls in higher education is of particular concern.

b. But the genocide of 2002 in Gujarat has adversely affected the education of Muslim girls and boys. Thousands of Muslim families have not been able to return to their original homes. Many do not go to schools because schools are far away or because of fear of new areas and school. This in long term will have adverse impact not only on individuals, but on the community and the country.

c. More and more self – financed schools are coming up, where the Muslim students, because of high fees can not go and so are forced to go to Government schools where the quality of education is poor, this results in poor performance at higher level and high drop out.

d. Muslim Trusts are finding it increasingly difficult to get permission to open new education institutes. They are not given Grant in Aid by the Government. Hence to run institutes with community’s own resources are very difficult. The situation is of concern because of the discrimination that Muslims face in every walk of life.

e. In universities there are not enough Muslim teachers. We are convinced there are educated Muslims who are worthy to be University teachers

Recommendations:
1. Muslim Trusts should be granted permission to open new educational institutes and Government must give them grants.
2. Education for Muslim girls should be free up to graduation. Socio-economically backward Muslims should be given scholarships or loans without interest.
3. Government must open schools, polytechnic colleges, libraries etc. in areas where large number of Muslims reside. Government should set up monitoring and evaluation mechanism to ensure quality education.
4. Special coaching classes, including English and Computer should be opened in Muslim dominated areas to reinforce modern quality education.

2. Economy & Employment:

Majority of Muslims are economically backward is a well accepted fact. They depend on petty business. There are various hurdles in the way of their economic progress. We list few which if removed would go a long way in the economic progress of not only Muslims but of the country.

a. It is very difficult for Muslims to get Loans from the Banks to start or expand business or for housing. Large areas of Muslims are branded as “negative zones” by Banks and credit cards companies. Any Muslim from these areas is denied Loans without any investigation into his/her paying capacity. There are large areas. i.e. Juhapura where two hundred thousand Muslims live, yet there is not a single bank. There are hundred of Petrol Pumps but dealership is not given to Muslims. The last Muslim, according to our information to get dealership was in
1972.

b. Internally Displaced People live at far distance from their work places which cut into their meager income. Few options are available to them and their skills are downgraded. The economic and social ostracism of Muslims further impact their mental and physical well-being resulting in further deterioration of their economic status and self esteem.

c. Gujarat Public Service Commission board is responsible for the final choice of candidates for various influential administrative posts. Enough number of Muslims appears for written test and passes out but fails during the personal interview.

d. Government must take steps to ensure that enough number of Muslims are represented in Police. In Gujarat even senior IPS officers are posted in places that is less significant.

e. Muslims communities have lot of artisans who despite being skilled were marginalized. The process of globalization has further marginalized them. Some of the skills that Muslim possess and still do not get enough returns are-brocade work, Zardoshi, crochet, terracotta, minakari, tie and dye, kite making and broom making.

Recommendation:
1. Banks should be opened in or near Muslim dominated localities to ensure that the banking services are accessible to Muslims.

2. There must be members from minority communities in G.P.S.C selection committee.

3. Efforts must be made to improve skill of the artisans, financial support should be provided and should be helped in marketing their products.

3. Ghettoisation & Infrastructures:
Forced displacement and emergence of large ghettoes of Muslims is most distressing and ugly reality of developing Gujarat because of vicious communal milieu. These areas are completely ignored and no attempts are made to provide infrastructure roads, transportation or health facilities. Hence the people living in these areas are finding immense difficulties in earning their livelihood. Juhapura with a population of 2,00,000 and Bombay hotel area with population app. 50,000 have no health centre. Similar is the situation in many areas outside Ahmedabad.

Recommendation:

1. Government must recognize these localities and provide all necessary infrastructure, sanitation, heath facilities, livelihood opportunities, etc. for dignified living.

2. Muslim free Zone’ in Ahmedabad and Gujarat: a professional, high level scholarly study need to be carried out to ascertain the design behind this phenomenon and to work out the counter mechanism to arrest this process. An official affirmative action be initiated where encouragement and rewards are bestowed to the developers, builders who consciously promote co-habitation of the diverse communities

Other Issues:

a. Gujarat government has developed hundreds of housing colonies through Gujarat Housing Board but not a single colony is built in or near Muslim dominated areas. The badly segregated Gujarat needs that such colonies are developed in or near Muslims dominated areas.

b. After closer of mills acres of land in Ahmedabad is available. Part of that must be made available for housing for socio-economically backward Muslims and for commercial purposes to Muslims.

c. Wakf board has lot of resources and these resources are the ownership of Muslims. The inactive board needs to be reactivated and its enormous financial resources must be used for the development of Muslim communities.

d. There are about 28th Muslims groups included in the list of OBCs but they have not been getting jobs either in Government for private institutes. For last three years the students belonging to OBC categories have faced immense difficulties in getting admission in academic institutes. There are many instances of cancellation of admission of OBC Muslim students after
2 or 3 years of studies and thus their career were ruined. Some of the groups i.e. Agarias of Kutch should also be included in the OBC category.

e. A monitoring committee / Legal authority should be created to deal with complaints of discrimination against Muslims.

Dr. Hanif Lakdawala Dr. Shakeel Ahmed
Ms. Sheba George Lakdawala
Ms. Sofia Khan
Mr. Indukumar Jani
Fr. Victor Moses
Mr. Gagan Sethi
Mr. R. K. Saiyed
Dr. Bachubhai Desai
Mr. Ibrahim Shaikh
Mr. Afzal Memon
Mr. V. A. Isani
Justice S. M. Pirzada
Prof. Abid Shamsi
Mr. Ajajkhan Pathan
Prof. Mukhtar Chunawla
Dr. B. B. Siddiqui
Mr. Sohel Tirmizi
Mr. Achyut Yagnik
Mr. Girish Patel
Mr. Mohd. Safi Madni
Mr. Yusuf B. Shaikh
Mr. Jamal Patiwala
Ms. Gazala Paul
Dr. N. D. Ghasura
Mr. Mohd. Ibrahim Siddiqui
Mr. Mohammed G. Desai
Mr. Ahmed Shaikh
Dr. Mehrunnisha Desai
Mr. S.N.A. Kazi
Mr. Vajir Khan Pathan
Mr. Yusuf Saiyed
Prof. M. G. Bombaywala
Dr. Habib Kakiwala
Mr. Mehbub G. Malek
Mr. Faruk Bawani
Dr. D. A. Kherada
Haji Hasam Deda
Mr. Vajid Hussain Saiyed
Mr. Juned Shaikh
Prof. Nisar Ansari
Prof . Darshini Mahadevia
Mr. M. D. Lohani

C/o. Dr. Hanif Lakdawala
Sanchetana Community Health and Research Center
O-45, 46, 4th Floor, New York Trade Center ,
Nr. Thaltej Cross Road , Ahmedabad 380054
Gujarat , INDIA .
Phone : +91-79-26857848,+91-79-30 182685,+91-79-30182688
F ax : +91-79-26843395
E-mail : ifieahdad1@sancharnet.in
sanchetana@sanchetana.o rg

11 | zindadil
26/12/2007 at 11:58 pm

Anti-Muslim ‘poison’ still strong , says Aruna Roy
Special Correspondent
Dec 05, 2007

http://www.hindu. com/2007/12/05/stories/20 07120561551700.htm

Koc hi: Five years after the 2002 communal carnage, the
‘poison’ of anti-Muslim hatred is still very strong in
Gujarat which is going to the polls shortly, says
renowned social worker and Magsaysay Award winner
Aruna Roy.

“The poison stays,” said Ms. Roy, whose campaigns for
getting the right to information legislated won
international appreciation. “The whole society acts
like Hitler.”

She was speaking at a seminar on ‘Human rights and
development’ at Rajagiri College, Kalamassery, on
Tuesday.

Different

The Gujarat carnage was different from the 1984 Delhi
riots (in which nearly 3,000 Sikhs were massacred) in
that the situation in Delhi had turned normal soon
after the riot, she said. “But in Gujarat, even today,
the current thinking is such that people do not listen
to reason; the society acts completely without
rationality.”

Religious identity was the ‘lowest common denominator’
in Gujarat’s social life. “Are you a Muslim, or are
you a Hindu? This Bush-like question determined one’s
position in society. One single community has grabbed
all debates and the public domain.”

Systematic campaign

She pointed out that this situation was the outcome of
25-30 years of systematic campaign against the
Muslims.

Every psychological issue had been used to demonise
Muslims. This was the reason why the State flared up
in minutes after the Godhra incident.

Such campaigns are going on in many other States too,
she cautioned.

In Rajasthan, where she works, both Muslims and
Christians are being attacked. In view of such
campaigns, the biggest challenge to human rights in
India was to keep pluralism alive.

She pointed out that the definition of human rights
had expanded enormously. Apart from the traditional
rights such as the right to life and security, it also
includes, she said, “the right to stay on your
property, the right to water, right to send your
children to school and your right to work.”

Zindadil (Baroda, India)
5 days ago ( 2007-12-21 07:11:04 )
Read it if you have the stomach
It is called the Bombay Hotel but there is no service
to speak of.

Indeed, the 8,000 or so Muslim families who live in
this flyblown shantytown on the edge of the Gujarati
city of Amhedabad make do without running water and
regular electricity, never mind such luxuries as
bathrooms and medical facilities.

With a widely watched election taking place in Gujarat
next week, this shantytown is a crucial backdrop to
the contest being played out in one of India’s most
restive states, between the ruling right-wing
nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the
centrist Congress Party, the party of Jawaharlal
Nehru.

The people living in the Bombay Hotel area rushed
there for safety in the aftermath of Gujurat’s 2002
violence during which up to 2,000 people killed and
thousands more wounded, most of them Muslims. The
attacks were carried out by Hindus, partly in
retaliation for an alleged arson attack on a train in
which more than 50 Hindu pilgrims were killed. The
killings, spread over three months, represent India’s
deadliest religious violence since Partition in 1947.

That the aftermath of such violence should be a
political issue just five years after it took place is
perhaps not surprising. But in recent weeks the
violence of 2002 has been thrust to the forefront of
the current contest because of fresh allegations
directly accusing BJP officials and the state’s Chief
Minister, Narendra Modi, of orchestrating the
killings.

Mr Modi and his supporters adamantly deny the
allegations. But few would argue that the 57-year-old
has become one of the most controversial politicians
in India. Animated, confident and charismatic, Mr Modi
has placed himself at the centre of the BJP campaign,
even as the allegations against him have mounted.

Indeed, it appears he thrives on controversy. When the
Congress Party’s president, Sonia Gandhi, the
Italian-born widow of the assassinated Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi, alleged that Gujurat was run by “liars
… peddlers of religion and death,” Mr Modi retorted
that she was merely “slinging Italian mud”. He added:
“That kind of mud only makes me and the lotus [the
symbol of the BJP] stronger”.

It has long been alleged that Mr Modi and senior
members of the BJP state government did nothing to
prevent the violence that broke out in the spring of
2002. It was soon after the fire on board the
Sabarmarti Express which broke out while the train was
stopped at the city of Godhra.

It was alleged that a Muslim mob deliberately started
the fire after they got involved in an altercation
with Hindus, but at least one government inquiry has
concluded it was caused by a cooking-fire accident on
board the train. In all, 58 pilgrims were killed –
among them 20 children – and the train was gutted.

The backlash began soon afterwards. In more than 150
towns and almost 1,000 villages, violence broke out,
overwhelmingly as Hindus attacked Muslim communities.
While there are also some reports of Muslims attacking
Hindus, few dispute that most victims were members of
the minority community that make up 10 per cent of the
state’s population. The official death toll said 790
Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed, though a number of
rights groups estimate the toll to have been double
that.

In the aftermath of the attacks the BJP government was
widely condemned for not acting to prevent the
killings. The Indian Supreme Court likened Mr Modi to
a “modern-day Nero” while the US government refused
him a visa on the grounds that he had “violated
religious freedom”.

A report by Human Rights Watch said state officials
were involved. “What happened was not a spontaneous
uprising, it was a carefully orchestrated attack
against Muslims,” it said. “The attacks were planned
in advance and organised with extensive participation
of the police and state government officials.”

Last month, the allegations got more serious. An
undercover investigation in the news magazine Tehelka
said Mr Modi explicitly approved of the “pogrom” and
helped to protect perpetrators. Using hidden video
cameras, a reporter from the magazine filmed people
allegedly involved in the planning and carrying-out of
the killings. It quoted Haresh Batt, at the time the
leader of a fundamentalist Hindu organisation, as
saying: “[Modi] had given us three days to do whatever
we could. He said he would not give us time after
that. He said that openly. After three days he asked
us to stop and everything came to a halt.”

It also quoted testimony from three men accused of one
of the massacre’s most notorious incidents, the
killing of a former Congress MP, Ehsan Jafri. He took
shelter in his home in the Gulbarg distrct of
Ahmedabad, from where he frantically telephoned the
police, colleagues in Delhi and even the Chief
Minister’s office for help. None came. In all, at
least 39 Muslims were killed there. “Five or six
people held him, then someone struck him with a sword,
chopped off his hand, then his legs, then everything
else,” the magazine quoted one of those accused as
saying. “After cutting him to pieces they put him on
the wood they’d piled and set it on fire … burnt him
alive.”

Among Indian civil society, the reaction has been one
of outrage. Many have called on the Congress
Party-dominated central government to order an
inquiry. Others have questioned why the police are not
investigating the allegations against Mr Modi.

But in Ahmedabad, once known as the Manchester of
India because of its now faded textile industry, the
reaction has been different. While Muslims have seized
on the report as proof of what they always believed,
some BJP supporters have simply chosen to ignore it.

More troubling, there are suggestions – and some
anecdotal evidence – that Mr Modi’s support has grown
in the aftermath of the allegations. Such is the
belief that the Chief Minister has benefitted from
being seen by fundamentalist Hindus as someone who
will “stand up” to Muslims, it is not uncommon to hear
claims that Mr Modi was behind the Tehelka story.

“Modi himself has made this. He knows that people will
like it,” said Gulman Hussain, a Muslim printing press
worker who was sitting drinking tea at a stall in the
centre of Ahmedabad.

What is curious is that, with the two sides running
close in the polls, the Congress Party has chosen not
to make more of the seemingly damaging allegations
against Mr Modi, barely raising them in its campaign.
A Congress Party member, who asked not to be named,
said: “The Congress Party has to be careful. It needs
the support of Hindu voters. It does not want to raise
this issue.”

Alkesh Patel, an Ahmedabad jeweller, who declined to
reveal how he will vote next week, said: “The 2002
violence is the main issue. They do not generally
speak openly but when the poll comes, the issue is
very important for the public… I think the BJP will
win. It will be communualism. No one is saying so in
public but everybody knows.”

Asked why the Congress Party was not raising the
issues in Tehelka, Raju Parmar, an MP and party
spokesman, chose instead to question the motives
behind its publication. “Why has it come in the middle
of the election? The people of Gujarat will decide,”
he said. Asked why the party was not calling for an
inquiry, he said: “The law will take its own course.”

Mr Modi has spent most of the campaign promoting the
BJP’s effort to develop Gujarat’s economy. The party
has pushed itself as the agent of development in a
state that is seen as succeeding in attracting outside
investment from industrialists. As he travels the
rural parts of the state, one of Mr Modi’s more
populist slogans has been: “You give me lotus, I will
give you Lakshmi [the goddess of wealth].”

Many believe this. “I will vote for Mr Modi. For the
last seven years he has done a lot of good work and he
is the only person not corrupted,” said Susir Sarkar,
a businessmen. “He has built roads and done
infrastructure.”

In recent days, Mr Modi has switched tactics.
Repeatedly challenged by Congress over the state’s
economic development, the Chief Minister has opted to
change the headlines with statements on the death of
Shorabuddin Sheikh. The alleged underworld operative
was shot dead by police in 2005 in what is commonly
termed a “fake encounter” – a staged incident in which
a suspect is deliberalty targeted. Several senior
police officers have been arrested over the killing,
but this week Mr Modi said he himself had ordered the
hit.

“What should have been done to a man from whom a large
number of AK-47 rifles were recovered, who was on the
search list of police from four states, who attacked
the police, who had relations with Pakistan and wanted
to enter Gujarat?” he asked of a rally of supporters.
They responded by chanting: “Kill him, Kill him.” Mr
Modi replied: “Do I need to take Sonia Gandhi’s
permission for this? Hang me if I’m wrong.”

Analysts say Mr Modi’s comments were significant
because it was the first time in the campaign he had
resorted to communalism. Mr Sheikh was a Muslim, as
are many of those killed in so-called fake encounters
with the police. “All fake encounters involve
Muslims,” said the analyst and author Achyut Yagnik.
“So, by saying that, he is saying ‘I will protect you
against Islamic fundamentalism’.”

Mr Modi’s comments resulted in the state’s Election
Commission accusing him of breaking guidelines
designed to deter politicians from inciting racial
hatred. But the Chief Minister appears to show little
concern. The next day he spoke at another rally
demanding the hanging of “terrorists” in police
custody.

For all its local issues, Gujarat’s election has
national implications. If the Congress Party manages
to win control of the state assembly – the BJP holds
127 of its 182 seats – it may be persuaded to call a
snap general election. At the same time, re-election
for Mr Modi could reinvigorate the BJP and see his
brand of Hindu-centric campaigning thrust to the
foreground.

Meanw hile, for the displaced people of the Bombay
Hotel, talk of electoral politics fails to resonate.
Raisu Isabanu said her son, Mohammed Yasin, 20, was
shot dead in the 2002 violence. “I cannot think of
anything after I lost him,” she said. Of Mr Modi, the
man accused of so much, she said: “We don’t want him
to run again.”