a pre-1947 dargah is razed

R.K. MISHRA
"My heart is a thorn filled with longing for Gujarat...on earth there exists no balm for its wound. My heart split asunder by the dagger of separation."
�Vali Gujarati, Sufi saint/poet (1650-1707)

On February 28, '02, Vali Gujarati's tomb in Ahmedabad was razed to the ground by Hindu mobs. Overnight, it vanished and a road was paved on the spot where it once stood. On May 1, '06, the less significant and tiny Rashiduddin Chishti dargah on the Fatehpura-Champaner road in Vadodara was razed to the ground. Three bulldozers were used by the city municipal corporation to bring down a mere seven-foot structure. Riots broke out in Vadodara. Six people were killed, each death a grisly reminder of the 2002 riots. Hundreds were injured as the city burnt. Eventually, the Centre had to send the army to keep the mobs in check.

The question now is, why did local authorities indulge in such a blatantly provocative act, destroying a dargah that residents believe is 200 years old? True, it wasn't of great historical value; it was a typical roadside mazaar. Yet it was a religious structure of some vintage. Outlook has a copy of a 1912 city survey record on which the shrine is clearly marked. In the context of the Places of Worship (special provisions) Act passed by the Indian Parliament in 1991, it is illegal to demolish a shrine built before 1947. The act seeks to "prohibit the conversion of any place of worship and to provide for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on the 15th of August, 1947".

The BJP-ruled municipal corporation claims it has been even-handed towards Hindus and Muslims. Mayor Sunil Solanki has said that a number of roadside temples were removed, so why not the dargah. Civic officials say four such temple encroachments were removed in the Tulsiwadi area of Vadodara on April 3, and a dargah and accompanying temple at Danteshwar on April 21. Again on April 28, two temple-like structures were demolished in Alkapuri and three on Productivity Road a day later.

A 1912 Vadodara city survey map showing the dargah marked in red

Then, on April 28, the municipal corporation issued a notice for the demolition of the Rashiduddin Chishti dargah. The residents were violently opposed, so negotiations began. According to advocate Moin Rafi, the community had agreed to reduce the width of the dargah. But even as negotiations were on, the structure was demolished and the city went up in flames.

The administration had meanwhile got a shot in the arm by a controversial ruling of the Gujarat HC. Taking note of a newspaper report, a two-judge bench directed all municipal corporations to demolish all illegal religious shrines encroaching on public spaces. Four days after the violence broke, the Supreme Court again had to overturn the decision of the Gujarat High Court. On May 4, on a plea made by the Centre, a two-judge bench stayed the state HC order.

Although roadside temples had been demolished, they were recent structures. The dargah was built pre-1947. Local residents say the demolition was nothing more than a show of strength by the VHP and local BJP. They had been putting pressure on the administration to pull down a "Muslim shrine" for all the roadside mandirs being destroyed. An eye for an eye. The more the Muslims argued that this was an old structure, the more determined were the VHP-BJP hardliners to destroy it.

Yusuf Sheikh is an active organiser and community leader in Vadodara.He believes the entire episode was pre-planned. "It's not necessary that Modi should give an order. The VHP-BJP have their little factions. They all want to show they are real men. So every now and then, it's useful to attack Muslim symbols." He says the VHP-Bajrang Dal cadre have now realised that they cannot really hurt the community by burning their shops because post-2002 many Muslim businessmen have insured their properties. "So very few shops were targeted. But small traders and those who work out of kiosks and stands were destroyed." Aren't the Muslims too scared to protest? "They get beaten when they are scared, so now they are just getting angry and feeling helpless," says Yusuf.

So was this a "power" statement by the BJP establishment? There is no evidence to show that chief minister Narendra Modi masterminded the episode. But political analysts say once violence erupted, he watched the situation for two days before finally taking action. There's also another theory doing the rounds. It is widely believed that Modi has been doing so well in every byelection and local election that he considers himself invincible right now and would like to prepone the assembly polls scheduled for November 2007. But once the Centre began making noises, Modi quickly realised that without a friendly government at the Centre, instead of polls he may be stuck with President's rule. So after two days of violence, he became the saviour, posing with Muslim victims in hospitals. He warned of stern action against all who took the law into their own hands. The violence ebbed.

Gagan Sethi of the Ahmedabad-based Centre for Social Justice explains the situation. He says the overt exclusion of Muslims continues in small and medium towns, including Vadodara. Any attempt at normalcy is frowned upon by the VHP cadres, now enmeshed in positions of power. "The problem here is that in a communal situation the police really do not know what it's supposed to do. They have to be told it's okay to try and impose a semblance of order. Once Modi decides the violence must stop, it does," says Sethi.

Meanwhile, a political point has been proven. Closer to the polls, more action can be expected in Modi's Gujarat. Sporadic communal flare-ups to keep the blood flowing. Meanwhile, the CM is now said to be in search of that one big emotive issue which enmeshes Hindu and Gujarati pride. No doubt he'll find one, he is a pastmaster at this game.

By R.K. Mishra and Saba Naqvi Bhaumik

http://outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20060515&fname=Gujarat+%28F%29&...

Citizens for Justice and Peace

Citizens for Justice and Peace
Vadodara Violence

ALERT

May 3, 2006

A 38 year old young man, Rafik Abdul Ghani Vohra, set upon by a mob that was led by Ashok Thakur and other well known VHP activists including his brothers in law, Jittu and Chinu, Sunil Dhobi, Hardik and Bharat (total mob strength was over 1,000) and burnt to death in his car, at Ajwa Road, while he was returning from Gujarat refineries, around 1 a.m. on Wednesday. Ashok Thakur. Jittu, Chinu, Sunil Dhobi, Hardik and Bharat were rampaging though Vadodara streets, unchecked by the police.

The mob had been gathering at Ajwa Road in trickles, during curfew hours, unstopped by the police, for two hours or so before the attack took place. Despite repeated calls by his family, neighbours to the police control and Commissioner of Police, a callous administration just did not respond. Some family members of the dead boy have told the NDTV that when they called, they were told 'to go to Pakistan.' Local social activists told us that the situation was worse than even 2002 because the police, chief minister's office and the home secretary's office was simply not responding to cautionary voices and alerts.

The trouble has root in the action of the Vadodara Police in shooting at and killing protestors agitating the demolition of an old dargah in the city yesterday needs to be looked at seriously. The durgah in question is the Durgah Hazrat Rasiuudin, a target of communal forces since 1969. At least 200 years old, it is present in the 1911 Vadodara City Survey plans. At the time the outskirts of the village were where these shrines were located. Durgahs, a symbol of India, and the sub continent's syncretic culture are often the mazhars [graves] of Sufi saints. Worshippers and the mujawar (caretaker) are often majority Hindu. Three persons died in the highly questionable police firing, 27 are injured and two of the majority Hindu community in retaliatory stabbings later. All these unequivocally condemned but we need to understand how the administration--civic and police--in fact stoked violence and miscommunication.
________________________________________________________________________
Nirant, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu, Mumbai - 400 049. Ph: 2660 2288 email: cjp02in@yahoo.com

Muslim residents of Vadodara were worried about the hostile stance of the administration. Hence they had agreed to a 'compromise' formula worked out between the community leaders and the administration a day before clearly appears to have been that a part of the shrine would be sacrificed for 'development.' Two and a half feet were to be 'sacrificed' since it slightly jutted out into the road.

Instead, on the morning of May 1, the police and corporation came with a sinister motive, demolished the whole structure and by afternoon had even paved a road over it. Nalin Bhatt and Yogesh Patel supervised the paving of the road. This is exactly what had been done to Wali Dakhani's tomb in Ahmedabad just outside the Commissioner of Police's office on March 1, 2002. The attempt appears to be to culturally annihilate a section by targeting the places of worship.

Worse still, when the police came to 'demolish' the place of worship and found protestors, they shot to kill, This action of the police apart from being a crime and punishable under law, is not in any way, conducive to building any trust between citizens and the police.

Significant issues that need to be addressed:

1. Why were 'neutral' members of the Vadodara Muncipal Corporation [VMC] and police accompanied by notorious figures like Nalin Bhatt, Yogesh Patel [MLA] and mayor Sushil Solanki [seen on TV] and all of whom made provocative slogans calling the shrine a mini-Babri? The Mayor went on to say that of the VMC did not demolish it, the services of the VHP and Bajrang Dal could be called in!!
2. Yogesh Patel and Nalin Bhatt have been indicted by the Concerned Citizens Tribunal -Crimes Against Humanity, Gujarat 2002, for their involvement in the Gujarat violence.
3. Why did the Vadodara Police shoot to kill? Why was no effort made to restrain the agitated mob with muskets, tear gas, firing in the air? As shots on Channel 7 etc showed, the police were aiming their rifles to kill. This action of the police is suspect and leaves it open to serious charges of partisan conduct.
4. Why did the Commissioner of Police Deepak Swaroop relay inaccurate information that community leaders had sought a stay on the demolition when this is not factually true?
5. Why did the CP Swaroop conceal information about the reluctant 'compromise' worked out by the leaders of the minority community to allow 2 and a half feet of the shrine to be sliced off, where it jutted on to the road?
6. Why did the CP conceal information that the so called ten or twenty temples demolished before are 'deras" (home, private temples outside people's gates) not public ancient temples?
7. In fact on Old Padra Road there is a twenty year old temple that dates back to the aggressive rath yatra period carried out by Advaniji of the BJP and yet another on the Ahmedabad-Vadodara highway just as you enter Nizampura; there was no question of these being removed.
8. As far as the 'development' arguments are concerned, Vadodara after last year's deluge desperately needs road repair of potholes, has an acute water supply shortage, there is a garbage problem, how come this is not being looked into by the authorities.
9. Now there is fear that two more such shrines, Hazrat Yakubshahi durgah, opp Yakubpura and another Zohawarpeer na durgah are the next targets.
10. In fact, as background, 270 shrines were destroyed in premeditated violence of 2002 . Barely two dozen durgahs and masjuds have come again. More by community support than anything else.
11. A sinister development has been that on the night May 2 and 3, 2006 the same night that Rafik Vohra lost his life, one Ajay Dave owner of TNN Channel, Vadodara was seen by residents moving around Ajwa Road area and video shooting the entry and exit points of Bahar and Kismet Colony, Muslim colonies on this road. This has led to trepidation and fear among residents who hark back to memories of 2002 when such tactics were used before to the state sponsored genocide to selectively target minority Muslim life and property in various districts of the state.
12. A fear that an institution like Friends of the Police has been infilterated by communal elements needs to be investigated as they have apparently played a role in misdirecting the police.
13. Any one indulging in violence needs to be arrested.
14. For transparency the police must release NAMES and LISTS of those arrested to ensure transparency and accountability. Have FIRs been registered against prominent members of the ruling party who were present at the demolition site and last night leading the mob that burnt alive Rafik?
15. Is the police and state government going to prosecute prominent members of the political class (mentioned above) present at the demolition who raised communal and provocative slogans (indulged in hate speech)
16. Is the police going to initiate action against top and other police officers guilty of complicity and irresponsible behaviour when distress calls were made for help and during the demolition when they fired to kill?

Teesta Setalvad,
Co -editor and Secretary CJP
(09821314172)

IMC-USA press release

IMC-USA alarmed over deteriorating law & order situation in Gujarat, India

For Immediate Release

New York, 3nd May 2006: Indian Muslim Council-USA, an US based advocacy group dedicated to the promotion of pluralism, strongly condemned the Gujarat state government's demolition of a 300 year old historical Muslim shrine and the subsequent police shooting at civilian protesters that killed atleast 4 people and injured dozens. The government of India's western state of Gujarat is headed by Narendra Modi, who was banned last year by the US State Department from entering the United States on account of his role in numerous human rights abuses.

The 300 year old Muslim shrine was demolished by the city's municipal authorities under the pretext that it was an "illegal encroachment" prompting India's National Commission on Minorities to state: "It stands to reason that a structure that pre-dates a master plan cannot be put to the category of 'encroachment'. Nor could it be the policy of the government to pull down historical monuments".

"The systematic demolitions of Muslim monuments and properties under various pretexts have now become an established pattern of the Modi government in its drive to intimidate and ethnically cleanse Muslims from Gujarat" said Zeeshan Farees, spokeswoman for the Indian Muslim Council-USA.

Farees expressed alarm at the news reports that many Muslim localities were surrounded by mobs belonging to the Hindu extremist groups and of Muslim individuals being attacked and burned alive. She supported the calls by the Indian human rights activists for urgent intervention by the Central Indian government. "IMC-USA has launched an action alert in this regard. Human Rights Watch and other rights groups have amply documented the role played by the local administration and the state police forces in Gujarat which acted with prejudice and aided mobs in the massacre of Muslims during the 2002 carnage. We need the Federal police forces and military to be called in to bring the situation under control." she said.

Modi's government has been widely accused by Indian and International human rights organizations of playing an active role in the massacre of over 2,000 Muslims, the rape of hundreds of Muslim women and the ethnic cleansing of over 150,000 people during the 2002 violence in Gujarat. Over 260 Mosques and shrines were destroyed during violence that erupted under Modi's administration 3 years back. Low intensity violence and intimidation against religious minorities has been continuing in the state for several years.

CONTACT:

Zeeshan Farees
265 Sunrise Highway, Suite 1-355
Rockville Centre, NY 11570
(516) 567- 0783
info@imc-usa.org

Interim Report by PUCL

Download the pdf report below:

PUCL press release

People's Union for Civil Liberties
13, Pratap Kunj Society, Karelibaug, Vadodara - 390 018
Phone: Kiritbhai Bhatt ® 0265-2464210, Rohit Prajapati ® 0265-2320399
Email: sahajbrc@yahoo.com , rt_manav@sancharnet.in
________________________________________

PRESS RELEASE

Vadodara, May 2 2006

PUCL severely condemned the way the Mayor, the Police Commissioner and Municipal Commissioner of the city handled the issue of "demolition" of the Fatehpura dargah on Monday May 1, 2006.

Even the role of the Police in handling a restless public was totally at variance with norms to be followed in such situations; the Police went out of the way to instigate the people by directly aiming to fire upon and hurt sections of the people milling around.

PUCL condemns unruly and inhuman behavior of the Police, ignoring and bypassing all guidelines and norms for acting in such situations.

It must be kept in mind that in handling such situations nothing should be done at the expense of peace, harmony and justice in society at a time when the people are tense and sensitive about the issue.
_____________________________________________________________________________

A meeting of the PUCL held here today severely condemned the way the Mayor, the Police Commissioner and Municipal Commissioner of the city handled the issue of "demolition" of the Fatehpura dargah on Monday May 1, 2006.

The meeting was attended by Kirit Bhatt, Dr. J. S. Bandukwala, Jagdish Shah, Trupti Shah, Chinu Srinivasan, Rohit Prajapati, Raj Kumar Hans, Shobha Shah, Maya Valecha, Dipti Bhatt, Rita Choksi, Bina Srinivasan, Shubhra, Sameena, Jaimina and Nagin Patel.

It was a well known fact that the provocative utterances of the city Mayor, Sunil Solanki, had already vitiated the atmosphere and created apprehensions among the minority community of the city. For instance the Mayor had taken exception to the reported stand of the Police Commissioner that if they (the Police) are informed at the last moment, the Police would not cooperate. In response, the Mayor had allegedly threatened to launch the demolition of the dargah (mazhar) with the help of an "army" of VHP and BJP workers.

This had spread a wave of terror among the minority community. Knowing the communally charged atmosphere built up by such immature and unwarranted statements of the Mayor, the Municipal Commissioner should have conducted a prolonged dialogue with the concerned community; instead he let the situation get out of hand by sending his demolition squad as well as the machinery for laying a fresh road over the demolished mazhar. This was done even as a dialogue was on between the concerned community leaders and the VMC authorities. Any mature government would have put a restraint on such a loose-talking Mayor. The State Government on the contrary seems to have given a green signal to the Mayor to go ahead. The statements of well-known BJP leaders of the city and the State regarding the demolition and the subsequent police firing exposed the Government's intentions of creating a vertical split among the people.

Irrespective of the pressure by the political wings of the ruling party, it was imperative on the part of the bureaucracy to maintain total impartiality in the interests of peace and justice.

Even the role of the Police in handling a restless public was totally at variance with norms to be followed in such situations; the Police went out of the way to instigate the people by directly aiming to fire upon and hurt sections of the people milling around. The PUCL condemns such unruly and inhuman behavior of the Police, ignoring and bypassing all guidelines and norms for acting in such situations. It must be kept in mind that in handling such situations nothing should be done at the expense of peace, harmony and justice in society at a time when the people are tense and sensitive about the issue. Such repeated behavior demands complete reorientation of the methods of the Police.

We demand the resignation of the Mayor and the Municipal Commissioner who have no vision of maintaining calm in the city even as they are bent upon justifying their actions totally ignoring people's sentiments in the matter. Action needs to be taken against the Police Commissioner and his officers who failed in their duty to maintain the security and to follow set norms of functioning.

We appeal to the people of Vadodara to exercise restraint and note the mischievous strategy of dividing people, especially poor people, on communal lines. This is, among other things, an exercise to gain legitimacy over the recent spate of illegal demolitions of many slums and hutments in the city even as the ruling party "prepares" for the coming Assembly polls.

If the Vadodara Municipal Corporation was sincere, it would develop priorities in consultation with all segments of society and lay bare their plans of how they propose to use the Urban Renewal Mission funds in a transparent manner.

We appeal to concerned people and progressive groups to fax protest letter to the Mayor of Vadodara (0265-2433060), the Municipal Commissioner of Vadodara (0265-2433060), the Police Commissioner of Vadodara (0265-2432582), the Chief Minister of Gujarat (079- 23222101), the Union Home Minister of India (011-23093750) and the National Human Rights Commission (011-23384863).

Kirit Bhatt
Rohit Prajapati
Chinu Srinivasan
People's Union for Civil Liberties, Gujarat

Sitaram Yechuri in Rajya Sabha

SITARAM YECHURY SPEECH IN RAJYA SABHA

Vadodara Violence Is A Dangerous Portent

THE discussion taking place here is on a very serious issue and must not be brought down to the level of mudslinging. The question here, which we want to focus upon, is how to maintain communal harmony and how to strengthen the secular and democratic republic in the country. Whatever took place in Vadodara has the background of Gujarat 2002 which nobody said was a correct thing. And if that was wrong, the birth of a similar atmosphere in the state is a dangerous portent, which we must all be vigilant about. That is why we want that the Rajya Sabha must seriously discuss why such happenings are taking place in Gujarat.

Today, there are many Gujarat-related cases before the Supreme Court that says these cases need reinvestigation. The CBI is being told to reopen certain cases. We, perhaps for the first time, saw a round of allegations and counter-allegations after verdicts were pronounced about the guilty, and in the Zahira case we also saw some riot victims facing perjury charges for the first time. The complaint is that thousands of riot victims in Gujarat are still not getting justice. About POTA detainees, the POTA Review Committee says these arrests are not justified, and we want that the home minister who is present here must clarify the situation. The Gujarat High Court and the Supreme Court both had said the public prosecutor would have to accept the Review Committee’s decision. But this has not been done. The question is not whether economic development is taking place in Gujarat or not, the question is not whether this development can be expedited or not, the question is whether we would be able to preserve our secular democratic republic. The recent events need to be examined in this context.

You say that there were encroachments, that there are so many illegal structures that need to be removed. So do remove the encroachments. But the records say there already was a durgah in the name of Syed Rashiduddin Chishti where programmes were taking place everyday and these were fully funded by the Hindus. The durgah finds the first mention in 1912, in a municipal survey under the Baroda princely state of Siyajirao. It says the durgah is 385 years old. It is thus clear hat if a road was constructed there, it was the road that encroached upon the durgah property, not that the durgah encroached upon the road. You are talking of development; you say that roads are to be constructed. But the Vadodara commissioner is on record that they were talking to various people and that a solution could well have been worked out. I don’t want to go into the controversy that was just going on here between them and Mr Ahmad, as to whom the Gujarati Muslims would vote for. I would rather quote here from what a prominent BJP leader said in Vadodara: “The demolition of this durgah is a very well planned conspiracy. The Municipal Corporation authorities had promised us that it would not be demolished. We were working on a compromise formula, but they backed out and simply razed it.� This thing I am not saying; leaders of the BJP are saying. Then, if a compromise was possible, why did not they wait for it to take place? There were negotiations on the one hand, and on the other hand the police went on its own course, which led to a riot. And you know what takes place after a riot breaks out. There, only the shoot-at-sight order is issued. The autopsy reports say there was no lathicharge, no use of water cannons, nothing –– only firing and that too on chests.

There is a case in the Supreme Case regarding the present Gujarat IG Police, Pandey Saheb, and let me inform the House that once we had to spend a whole night sitting in his office. There was Amar Singh too with us, and there were Raj Babbar and Shabanaji who was then a member of this House. We had to sit there whole night on March 1, 2002, and we were unable to know what was taking place outside. Anyway, I don’t want to go into its detail; here I want to say that they brought him to the CBI, then he was made IG Police, and then took place the Vadodara incident within two weeks of that. I want that this House must take this thing very seriously –– that a 385 years old structure, the durgah of a Chishti Sufi saint was razed to the ground, just as the durgah of Urdu poet Wali Gujarati was demolished in Ahmedabad in 2002 and a road constructed there.

There is a Sufi shrine called Baba Budangiri at Chikmangalore in Karnataka. There too, a dispute is being created as to who would worship there. In 1993, this House had adopted a Places of Worship Bill, saying that the pre-1947 status of any place of worship would not be disturbed. If roads are to be constructed, there is plenty of experience as to how such disputes should be resolved. But the thing is that when a compromise solution was being worked out in Vadodara, they did not wait for it and took hasty action that deteriorated the atmosphere and led to a riot. It is in view of this thing that I ask the central government to direct the CBI to reinvestigate the cases, and there are 65 instances where a reinvestigation is needed. As for the POTA Review Committee report, the High Court and Supreme Court directive to the state government to implement it has not been fulfilled. In this situation, on behalf of the CBI or the POTA Review Committee, now the centre has to decide about who is accountable for it.

My learned colleague is a lawyer and a lawyer must know the difference between the executive and a quasi-judicial body. What is a Review Committee for? And, what are the terms of reference of this Review Committee, let the home minister please tell the House. And, the Review Committee here has said that these are the people who could be charged within the existing laws; there is no need of a POTA, Mr Jaitely. and this exactly what he said.

What I am saying here very clearly is that this matter is now before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has taken up the matter on what the Gujarat High Court has ruled. The Supreme Court is seized of that matter. But the point that I am making here, and on which I think I am right is this. I think I am right in making this point; let the court decide. But the POTA Review Committee gives its decision and it has given an unambiguous decision that more than 90 odd per cent of these people who have been arrested under POTA in Gujarat could have been tried under existing laws, and in no way can they be treated as conspiring in a terrorist conspiracy against the State, and this is the unequivocal, ambiguous decision of the POTA Review Committee. The public prosecutor of any state has no other option but to accept that. He can go to the court, and the court if it so decides, it can put that aside. Yes, let the courts decide that. But, how can the public prosecutor decide?

This is precisely why I began speaking saying that this is an issue that requires a certain amount of attention and gravity of this House. I did not want matters to degenerate. I do not want certificates for my patriotism from..... (expunged) I had very clearly said.

Again, I repeat that this issue requires to be discussed with a degree of gravity which is necessary for the sake of maintaining the secular democratic character of India. I was responding essentially when charges of protecting were levelled against us. Therefore, what I am again appealing to you and through you to the House is that this is a matter of very grave importance for the future of our country and after the great debate, all that they have been shouting just now, we went through all that and then finally we the people of India, adopted this Constitution, and the essential fundamental tenet and the feature of this Constitution on which the Supreme Court repeatedly endorsed the attention of the entire country is its secular democratic character, and that is something that we can never compromise and we cannot compromise. Therefore, what happened and continues to happen in Gujarat is a matter of serious concern. They say riots keep happening in the country. Does that mean we should allow them to continue to happen? The question is if the nation is being ruined, should we allow that to continue? This is not acceptable to us. Strict action must be taken to see that riots do not happen. A human being is torched to death in the dead of night by a riotous mob in Vadodara and will the home minister please tell the House if any action has been taken on this? It has been published in all newspapers that the rioting mobs roamed around freely in police presence. What action has been taken? Whatever has happened in Vadodara is not a matter related to one state. We are in the forefront in defending the rights of state governments. Law and order is a state subject and we don't like any central interference. However when the situation is such that the fundamental positions of the Counstitution are being threatened then everyone has a right to interfere to correct it. So, whatever has happened in Vadodara, we feel, is a clear violation of the 1993 Places of Worship Act. It was not a question of encroachment but a direct attack on a 385 year old Sufi shrine. There should be action against the guilty but there are reports even today that no action is being taken against the main accused. Steps must be taken to correct this situation given the past track record of Gujarat police and in the backdrop of Supreme Court's observations in this regard. We want the home minister and the home ministry to be actively involved in seeing that justice is done. This is necessary to prevent the atmosphere in the country from being communalised further and to strengthen our secular democratic republic.

Towards a Peaceful India

Day of Justice to Victims of Communal Violence.

Dear Friends,
We cannot have a peaceful India unless the state upholds rule of law and the civil society takes initiatives for reconciliation over communally divisive emotive issues, for which there should exist an empowered institutional mechanism .As a first step towards intergroup peace, it is required that the unrepentant guilty is punished and the innocent victims are fully rehabilitated and adequately compensated.

In this regard we find that the record of most state governments is very dismal, the worst example of which is provided by Nellie (Assam) 1983 and Hashimpura (Meerut,UP),1987.For 1984 Sikh victims a measure of justice is thankfully underway,after such a long delay,though the guilty have yet to be punished .

. The incident of killing of more than forty Muslims of Hashimpura (Meerut) on 22May1987 by PAC had stirred the conscience of the nation and demands were made for disbanding the PAC and trial of the guilty for treason.However the reality is very depressing. The next of kin of those killed have so far been paid just Rs. 40,000/- .The trail of the guilty of PAC personnel is yet to start.

Another example of gross injustice to victims is provided by Nellie (Assam) 1983, where just Rs. 2000/- was paid as compensation for those who were brutally killed in one of the worst massacres in Independent India. We understand there has been similar denial of justice to victims of most other major riots.
Conviction of the guilty has been very rare in all riots.
In view of this we have decided to observe 20-22 May 2006 as the Day of Justice to Victims of Communal Violence, as part of a larger campaign for ‘A Peaceful India’, in the first phase of which we consider it advisable to focus attention on the following:

(a) payment of adequate compensation to all victims of riots under uniform standards (b) proper trial/ retrial of riot related cases in law courts (c) action against officials indicted by Inquiry Commissions. .

In Delhi it is proposed to organize the following programme;

(a) Consultative meeting to highlight the issues in the larger perspective of peace in the country
Venue: YMCA, New Delhi Date: 20 May 2006 Evening
Token dharna at Jantar-Mantar on 21 May from 10:00 A.M to 1:00 PM
(b) Press Conference 21st Monday Afternoon
(c) Visiting Hashimpura, Meerut on 22 May to express solidarity with the victims.

In the next phase we shall focus attention on inter-community conflict resolution and reconciliation Similar meetings may be organized at various places where riots occurred, demanding equal justice for all victims and for trial/ retrial of all cases.We earnestly appeal to you to lend your support and cooperation for this movement for restorative justice.

Yours sincerely
28.04.2006
Iqbal A. Ansari

Minorities Council

Syeda Manzil, Muzammil Compound 4/1703, Dodhpur,
Aligarh 202001
Tel: 0571-3098957 E-mail:iqbalansari2001@hotmail.com