LAJJA (Shame):
Train Bomb Sparks 1984-Like State-Sponsored Genocide in Gujarat
2000 Killed or Missing
On Feb 27, the Sabarmati Express was already hours late coming from Aydhoya in Uttar Pradesh to Ahamabad in Gujarat. Aydhoya was the sight where, in 1992, Hindu extremists destroyed the 500-year-old Babri Masjid mosque, claiming it to be built on the birthplace of the god Ram. The riots which followed the destruction killed 3,000 men, women, and children. The Hindu extremists, mostly young men, on the train were coming from Aydhoya where they were organizing plans to build a new Hindu temple on the site of the destroyed mosque. The rowdy bunch were drunk and being abusive for over a day. When the train stopped in Godhra, just before Ahamabad, the events took a turn for the worse. The men physically abused an old Muslim man on the platform and dragged a young Muslim girl into the train. They locked the car from the inside and would not release the girl. The Muslim crowd outside became larger and more agitated. Some people in the crowd locked the car from
the outside and threw petrol bombs into it. Other than the Hindu extremist men, the car held mostly women and children. All 56 people were incinerated.
Word got out like wildfire about what had happened in Godhra. The train fire sparked what turned out to be the worst riots in India in a decade. Muslim men, women, and children were brutally murdered en masse. The majority of the violence occurred in Gujarat - the home of Gandhi and a breeding ground for Hindu nationalists.
The violence was coordinated and encouraged by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) - a pseudo-religious paramilitary group, the Indian police, and the Indian government. The VHP leader, Acharya Giriraj Kishore, said to the press "these asuras (Muslims) should be burnt till their skin peels off!" The Indian police were actively involved in perpetrating violence against the Muslims by refusing to protect them or by outright murder. The Indian government, aware of India's history of civil mayhem, did not respond in a timely manner. Knowing that the Indian police are useless in these situations, they still did not send out the army troops until three days later. Political officials in Gujarat and the Delhi government openly justified the horrific episode. For three weeks, there was a situation of state-sponsored genocide.
Most of the people killed in the Gujarat pogrom were slum dwellers. The murder weapons of choice were knives, sticks, and especially petrol. Children, women and men - completely helpless - were burned alive. By the time the hideous attacks died down, over 700 people were dead. But human rights groups which have surveyed the carnage report that over 2000 were dead or missing.
A large majority of the Muslim population in Gujarat is living in refugee camps. The conditions there are pitiful with little or no government aid. And to pour salt into the wound, the Indian government has claimed the riot victims to be a "liability and a security risk." They are trying to disperse the riot victims back into the dangerous areas they came from.
To make matters worse for the Muslims and other minority communities, the Indian government passed a draconian anti-terrorism act at the end of March, called POTO (Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance). The 65 Muslims arrested for the Godhra train fire were charged as terrorists under POTO. Yet, not one of the over 800 Hindus arrested for the following riots were charged under POTO. Under pressure from civil rights groups, the Indian government finally withdrew all terrorist charges. POTO also lists several Muslim, Sikh, Christian and other minority groups as terrorist organizations, but Hindu groups such as the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad are not there. A similar anti-terror law was enacted in 1985 after the Punjab conflict began; about 76,000 people were arrested under that measure. It took ten years for human rights activists to have the government repeal that grossly misused law.
For more information, see the Feb and Mar archives at www.sikhe.com.