Bismillah ar

The months of March and April 2002 saw riots in the Indian State of Gujarat on an unprecedented scale. Every report published by independent Human Rights organization have clearly pointed out to the Government's direct involvement and support for the communal mobs that led to the killings of over 2,500 Muslims, atrocities of Muslim women like never before and mass-destruction of Muslim property. Human Rights groups are united upon the fact that the Riots in Gujarat were not a spontaneous outpour of emotions but a well-planned and organized massacre prepared months in advance.

Tension was heightened in Gujarat over the VHP's (World Hindu Council) public announcement of holding prayer meetings on March 15th, 2002 at the site of the Babri Masjid (that was razed to the ground on December 6th, 1992). Fascist and Racist Hindutva organizations, who have been at the forefront of preaching hate against Muslims, organized Kar-Sevaks (a band of hooligans, arsonists and rioters) to travel to Ayodhyah (the site of the Babri Masjid) to create disturbances there in order to draw attention to their cause. They were armed with sticks, iron rods, trishuls (a three-point sphere) and explosive/inflammable materials. Many bands like these traveled from Gujarat. These so called ?kar-sevaks? harassed Muslim passengers traveling by train.

?The Jan Morcha [Faizabad] daily in a report of February 24th detailed instances of misbehavior by kar-sevaks who allegedly hit and threatened Muslim passengers with iron rods, insisted that they shout ?jai Shri Ram,? and forcibly unveiled Muslim women.? [IFFM or Report on the Gujarat Carnage by the Independent Fact Finding Mission led by Dr Kamal Mitra Chenoy, S. P. Shukla, K. S. Subramanian and Achin Vanaik]

These Kar-sevaks did not carry proper reservation tickets and forcible cramped into reserved compartments at the peril of the train passengers. At Godhra station (a town in Gujarat), the kar-sevaks misbehaved with the Muslim vendors at the station and assaulted some Muslim women. There are also reports that a Muslim girl who tried to intervene to save her father from being assaulted was forcibly dragged into the S6 coach of the Sabarmati Express train. The train was stopped by someone's pulling the chain a kilometer away from the Godhra station. There was some rioting and the end result of it was tragic fire and subsequent death of 58 people, 38 of them women and children.

Given the fact that the Gujarat Riots that followed the fire in the Sabarmati Express were planned months in advanced, a major question remains whether the Sabarmati Train Fire was a deliberate conspiracy by the RSS or just a co-incidence? This can only be determined by a thorough and independent fact finding mission.

There are a lot of other unanswered questions and inconsistencies related to the train fire incident.

1 - Why were no preventive measures taken in the wake of the communal incidents that were taking place on the train route and which could have been anticipated once the kar-sevaks started leaving/returning by train in large numbers for/from Ayodhyah ?

As the National Human Rights Commission has pointed out the ?serious failure of intelligence and action by the State Government [that] marked the events leading to the Godhra tragedy and the subsequent deaths and destruction that occurred.? [IFFM]

2 - Since the spot is just a little more than a stone's throw from the station and in clear sight the Government Railway Police [GRP] jawans reached the spot within minutes. But, for reasons unknown, they made no effort to fire warning shots to disperse the mob? Even the local police stations were not informed about the rioting, with the authorities arriving at the scene after the harm was done.

NEWS REPORT: RATLAM (MP): Many lives could have been saved yesterday when the Sabarmati Express was set ablaze by arsonists at Godhra, if the Railway Protection Force (RPF) jawans had not left the spot following the stone-pelting by the miscreants, according to an eyewitness.

Traveling Ticket Examiner (TTE) Sajjanlal Raniwal, who was in charge of S-3 and S-4 three-tier coaches yesterday, told UNI here today that an armed RPF party had reached the spot soon after getting information. Despite being armed with rifles, they fled in panic as soon as miscreants started throwing stones on them. (UNI, 1 March 2002)

3 - Why was just the S6 coach of the Sabarmati Express the center of rioting, while the whole train carried kar-sevaks. The adjoining boogie S5 only had a few windows of it broken.

4- Why did the coach burn so rapidly so that as many as 58 passengers could not escape? With 4 exits available, 2 coach doors on the side away from the attacking mob, and the 2 vestibule exits to the adjoining coaches, why did so many passengers get trapped?

One reason for this was that the kar-sevaks were themselves carrying inflammable materials to be used during disturbances along with kerosene stoves. ?It is claimed that the train guard phoned his superiors from Meghnagar that kar-sevaks were carrying explosive material in coach number S6? [IFFM]

5 - It is estimated that around 150 passengers were in the train and 38 of the 58 casualties were women and children. This shows that the able bodied kar-sevaks who were responsible for the riot fled first, leaving being the women and children rendered unconscious by the smoke?

6 - Why weren't concerted efforts made for rescue by passengers of the adjoining coaches that included hundreds of kar-sevaks?

Brief introduction to the Fascist and Racist Hindutva Organizations: In order to understand, why gruesome riots take place when the BJP (the current ruling party) is in power, one has to review the ideological background of the BJP. As early as the 1920?s, Hindu supremacist agenda was organized in the name of the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sang) along fascist lines. These movements were let by Brahmans and upper-caste Hindus who do not make up more than 15% of India's population. Their agenda was clear and it was to subjugate all other religious and racial groups and establish a social order based upon Apartheid-like discriminatory caste-system - a system that would subjugate the Dalits (who are not Hindus) and other low-caste Hindus to the slavery of the Brahmans.

The RSS (or National Volunteer Force) organized hate rallies and declared the Muslims, Christians and Parsis as ?outsiders? and ?enemies? and tried its best to stir up anti-Muslim hysteria by forging historical events and a vicious propaganda of misinformation. Their focus was that the Muslims were out to get them and if the Hindus did not take adequate steps their religion and lives will be at danger. The RSS was however exposed after they got the father of Indian Independence, Gandhiji assassinated. Since then the RSS has been busy trying to infiltrate religious, educational, cultural, and government institutions. They have formed many organizations like the VHP (World Hindu Council), Bajrang Dal (an un-uniformed army of hooligans), the Shiv-Sena, and their like. The Political front of the RSS was called the Jan Sangh and is now known as the BJP. The natural and sole agenda of the BJP therefore is to enact the Racist agenda of the RSS and the BJP governments have played a significant role in the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the Mumbai riots and the gruesome genocide of Gujrati Muslims.

?The BJP came to power in Gujarat in the mid-nineties. Steady state support was extended to the activities of organizations such as the RSS, VHP, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal and so on. School curricula were modified to be in tune with the Hindutva ideology. Anti-Christian propaganda and violence were initiated. Trishuls, swords and other weapons were distributed at ceremonial religious functions. Training campaigns were carried out to spread ideological messages.

Between 1987 and 1991, an estimated 106 major riots took place in Gujarat. Political rivalry and conflicts during elections were responsible for triggering around 40 percent of these riots. Tensions related to 'religious processions' triggered another approximately 22 percent of all riots. Other triggers were personal ill-feelings, cricket matches, sudden quarrels, love affairs between Hindu girls and Muslim boys and vice versa, and so on. Persistent communal tensions have contributed to the perpetuation of violence as a way of life and the emergence of authoritarian elements in society, which seek to destroy civic order. The mixing of politics with religion has played havoc in Gujarat.? [IFFM]

Using the Train Fire at Godhra for Anti-Muslim Mobilization: In line with its agenda of subjugating and oppressing the Muslims the BJP led government in Gujarat has been constantly harassing the Muslims there. Many communal riots have been organized and a lot of the state's resources have been used for gathering intelligence information on the Financial and Religious activities of the Muslims.

After the Train Burning incident, the BJP government made sure that an environment would be created such that there would be a massive loss in lives and properly of the Muslims and the most unthinkable atrocities would be melted out at the Muslims in order to permanently scar them and install in them a sense of insecurity and fear.

1 - Statements of BJP Leaders immediately after the Train incident: The BJP Chief Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Advani immediately branded the train fire as ISI and Pakistani-inspired without any evidence or inquiry. The Minister of State for Home, Gordhan Zadaphia (a senior VHP activist) confirmed the linkage alleging, ?The bogie burning is a terrorist act similar to the attack on the American Centre in Kolkata. The culprits in both cases are the same.?

(1) The Gujarati daily Sandesh, reported on March 1st that two Hindu women had been abducted from the train by Muslims, gang raped, mutilated with their breasts cut off, then killed with their bodies dumped in Kalol near Godhra.

Note: The police investigated the story, searched the village and found the story baseless. But the publication of such baseless stories in the press inflamed public opinion [IFFM]. While the State government did ban some local TV channels, it took no action against newspapers like Sandesh?

(ii) One article that appeared in Sandesh on March 1, 02 claimed, ?There was a call from the mosque: ?Cut the non-believers - Islam is in trouble?? and a crowd attacked the ramsevaks.?

(iii) Another article spoke of massive bombings planned once the Hajj pilgrims have safely returned to their homes.

3 - Using the Victims bodies to further incite the situation: The Modi government decided to hasten the post-mortems of the murdered passengers, and have their bodies dispatched on the 27th February night itself at 10.30 pm to the Civil Hospital, Sola, Ahmedabad. Such public display of charred bodies was definitely going to incite the situation. To add fuel to fire, the VHP organized Ram Dhuns (special prayer meetings) and the RSS distributed provocative leaflets. The images of the train carnage were constantly shown in the local media and press.

4 - RSS Pamphlets with instructions: The RSS has been distributing a series of pamphlets after the train. One such leaflet was circulated at Kalol, Gujarat and contained in it a lot of anti-Muslim hysteria. In its point no. 9 was mentioned:

?9. With an intention of deceiving and defrauding the Hindu girls studying in schools and colleges they (the Muslims) take Hindu names such as Raju, Pintu, Rajan, Montu, Chintu etc. It is a sinister design, which is well planned and well organized. It is happening in every village and city. In the Godhra episode, the Muslim 'gundas' had abducted about 25 to 30 women, then raped them, after which cut their breasts and inserted burning rods into their private parts. If we take the total of all the incidents that take place every day at various places then, in Gujarat alone, there are at least 10 thousand cases of defrauding Hindu girls and as many cases of Hindu girls being raped, every year. Even after the Godhra episode they will continue to do the same with the same method but with a double intensity ... Right in front of the eyes of the brothers and fathers, the Muslim terrorists raped their sisters and daughters and then killed them.... Hindus, wake up! If you want to save your sisters-daughters and if you want to save Gujarat ... from today onwards, keep a watch on your girls that they don't keep any sort of relationship with Muslims.?

Needless to say that the contents of the RSS leaflets were nothing more than vicious propaganda against the Muslims, intended to incite hate against them. As the Police enquiry and search operations revealed there was no abduction of any women in Godhra. These points were more a matter of telling their follower what they should do with Muslim women, rather than for the protection of Hindu women. And this is what was done of Muslim women, young or old, married or unmarried, that they were stripped of all their clothes, made to run naked, then gang-raped, then tortured by the insertion of rods and sharp objects, and finally cutting them to pieces and burnt their bodies to destroy the evidence. These inhumane atrocities have been followed by more vicious pamphlets by the RSS and harassment by the state police. (see, The Indifference of the Police in Dealing with Rape Victims and More Provocative Leaflets by the RSS)

5 - State Supported Bandh: The VHP called for a bandh (one-day closure of economic activities) as a protest and the state government supported it despite the fact that such a bandh is illegal according to the constitution and a bandh will definitely incite a riot.

6 - Senior Ministers Hinder Police work: Gujarat state health minister, Ashok Bhatt, was in the police control room (PCR) at the Ahmedabad police commissionerate in Shahibaug for more than three hours on February 28 and the Gujarat urban development minister, I K Jadeja, considered Modi?s right-hand man, had parked himself in the state police control room at Gandhinagar for four hours from 11 a.m. onwards.

To Summarize: The burning of the Sabarmati Express bogie was labeled a premeditated and heinous enemy act, carried out by notorious Pakistani agents, against devout, nationalist Hindus and public anger was incited to the utmost by the public display of burnt bodies and inflammatory leaflets.

The Anti-Muslim Riots Begins: Feb. 28th was when the greatest damage to life and property took place in Ahmedabad. Attacks of this kind also took place on a lesser scale in Vadodara on that day. Furthermore, once the attacks were allowed to happen in Ahmedabad, the capital city, it provided the necessary signal and sanction for the systematic and deliberate extension of targeted communal violence elsewhere in the state including in the rural areas. The riots have continued throughout the months of March and April 2002. The riots lead to a massive loss in lives and property of the Muslims. Chief Minister Modi justified the slaughter of innocent Muslim civilians by repeatedly referred to riots as a ?reaction? to Godhra.

These riots by no accounts spontaneous but were meticulously planned massacres as was reported by Human Rights Groups, the International Media like the BBC and western diplomatic missions. The NHRC Interim Report points out that there were ?widespread reports and allegations of groups of well-organized persons, armed with mobile telephones and addresses, singling out certain homes and properties for death and destruction in certain districts??

A report prepared by British Officials that leaked out to the press mentioned, ?? the violence, far from being spontaneous, was planned, possibly months in advance, carried out by an extremist Hindu organization with the support of the state government. The aim was to purge Muslims from Hindu areas, and it says at least 2,000 people died.? [BBC - 25^th April 2002]

?As the genocide spread from Ahmedabad to other cities and the countryside, a systematic attempt could be seen to target and destroy the economic base of the Muslim community.? - Cyrus Guzder, CMD Air Freight, Is Secularism Good for Business? Speaking at CII, Ahmedabad.

?The former Congress MP, Iqbal Ehsan Jafri was burnt alive along with his family members (barring his brave wife who managed to escape the wrath of the marauders). He was living in the Gulbarg Society colony of Chamanpura area in the city of Ahmedabad. Several other Muslim families in Gulbarg Society were similarly burnt alive. By all accounts several thousands had gathered in a mob on February 28th to carry out looting, arson, rape and killings.

Police officials, speaking anonymously, confirmed that Jafri had made frantic telephone calls to the Director General of police, the Police Commissioner, the Chief Secretary, the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) and others. Three mobile vans of the city police were on hand around Jafri's house but did not intervene. Police sources further confirmed that the MP resorted to firing in the air when he totally failed in his attempts to get police assistance. At that point, the rioters broke into his house, and among other inhuman deeds, stripped and raped his daughters and then burnt them alive along with their father? [IFFM]

This is the story of a prominent Muslim with political contacts. Then what can be said about the insecurity faced by the common Muslim masses!! The account of the police as reported by the Assistant Commissioner of Police, P. N. Barot, was that the riots in the Gulbarg Colony were prompted by Jafri's firing in the air. [IFFM]. The Remorseless Narendra Modi had no words of condemnation for the way Jafri was killed, for the failure of his own government and the police. He said, ?? there was private firing at the Gulbarga Society, after the private firing, things went out of control.? Modi forgot to mention what a citizen is expected to do when a menacing mob, which has already slaughtered many, approaches him and the police have deliberately not responded to his pleas? (Communalism Combat)

An accont by Sharief Khan, Noble Ambulance Trust, Ahmedabad - Interviewed at Jamalpur, Ahmedabad on March 5?2002.

?We own two ambulances and work for any injured person, regardless of community. Till yesterday, we were recovering burnt and mutilated corpses, reduced to bare bones; four people were burnt alive in Behrampura. At the Civil Hospital, we were retreated very badly and many bodies of victims were disposed off within 24 hours without waiting for records to be completed.

One PSI, Pathan, stopped us from visiting the affected areas?We are a registered trust, we have a curfew pass; we told the police that we have our own ambulance, but it made no difference.

On Feb. 28, we must have received some 2,000-2,500, calls between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Each time, we called up the Police Control. Kumkum Hotel was surrounded by a mob; we kept petitioning different sections but nobody listened. The police turned a deaf ear to all our pleas. Wherever I went in my ambulance, for some 24-48 hours, I saw the same kind of mob in different localities in Ahmedabad.

It was not the usual mob that Ahmedabad has seen during riots; it was a full-fledged deployment of a highly organized mob. The numbers were large and the actions were coordinated.

I even saw women members of the Durga Vahini at CG Road and Ashram Road. Out of the mob of 4-5000 here, 60 per cent were women and they were looting and burning shops.

Naroda, Meghani Nagar, Saraspur, Bapunagar, Sundaramnagar, Vatwa and Isanpur: I personally saw 10-12 masjids broken down? I saw the 75-year-old masjid (Madni Masjid, Vasna Road, Paldi) broken down? Not only that, bulldozers have removed the debris and a pucca road has been paved in its place. Other people, who are eyewitnesses, say that the Revenue Minister Haren Pandya directed this act. In a city where garbage is accumulating for 10 days because of the violence, how come the AMC authorities have the time to collect debris, tar the road with such efficiency??

?Are we ostriches burying our heads in the sand? We frown upon inter-religious marriages but rape women; talk of vegetarianism and don?t even spare children. Such barbaric acts by a few destroy the country?s image. What?s more frightening is educated people justifying violence.? Anu Aga, Chair-person, Thermax Ltd. and chairperson, CII, Western Region.

The Role of the Police during the Gujarat Riots: The job of the police is to protect all civilians, including Muslims. But according to the IFFM, ??Just as the mobs sought revenge on behalf of Hindu women so too it appears did the Police.?

Several accounts speak of policemen actively aiding, abetting, and in some cases leading the mobs. Video footage seen by the fact-finding team showed slogan's like, ?Yeh andar ki baat hai, Police hamare saath hai? (The inside story is that the police is on our side) - written boldly on the walls of gutted Muslim homes.

A pattern that was often repeated was that the Police would open fire at the Muslims rather than at the mob, which was attacking them. For Example, On February 28, of the 40 persons shot dead by the police in Ahmedabad city, 36 were Muslims. (Source: Al Ameen Garib Niwas Hospital). Many minors have been injured in police firing.

In other cases, the police turned a deaf ear to cries of help, or simply told women, in so many words, that they did not have 'orders from above' to help them.

Women and children were repeatedly turned away from Police chowkis and stations and told to fend for themselves.

At best, the Police would take a crowd of frightened Muslims and dump them in safer Muslim majority areas. The message was clear - 'Protecting Muslims is not our responsibility; Other Muslims can look after them'. Muslims were no longer citizens of the state.

In no instance did the fact-finding team hear of Mahila (Women?s) Police being deployed in areas where women were being brutalized. In a vast majority of the cases, FIRs have not been lodged. Several accounts say that the Police simply refuse to lodge the FIR, saying, 'you don't have enough evidence, there is no case'.

Under the guise of 'combing operations' the Police are picking up young Muslim boys at random. Mothers live in constant fear.

The fact-finding team heard specific accounts of continuing police atrocities - of women being severely beaten or killed in Police firing. (The Survivors Speak)

The NHRC notes that the communal marauders were widely reported to have been ?singling out certain homes and properties for death and destruction in certain districts-sometimes within view of police stations and personnel?? In many cases, including the massacres in Gulbarg society in which former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri was brutally slain, and in Naroda-Patia where more than 80 people died [unofficial figures are much higher], the police have been partisan and anti-Muslim. No satisfactory explanation has been given for the inordinate police delay in intervening in Gulbarg society, despite Jafri's incessant requests for help. In Naroda-Patia, according to survivors, the State Reserve Police [SRP] not only refused the fleeing Muslims shelter, but tear-gassed them, forcing them towards the waiting mobs. In many cases, the police used deadly force against Muslim civilians, including firing, thereby providing cover and support to the rampaging mobs. [IFFM]

As the Gujarat Chief Minister Modi admitted, 'Police are human beings as well', he said, shortly after the carnage began, 'and not inured to the sentiments of society'. [IFFM]

When Hate Over-Powered basic Humanity: The Muslims of Gujarat feel betrayed by neighbors, friends, people they have lived with, celebrated festivals with, done business with. These people, along with mobs from the outside, looted, killed and burned their homes and families.

Zahida Bano, Naroda Patia, Ahmedabad said, ?I asked my neighbor Hira Bai for some water. I was told ?Aaj to pani nahin aaj to marna hai.? (No water today, today is for dying)

Ava Bi of Mudeti village says, ?How can we go back the violence is still continuing. Our house was not burnt earlier. It was burnt 4 days ago.? She was clear that the violence was master minded by Dinesh Bhai the deputy Sarpanch who assured the Muslims that nothing would happen. Then they burnt many Muslim houses that night.

Saira, Vadali camp, works with Centre for Social Justice said, ?Of course I can recognize them. I saw them everyday. I grew up with them. Now with my work I know everybody here. What could I tell them - don't kill me, you've seen me everyday of my life.?

Clear Evidence of the Gujarat Government?s Complete Participation in the Genocide of the Muslims:

The RSS Governs Gujarat: It is an undeniable fact that the Fascist forces of the BJP and its subsidiaries control the government of Gujarat. According to the IFFM, ?Chief Minister Modi is an RSS pracharak. Minister of State for Home Zadaphia is a VHP activist. The Governor of Gujarat, who has not seen fit to send a report on what is happening in the State to the Centre, S.S. Bhandari is also an RSS leader.?

The BJP, RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal and associated organizations have penetrated State institutions and organizations during the BJP rule in Gujarat. For example, in the Home Guards there was widespread recruitment of RSS activists and sympathizers. Over the last 5 years as many as 12,000 VHP workers have been inducted into the state Home Guards. Promotions, postings and transfers in all government institutions or those influenced by it, favored RSS activists and sympathizers, and conversely punished those officers or ranks that were neutral and secular. In the police, for example, postings and transfers up to the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police are decided upon by the Director General of Police [DGP]. But in Gujarat, these postings\transfers are decided upon by the local RSS leadership, including MLAs, who communicate their recommendations that are then implemented by the bureaucracy on the instructions of the concerned Minister. The DGP has hardly any role.

The BJP government is somehow sure that it can get away with anything. Recently they transferred those Police personnel who upheld the honor of their uniform by protecting innocent civilians, in this case Muslims. The state Director General of Police, A.K. Chakravarty, was not consulted about the transfers, since these were done completely at the behest of the political leadership. The SP of Kachch, Vivek Srivastava was transferred because he arrested the area's Home Guards Commandant, Akshay Thakkar, a member of the VHP, local VHP leader Vasant Patel and a Shiv Sena pramukh. Rahul Sharma, who had been transferred as SP of Bhavnagar recently, took strong measures to stop rioting mobs in Bhavnagar on March 1. He resorted to some rounds of firing himself and rescued over 400 Muslims who were attacked by a mob near a madrassa in Akuada. He took strong action against the mob leaders like Shiv Sena's Kishore Bhatt.

Attacks on Muslim properties and persons were systematic and were based on detailed information. On the basis of their experiences of earlier riots a number of Muslim entrepreneurs gave non-Muslim, mainly Hindu, names to their establishments, so that these were not readily identified as Muslim. These establishments were targeted. Furthermore, even establishments that had Muslim 'sleeping partners,' were attacked. Therefore, mob leaders had access to government records from the sales tax / excise departments and the like, not normally available to the average citizen.

For example, both the Pantaloon Showroom and the Hero Honda Shop were targeted. The Pantaloon Showroom is a partnership of Hindus and Muslims, with a Muslim owning only a ten per cent share. The Copper Chimney restaurant is owned by a Hindu Punjabi. It was targeted. The intelligence wings behind the attackers had found out that the owner had recently signed a deal with a Shaikh in the Gulf.

The State police too collected detailed records of Muslim activities. A secret circular (Ref: D.2/2, Com/ Muslim/ Activity/ 84/99 of 1/2-2-99) was issues by the Director of Police (Intelligence) to gather names of Muslims involved in communal riots during the last five years; dossier of criminals and persons with communal mentality; Darul Ulums (madrasas), their students and foreign donors; details of existing Muslim organizations and their leaders; religious gatherings, participating religious leaders and total number of attendees; and names of political leaders.

Another fact that appears to indicate prior planning for a communal attack according to informants is the collection of liquefied petroleum gas [LPG] gas cylinders. Some two weeks before February.28th, LPG cylinders were in short supply in Ahmedabad. But the rioters who took over Ahmedabad from February 28th were armed with thousands of LPG gas cylinders, obviously collected in advance, which they used to blow up Muslim commercial establishments and residences in the days that followed. These LPG cylinders are bulky and heavy metal cylinders that can only be transported by medium or heavy vehicles. The fact that such vehicles [including tempos and trucks], were available along with the much sought after LPG cylinders clearly indicate prior planning of some weeks, not to speak of days.

On the whole the way in which the VHP, Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena activists targeted Muslims based on detailed information and the open assistance offered by the local police to the riots, the disproportionate deaths of Muslims in police firing and the political rhetoric and justification by the BJP all point towards the state?s complete involvement.

?British officials in India say the recent widespread violence in the Indian state of Gujarat was pre-planned and carried out with the support of the state government. In a damning internal report obtained by the BBC, British officials say the violence had all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing.? [BBC - 25^th April 2002]

Atrocities on Women: The Survivors Speak): This time round in Gujarat, far more than in previous episodes of communal violence, women have been fair game. Forced out of burning homes, running for their lives on violent streets, they have been targeted in the most inhumane way. Following are some testimonies as recorded by the Women?s Fact Finding Mission. (Abridged)

Witness: She and her family survived but this is what she witnessed. On one side of Jawan Nagar is the ST (State Transport) workshop and on the other side the Special Reserve Police (SRP) quarters. Gangotrinagar Society has been newly constructed.

?On the morning of the 28th, we were asked to stay indoors as there was tension in the area. When the mobs came we all ran out. Many women and children went to the nearby Society and took shelter on the terrace there. People from the Hindu Housing Society told us to take shelter in their houses. We found that there were only men in there and none of the women and children, who had been sent away for safety. Then they told us to escape towards Naroda. We requested them to allow us escape towards the Special Reserve Police (SRP). The Society people brought us out on the road and told us to go to Naroda. We disagreed knowing that it is a far place. So they started beating us with sticks, hockey sticks and pipes. We came out to face a big mob armed with sharp weapons, kerosene and petrol cans. We refused to go towards the mob so they told us that they have been assigned to protect us.

All adult males were then beaten, thrown on the ground and burnt. The residents of the Gopinath Society segregated the Muslim girls and made them stand on one side. They were raped and we watched this as some of us were on the terrace.

The girls were stripped and then two men held them down by legs and arms. Those who raped were 20-25 in number. The girls screamed so loud that even now when I remember my blood boils.

The rape started at 6.00 in the evening until 9.00 at night. The girls were then burnt. I still remember their loud screams. When Asif Khan, a 25-year-old youth pleaded with the SRP to let us go he was beaten up badly and he managed with difficulty to escape from their clutches. We can identify the SRP men. We can also identify the residents of Gopinath society.?

Witness: This witness has 11 members in the family, of which 8 have been murdered, two after being raped. The remaining three have received serious injuries.

?It was morning and I was cooking. My husband, my three children and I were in my house while my mother-in-law, my brother-in-law and his wife along with their three children were in the adjoining house. A mob of 5,000 came and we started running. We were cornered from all the sides. SRP (State Reserve Police) personnel were also chasing us. It was 6.30 in the evening by now. The mob caught hold of my husband and hit him on his head twice with the sword. They threw petrol in his eyes and then burned him.

My sister-in-law was stripped and raped. She had three-month baby in her lap. They threw petrol on her and the child from her lap was thrown in the fire. My brother-in-law was hit on the head with the sword and thrown in the fire. We were at that time hiding on the terrace of a building. My mother-in-law was not able to climb the steps so she was on the ground floor with her four-year-old grandson. She told them to take away whatever money she had but to spare the children. They took away all the money and jewelry and burnt the children with petrol. My Mother-in-law was raped too. I witnessed all this.

Unmarried girls from my street were stripped, raped and burnt. A 14 year old girl was killed by piercing an iron rod in her stomach. All this ended at 2.30 A.M. The ambulance came on the scene and I sat in it along with bodies of my husband and children. I have injury marks on my both my thighs and left hand that was caused by the police beating.

My husband had 48% burns, my daughter 95% burns. Both my husband and daughter died in the hospital after three days. The police was on the spot but helping the mob. We fell at their feet but they said they were ordered from above not to help. Since the telephone wires were snapped we could not inform the fire brigade.?

Bilkees from Randhikpur village (District Dahod) is 21 years old and five months pregnant. We meet her at the Godhra camp. Frail, motionless, drained of all expression she tells her story in a monotone as though she is speaking of someone else.

Muslim houses in her village were attacked by upper caste people from her own village along with outsiders on March 1, she and several of her family members fled. She names them: my baby girl Saleha, my mother, Halima, my sisters, Mumtaz and Munni, my brothers, Irfan and Aslam, my maternal uncle, Majeed, two of my father's sisters, Sugra and Amina, one of their husbands, Yusuf, Amina's son, and three daughters, Shamim, Mumtaz and Medina and Shamim's son Husain. Shamim she says was nearing her full term. It was difficult for both of them to run.

At first, they escaped to Chundagi village, which was 5-6 km. away and took shelter with Bijal Damor, the local MLA. Then they were asked to leave since it was not safe and they walked to Kuajher where they were given shelter in a mosque. Here Shamim with the help of a mid-wife delivered a baby girl. They were asked to leave soon afterwards because mosques were a target of the rampaging mobs.

Shamim, barely able to walk, her infant carried by her sister, they somehow managed to reach village Kudra. Here some Adivasi Naikas took pity on Shamim's condition and kept them in their huts. Bilkees remembers, ?They were kind to us. Shamim's clothes were dirty. Even though the adivasis were poor they gave her something clean to wear. They let us rest, but then again we had to move but they came with us, escorting us to the next village Chhapadvad. We had started moving towards Panivela village. It was a remote and hilly place. Suddenly we heard the sound of a vehicle. A truck came with people from our own village and outsiders too. They had not come to help us. They stopped us and then the madness started.

They pulled my baby from my arms and threw her away. I and the other women were taken aside and raped. I was raped by three men. I was screaming. They beat me and then left me for dead. When I regained consciousness I found I was alone. All around me were the dead bodies of my family, my baby girl, and the newborn baby. They were covered with stones. I lay there the whole night and most of the next day. I do not know when I was conscious and when unconscious.

Later I was found by a police squad from Limkheda police station. I was taken to the hospital and then brought here.?

Following a medical examination, the doctors confirmed that she had been raped. She has named the people who killed her family members and those who raped her: Sailesh Bhatt, Mithest Bhatt, Vijay Maurya, Pradeep Maurya, Lala Vakil, Lala Doctor, Naresh Maurya, Jaswant Nai and Govind Nai (the last three gang-raped her).

These gruesome accounts of human suffering would cause the stones to cry, but the agony of the Muslims in Gujarat continues yet further. All effort is still being made to further harass and traumatize Muslims. The BPJ government including the Prime Minister Vajpayee and the defense minister George Fernandez are trying their best to play down the brutality of what has happened in Gujarat, while their police chiefs are denying that any incidents of rape have taken place at all. The government has shifted school examination centers to neighborhoods potentially dangerous for Muslim students in order to jeopardize their future. Injured Muslims continues to be discriminated at hospitals and Muslim refugees after having lost all their belongings may face eviction from even refugee camps. The RSS, Bajrand Daal, Shiv Sena and their likes, in the meanwhile boast of the Muslims they have burnt alive and Muslim women whom they have brutally dishonored. (see the section on Leaflets that follows). Following are some additional details of the post-riots victimization of Muslims.

It is difficult enough for women traumatized by mass-rape and a narrow escape from death, to lodge any complaint with the police. It is extremely foolish of these police personnel to expect women to give explicit and detailed account of the tragedy and torture they suffered.

Harassment of Muslim Students: In an environment which showed no respect for human life or honor, the Gujarat Government further tried to traumatize the Muslim children of Gujarat. On April 10, the Gujarat government took a decision to shift out all centers located in the Muslim dominated areas. How were Muslim students expected to travel to areas where their fellow brethren were killed most mercilessly by being set alight alive. On April 15, students from two schools at Delhi darwaza were attacked by mobs as they sat for their terminal examinations there. Even then, the Gujarat High Court chose not to intervene, choosing to believe the claims of the government that ?it had made special arrangements for special buses for transportation of Muslim children into centers located in Hindu dominated areas.? This from a government that has failed for over six weeks to provide even basic protection to its citizens!!

Hospitals and hate: An eyewitness living at Jamalpur told reporter that, ?the worst conduct was at the Sola Civil Hospital. Here Bharti behn and Anita behn, both BJP cooperators (Bharti behn is from Mani Nagar), were actually telling doctors whom to treat or not to treat.? On April 11, eyewitness accounts told Communalism Combat that 15-20 strong menacing groups, armed with unsheathed swords, stalk the corridors of the VS Hospital each night. No one challenges them. They do not directly harm or kill. But the message goes out through nurses and class IV staff that this area is out of bounds for the Muslims.

More Provocative Leaflets by the RSS : Following is a translation from Gujrati of a few leaflets circulated by the RSS spreading hate and xenophobia.

The time has come for the Hindu religion, which has been enslaved in spite of living in Hindustan. To date, all the governments have been supporting Muslims. These Muslims do not know that Hindu society has woken up and is in the process of sending all Muslims to Pakistan? The violence that erupted after Godhra is a warning to you Muslims that there is still time for you to go to Pakistan if you want to.

We do not want to leave a single Muslim alive in Gujarat. The people of villages as well as cities have now woken up and they are ready to take an eye for an eye.

And this will continue to happen till Muslims are not exterminated. Therefore, it is necessary for our Hindu brethren to come forward. After Godhra only 10 per cent of Hindus have been enraged. If the remaining 90 per cent also call for their annihilation then the name Muslim will not survive in Gujarat and the time has come to call for the annihilation of all Muslims. In many villages this has already been done. Now the Hindus of the villages should join the Hindus of the cities and complete the work of annihilation of Muslims.

If Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had been the Prime Minister of India then not a single Muslim would have been in India.

So, let all Hindu brethren know that the time has come to eradicate the Muslim word from Gujarat.

All Hindu brethren are requested to be ready to destroy Muslims without being afraid of any politician ? People of villages and cities get ready and celebrate next Holi with the corpses of Muslims.

Let the supreme court say what it wants to ? The temple will be constructed at that spot.

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Today the minority community (Muslims) is trying to crush the majority community? Muslims are traitors as compared to Hindus ? Till now, Muslims were showing their treachery only in Kashmir, then they extended their activities to the Parliament in Delhi and now they have made a great blunder by challenging Gujarat. Now the Muslims cannot be protected from the Hindus by either the police or the army - or the vote-seekers or the political parties who pamper them.

When India got her independence, there were 3 crores (30 million) Muslims in India. Now on the 50th anniversary, there are 35 crores (350 million). Understand? be warned? in five to ten years they will be as many as us. Nobody is preparing a cricket team here; an army is being prepared by Pakistan.

Police and army you also beware, you are also Hindus. You can also be attacked. You should also support Hindus. We Hindus support the police and the army fully.

My Hindu brethren, unite and form a Free Indian Army just like the one during the struggle for independence. Annihilate the enemy and lighten the burden of sin, which the country is carrying.

From Vatva to Naroda, Bapunagar to Kalupur, On 29th March there will be a call, take Ram's name and attack, We will kill Muslims the way we destroyed Babri,

We will burn Jamalpur and empty Dariyapur, Whether it is an old chawl or miyas (Muslim), we will not leave you,

We Hindu swear we will seek you out and kill you, This is the tradition of Raghukul and we never foreswear,

Let Sonia have dogs like Farroukh Shaikh or Haji Bilal, We will treat them like Aisan Jaffery,

Muslims have darkened the skies with the smoke from burned shops, We will cut them and their blood will flow like rivers.

Thanks to Narendra Modi. We salute you! After Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, a hero is born!

Every Hindu is requested not to stone the police or army. They are our brothers.

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(We sincerely apologize to the reader for reproducing the leaflet below titled 'Jehad'. We do so with pain. We are however concerned that the mindset that can produce filth such as this must be brought into public view - Editors).

Kick them in the arse to drive them out of not only villages and cities but also the country

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O Allah forgive us and all Believing men and women, and the Muslim men and women. Unite their hearts. Resolve all their conflicts and help them against their enemies.

O Allah, curse the disbelievers who prevent the people from Your path, and disbelieve in Your messenger and fight Your allies.

O Allah, create differences among them and make them indecisive, and punish them with the torment which You never remove from the criminals.

?Allah burdens not a person beyond his scope. He gets reward for that (good) which he has earned, and he is punished for that (evil) which he has earned. ?Our Lord! Punish us not if we forget or fall into error, our Lord! Lay not on us a burden like that which You did lay on those before us (Jews and Christians); our Lord! Put not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Pardon us and grant us Forgiveness. Have mercy on us. You are our Maula (Patron, Supporter and Protector, etc.) and give us victory over the disbelieving people.? [Soorah Al-Baqarah (2): 286]