Re: GUJARAT
GOVERNMENT’S BEHAVIOR DURING COMMUNAL RIOTS
We,
the undersigned, strongly condemn the recent spate of violence
in Gujarat and the Gujarat
government’s shameful behavior during these riots. Having lost confidence in the capacity
of the Gujarat government to deal with
the current crisis, we call upon the National Human Rights
Commission to safeguard human rights and ensure justice for
all residents of Gujarat.
The
horrendous massacre of
the passengers of the Sabarmati
Express at Godhra is a reprehensible
act and should be condemned in the strongest possible terms.
It should be dealt with under the purview of the Indian
constitutional law, which has provisions for dealing with
such matters of gross criminality.
Instead
of apprehending and bringing to trial the perpetrators of
this criminal act, the Gujarat state
machinery has decided to punish an entire community by letting
loose reign of terror on the minority
community. It
has been deliberately feeble in its response to the marauding,
organized gangs of rioters, and in some cases has actively
encouraged this violence by stating that it is understandable
and justified (Soldiers 'held
back to allow Hindus revenge,’ The Telegraph, London,
March 4, 2002). We
strongly condemn the Gujarat State Government for failing
to act responsibly on this issue, which has resulted in the
loss of more than 500 innocent lives.
We
also condemn strongly the delay on the part of the Central
and the State government in calling for Army deployments in
the riot-affected areas, days after it had been abundantly
clear to the national and international community that the
state police was ineffectual in containing the violence. (Where
Had All the Soldiers Gone? The Telegraph, Calcutta,
India,
March2, 2002)
We
strongly condemn the role of the various religious factions
in escalating the violence in Gujarat,
for vitiating the communal milieu in the entire nation and
creating the polarized atmosphere where such large scale riots
are possible. We
note with disapproval that several of these groups have close
connections to the State Government.( VHP,
BJP workers named in FIR on riots, The Times of India,
March 3, 2002)
OUR DEMANDS:
* We call for the immediate setting up of
an independent and impartial judicial enquiry into the cause
of these riots and the government's inability to maintain
law and order. We further demand that the commission's
findings be publicly disclosed as soon as possible and its
suggestions be made binding upon the state government.
*
We call for immediate
assistance, both material and psychological, to people affected
by the riots. We are shocked and dismayed that the state
has so far done little to provide relief or succor to those who have lost
family members, homes or businesses in the recent riots, or
have been forced to move out of their homes because of security
concerns. We demand that the state immediately rush
medical and food aid to those who have been
affected, besides making arrangements to shelter those displaced. We also urge the government to extend
monetary assistance for rebuilding homes and businesses of
those who have been affected by the riots.
The government should take up the rebuilding of the
riot-affected communities and businesses as its top priority.
* We demand equal compensation be given to
all victims. All
lives are equally precious, and giving smaller amounts of
compensation to people of one community over another (Debate
rages over bias in victims' compensation, The Times
of India, March 6, 2002) makes a mockery of the
principles upon which India
was founded. We
demand that the amount of money accorded to the families of
the dead in the riots should be equal to that granted for
the victims of the Sabarmati Express
fire, and this compensation should be disbursed immediately,
impartially, and with complete transparency.
*
We call upon the Gujarat State Government to immediately issue a
strong condemnation of those responsible for the violence
in the state, including those belonging to the cadres
of the leading political party and its allies.
*
We call for the immediate
dismissal of the police commissioners in the cities worst
affected by violence, including Mr. P.C. Pande
(Ahmedabad) and Mr. Upendra
Singh (Rajkot) who displayed remarkable inefficiency in maintaining
law and order, and under whose ‘leadership’, the police forces
turned a blind eye to the rampaging mobs creating havoc in
these cities, and carrying out systematic massacres.
Mr Pande has gone on record justifying
the police inaction as that reflecting the sentiments of the
larger community (Avenging
Hindu Mobs Attack Muslims in India, Washington Post,
Mar 1, 2002). Mr. Singh is reported to have turned off
his state-issued
mobile phone as soon as rioting started in Rajkot
(Police
chief vanishes as Rajkot burns,
Times Of India, March
1, 2002).
*
We call for the resignation
of the Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, who has shown
himself to not just be completely incapable of leading the
state in the time of crisis, but actively contributing to
a worsening of the crisis by making insensitive statements
suggesting that the victims brought the violence on themselves,
and that the violence was a result of direct provocation. We, the citizens of a free world, find
it particularly insulting that the chief minister should excuse
his administration’s failure to contain violence by stating
the Newton’s third law of motion, “Every action has an equal
and opposite reaction” ('Newton'
Modi has a lot to answer,
Times of India, March2, 2002).
It is no surprise, therefore, that Mr. Modi’s
constituency, Rajkot,
which did not witness any violence even in the wake of the
1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid,
has now seen some of the worst carnage.
* We demand that the Prevention of Terrorism
Ordinance (POTO) not be applied in the state. We share the concerns of citizens of Gujarat
about the inability of the current government to assure civic
rights to all its citizens.
In this light, we ask that POTO not be applied in the
state as it allows the government to operate under a cloak
of secrecy. We request that all state actions be taken
in a transparent and public manner in order to assure the
citizens of Gujarat of the sincerity
of the government in combating communal violence, and ensuring
public confidence in the state machinery.
* We demand an immediate end to all measures
to curb the freedom of press.
If India
is to remain a vibrant democracy, it is extremely important
that the media be allowed to operate freely.
We urge the government to remove all restrictions on the screening of different television
channels in Gujarat, and to provide
full access and security to media-persons covering the current
situation throughout the state.
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CC:
Shri K.R. Narayanan
President of India
Rashtrapati Bhawan
New Delhi
110 004
Fax: 011 91 11 3017290
Shri A.B. Vajpayee
Prime Minister of India
152, South Block
New Delhi 110
001
Fax: 011 91 11 3016857
Email: http://pmindia.nic.in/writetous.htm
Shri L.K. Advani, Home Minister
Shri S. S. Bhandari
Governor of Gujarat
Raj Bhavan
Sector 20
Gandhinagar 382-020
Gujarat
Fax: 011 91 2712 20068
Shri Narendra Modi
Chief Minister of Gujarat
Block No.1, 5th Floor,
New Sachivalaya,
Gandhinagar-382 010
Gujarat
Phone : 011 91 79 3232611 to 3232622
Fax : 011 91 79 3222020, 3222101
E-mail : mail@gujaratindia.com
Indian Embassies and Consulates