Ethnic Cleansing In Ahmedabad

INTRODUCTION

The recent widespread communal violence in Gujarat has shocked the world. TheUN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson has also voiced her deep concern.People from all walks of life in India have reacted with shock and dismay. TheBJP government of Gujarat, as well as the NDA government at the Centre, haveattributed the communal violence which broke out in Ahmedabad and other placeson 28^th February 2002, to the anger of the Hindus over the gruesome burningof ram sewaks in Godhra in the early morning of 27th February. Thespontaneous outburst of the people following the massacre of the VHP activists,they argue, reached such proportions because of the ‘failure’ of theOpposition parties to condemn the incident unequivocally as well as the role ofthe national media which publicized ‘one sided stories’. The Home Ministerhas also commended the role of the Narendra Modi government in the Parliament,in having created a record of sorts by controlling the violence within ’72hours’ as opposed to previous instances of communal riots under non-BJPregimes.

This theory of a spontaneous outburst of popular Hindu anger contrasted tothe pre-planned massacre of VHP ‘pilgrims’ by ISI funded Islamicfundamentalists, lies at the core of the overt and covert justifications of thepost-Godhra events, put forward by the Sangh brigade along with some allies ofthe BJP. For a preliminary assessment of the Gujarat situation, and as an act ofsolidarity with the suffering victims, SAHMAT organized a two day visit toAhmedabad by a fact-finding team of Dr. Kamal Mitra Chenoy, Vishnu Nagar,Prasenjit Bose and Vijoo Krishnan on 10th and 11th March, 2002. The team visitedseveral relief camps including two of the biggest in Bapunagar and Shah Alam,and a number of affected localities, and prepared this Report based on itsexperiences. We are grateful to Fr. Cedric Prakash of Prashant, Ahmedabad, andTeesta Setalvad, joint editor, Communalism Combat, Mumbai, and many othervolunteers for the advice and help they gave us.

Ethnic Cleansing not Communal Riot

At the outset it is important to underline the fact that the events inAhmedabad do not fit into any conceivable definition of a communal riot. Allevidence suggests that what happened there was a completely one sided andtargeted carnage of innocent Muslims, something much closer to a pogrom or anethnic cleansing.

Moreover, the selective violence that was perpetrated was done withremarkable precision, suggesting meticulous planning and collation ofinformation over a protracted period, rather than the spontaneous mob frenzycharacteristic of a communal riot. It also clearly indicates collusion and notmerely indulgence of the state machinery and the ruling political establishment.The condemnable Godhra massacre was of course the trigger in this case. But thepoint is that it could have been anything else, any provocative act on the partof any Muslim individual or group, possibly even of a lesser magnitude, wouldhave led to similar consequences. The ground for this communal genocide wascleared in Gujarat much prior to the Godhra massacre. It is noteworthy that theattacks on the Muslims in Ahmedabad and the rest of Gujarat started a day afterthe Godhra tragedy, further indicating that this was no merely spontaneousreaction, but one connected to the Vishva Hindu Parishad [VHP] Gujarat Bandhcall on 28th February.

The casualties reported officially are understatements. According to thoseinvolved in relief and rehabilitation work (who are also involved in collectinginformation regarding the actual number of casualties) the number of peoplekilled in Ahmedabad alone would be nearly 1000. As against the total of around700 including the victims of Godhra, which the government has cited as the totalfigure of casualties for the whole of Gujarat, they say that the number would bearound 2000 if not more. Since the violence has spread to remote villages,access to which has been denied by the government, any estimation of the numberof casualties by non-governmental sources has been rendered difficult.

An overwhelming majority of those who have been killed are Muslims, includingwomen and children. While most of the dead fell victims to killer mobs led byVHP-Bajrang Dal activists, there were several instances of death due to policefiring on helpless Muslims. Some eyewitness accounts of those who had fled fromnearby villages (45-50 kms. from Ahmedabad) and taken refuge in the reliefcamps, suggest large-scale massacres of Muslims continuing in the countryside.Entire families have been exterminated in villages with nobody left to lodgecomplaints or claim the dead bodies.

Almost everybody suggested that the carnage this time have surpassed allprevious instances of communal riots in Gujarat (1969, 1985, 1989 or 1992) bothin terms of loss of lives, as well as in terms of the barbarism involved. It wasadded everywhere that never before had the killings been so one sided, whichmakes comparisons being made with the earlier riots also quite misleading.

Nature of Violence

The most prominent form of violence experienced in Ahmedabad were in the formof pogroms led by local level VHP and Bajrang Dal leaders in Muslim dominatedareas. The long history of riots had already altered the geography of Ahmedabadan communal lines with majority of the Muslims being ghettoized in certainareas. This time several such Muslim dominated areas, mostly working classlocalities were targeted, some for the first time, by huge mobs numbering 5,000to 15,000.

The worst instance of such an attack was at Naroda Pattiya where a bigsettlement of Muslims of about 25,000 inhabitants was completely destroyed bythe rioters. Survivors of the attack who are now spread over several reliefcamps in the city recall that the local police totally sided with the riotousmob. The Noorani masjid was first attacked and burnt with the help of LPGcylinders, tyres, petrol and kerosene. When some of the Muslim youth tried toresist the mob, the police fired at them and even killed some. Residents in thecamps claimed that the Special Reserve Police [SRP] force present refused toprovide them sanctuary and forced them towards the waiting rioters. Once theresistance was broken with the help of the police, the rioters stormed insidethe settlement, burning and looting at will. Eyewitness after eyewitness in therelief camps described gory incidents of children being burnt alive and womenbeing raped. One expectant woman’s belly was cut open, her foetus wrenched outand dashed to the ground. The enormity and ferocity of the attack forced all thesurviving residents of the settlement to run away. Every house was looted andburnt and the entire settlement completely devastated.

The falsity of the official figures suggesting only around 70 deaths in the NarodaPattiya incident was evident from the testimony of so many survivors fromthat area who named their kith and kin whom they had seen dying in front oftheir eyes. The actual death toll will be much higher. Many also narrated howthe SRP misguided a large group of people who were trying to escape into a trap,where the mob killed them and threw the bodies into a well. Most of the deadbodies were charred or mutilated beyond recognition and an overwhelming majorityof the survivors did not manage to have access to the bodies of their relativesand perform the last rites in a dignified manner. Residents of Naroda Pattiyaidentified Vipin (owner of an Auto Agency), Jai Bhagwan of GangotriSociety, Mukesh (alias Gudda), Naresh and Chotta ,all local level BJP/VHP workers, as having murdered and raped before their eyes.Inspector Surela of the local Police Station had it seems visited NarodaPattiya after the Godhra incident and had assured safety to the elders ofthe area. Several eyewitnesses recalled his active participation along withothers in his force, in the carnage.

Another such major organized attack was carried out on a Muslim settlement atSundaramnagar near the Bapunagar locality. A visit to the affected area,disclosed a similar pattern of attack, from the eyewitness accounts. A local madrassasituated near the boundary of the settlement was attacked by a mob of nearly15,000 accompanied by the police who fired at the Muslims who tried to offerresistance. Truckloads of LPG cylinders were brought and used to causeexplosions inside the buildings. Trucks were also used to batter down theboundary wall to create a breach for the rioters to enter. A pitched battle wasfought here between the Muslim inhabitants and the rioters who had surroundedthem from three sides, for nearly 36 hours. During this period fresh batches ofrioters were reportedly brought in luxury buses and fatigued ones taken away.Finally the resistance collapsed and the Muslim dwellers had to run away fortheir lives. The rioters entered into the settlement from all sides and carriedout loot and arson on a large scale using petrol bombs and gas cylinders. Mostof the dwellings in the settlement as well as private vehicles like scooters,bicycles or auto rickshaws were burnt completely. Even metallic furniture andceiling fans had melted under the impact of the explosions.

The graffiti left behind by the rioters on the charred walls of thecompletely burnt madarasa at Sundaramnagar boasted of the police support:

Yeh andar ki bat hai
Police hamarey saath hai.

[We will kill. Long live the Bajrang Dal, long live Narendra Modi.]

Other Muslim settlements in the vicinity at Akbarnagar, Rahmatnagar,Islamnagar, Madinanagar and Ansarnagar, some being at a stone throwsdistance from the local Police Station or the local police officer’s office,were similarly attacked, looted, with many of their buildings burnt and razed tothe ground.

Similar instances of such pogroms reveal certain common characteristics.Firstly the rioting mobs were huge ones and with a substantial segment properlytrained for such activities. In fact, they more resembled a militia rather thanspontaneously mobilized fanatics. The premeditated nature of the attacks isindicated by the almost exclusive selection of Muslim commercial establishments,residential areas and individual residences. After the experience of earlierriots, most of the Muslim establishments had non-Muslim, mainly Hindu names. Yetthe attackers reportedly had lists, and specifically targeted Muslim properties.In instance after instance, we saw Muslim shops, workshops, and flats burnt andlooted while the neighbouring Hindu owned properties were untouched. The modusoperandi was often the same. Vehicles including trucks were brought to cartaway the loot. In the cases of factories and commercial establishments that hadstrong grills and metal shutters, gas cutters were used to gain access. LPGcylinders were used to blow up residential rooms and shops. Thousands must havebeen used. Such massive provision of LPG cylinders must have involved officialcollusion, if not sanction.

Secondly, in most of the cases the attacks were organized on 1st March, i.e.the day of the VHP sponsored Gujarat bandh which was also supported by the StateBJP unit. The Godhra incident having taken place on 27th February, it is evidentthat the day of 28th February was utilized to gear up and mobilize the hugemachinery deployed for the pogroms. Thirdly, the connivance of the local policeas well as the SRP was absolute. 1st March being a Friday, the attacks almostinvariably started with police firing or provocation on the congregation ofMuslims at masjids during the jumma namaaz . Fourthly, thebrutalities were excessive including sexual violence against women and childrenand burning alive of helpless people. Fifthly, the attacks were led by locallevel VHP, Bajrang Dal and BJP leaders who had no fears of being identified orbooked. These leaders, as well as leading attackers were allegedly carrying bothmobile phones as well as water bottles. Finally, the entire effort suggests aconcerted attempt to terrorize, uproot and drive away the Muslims even fromtheir hitherto ghettoized settlements.

Since the entire purpose of the attacks was to kill and brutalize aparticular community, irrevocably damage its economic interests, and force itout of earlier settlements to existing Muslim ghettoes, these attacks can onlybe described as ethnic cleansing. The partisan role of the state, thegovernment, police, civil administration, the ruling party, the VHP, Bajrang Daland the rest of the Sangh brigade, all point to this ethnic cleansing beingstate sponsored.

Targeting with Precision

The one sided nature of the violence mentioned above was further exemplifiedby the fact that the Hindu dominated areas surrounding the completely devastatedMuslim settlements remained untouched and were back into normalcy within a fewdays. This selective violence, executed with remarkable precision hasindubitably helped in preventing a consolidation of opinion within the majoritycommunity against the violence, if not gaining its tacit support. The message ofthe violence was quite clearly conveyed--if you are a Hindu you need not fear atall; this is not directed against you as long as you do not side with theMuslims.

Thousands of shops and business establishments belonging to the Muslims wereransacked and destroyed, often being selectively chosen from within a cluster ofshops. A visit to Shalimar Complex where nearly 40 out of 50 odd shops belongedto Muslims disclosed how those were selectively targeted, looted and burnt onthe day of the VHP sponsored bandh. A doctor couple whose chamber andpathological laboratory were situated in the complex was robbed of all theirbelongings including expensive medical equipment. The rioters came in largenumbers and broke open the shutters and simply carried away every thing withinthe shops before burning them. Goods worth lakhs of Rupees were looted in thiscomplex itself. Shops owned by Hindus were left untouched. Eyewitness accountssuggest that the Revenue Minister in Gujarat government (former Home Minister)Haren Pandya, and another Minister Ashok Bhatt were personally present duringthe looting and arson, and actually led the mobs.

Hotels and restaurants owned by Muslims also came in for this selectiveattack. Given the history of communal riots these restaurants were alreadyrunning under ‘Hindu’ names like Tulsi, Abhilasha etc. to concealtheir Muslim ownership. However, the information regarding every such businessestablishment was there with the rioters. It has been alleged that a localGujarati daily Sandesh carried the names of all such Muslim ownedestablishments in Ahmedabad which were running under ‘Hindu’ names, about amonth earlier. The worst such instance was the burning of the Hans Innwhere inmates, mostly people from outside Gujarat, were not even allowed to comeout and 14 of them were burnt alive inside the building. It is claimed that aPunjab Police officer and constable who had come for an investigation were amongthe victims. The name of Haren Pandya was repeatedly mentioned regarding thiscase also.

Socio-economic War against Muslims

This selective targeting of business establishments is only a part of thegreater economic war the VHP proposes to wage against the Muslims in Gujarat. Aleaflet circulated by the VHP (Annexure 1) calls for a total economic boycott ofthe Muslims in order to ‘throttle’ them, 'break their backbone’ so that‘it will be difficult for them to live in any corner of this country’ . Itis precisely this vision which was being implemented when Muslim establishmentswere being selectively looted and destroyed.

This communal project also becomes clear from the fact that Muslims from allsections of the population, from slum dwellers to businessmen and white collarprofessionals to senior government bureaucrats were targeted during the attacks.A visit to the posh locality of Paldi revealed how even the upper middleclass sections of the Muslim community were targeted. The Delite and TaranaApartments were completely gutted and the belongings of the Muslim flat ownersof these multi-storied apartments looted. The residents included the Director ofIndustries, Gujarat government and a senior employee of the Gujarat University.Frantic phone calls to Ministers, ruling party politicians and even topoliticians in Delhi could not prevent the total destruction of the apartmentsby a 5000 strong mob which broke open into the flats and ransacked them. Theresidents were able to avoid the fate of Ehsan Jafri (former Congress MP who wasburnt alive in Gulmarg Society ) by silently hiding in the terrace of thebuilding and not raising their voice even when the mobs went on a rampage insidetheir homes. They could not conceal their deep hurt while recollecting that manypeople from their neighbouring apartments whom they had known and lived togetherwith for several years, not only cheered the rioters during the long theyoperation but some of them actually participated in it.