and/or www.mantra.com/jai (Dr. Jai Maharaj)
2010-03-30 13:28:45 UTC
Forwarded message from S. Kalyanaraman
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Godhra carnage: Tewatia commission, first to visit Godhra
THE GODHRA CARNAGE
SYNOPSIS:
1. The burning of the Sabarmati Express was apparently a pre-planned
conspiracy with the connivance of ISI and SIMI, the conspiracy
conceived and planned at Deoband School of Islamic studies in U.P.
with their counterparts in Godhra. The intention was to burn the
whole train at Godhra on this day when over 2300 Hindu pilgrims were
returning from Ayodhya. Since the scheduled arrival was 2.55 AM, the
inferno could be complete and unattended for a long time giving the
perpetrators time to escape in the darkness after inflicting maximum
possible carnage. The plan was to repeat a WTC here in India.
2. Monitoring of the movement of the train of the coaches occupied by
Hindu devotees were reportedly regularly fed to Godhra where most of
the porters, staff and stall-holders were Muslims and part of the
conspiracy. As planned, Muslim passengers were made to alight at
previous stoppages, last at Dahod by the conspirators. That is how
the Railway reports of fewer reserved passengers in S-6 than in the
list, who were burnt to death.
3. The train started from the platform but was immediately brought to
stoppage by chain-pulling as many passengers still sipping tea,
didnt re-enter the train and reportedly there was a skirmish towards
payment for tea to the vendor in which his daughter too
intervened.(Collector Jayanti Ravi made a premature and immature
statement of the carnage due to this skirmish at 8AM on the same day)
4. According to train/station staff, the train restarted as the
mechanism was set right in a few minutes and moved towards the outer
signal. The train was stopped a second time at the outer point
joining the main line by one points-man named Syed, and some
miscreants disabled the vacuum system by cutting off the flexible
pipes, a pre-planned step to disable the braking system .
5. No sooner the train stopped, a crowd of over 2000 Muslims who had
collected earlier with all sorts of weapons started attacking the
passengers, who closed the windows when stones were thrown at them.
Crowbars were used to wrench out the iron bars of the windows and the
windows were broken open.
6. Some passengers who tried to escape through such windows were
beheaded by swords. Few others escaped with injuries.
7. A few Muslims entered the S-5 coach with cans of inflammable
liquid- petrol, and splashed the petrol into the coach S-6 standing
at the vestibule and the toilet area. The fuel was then ignited by
them. (This corroborates findings of the Forensic Dept. that fuel was
lighted and burnt from inside the train and not thrown through
windows)
8. All the time the crowd was shouting Kill the infidels in
orchestrated way and was led by Chairman of Municipality and
Councillors, all Muslims belonging to Congress Party..
9. One of the fire-fighters was earlier disabled by removal of bolts
by the Municipal Corporator Haji Balal during his long presence at
the Firestation as in-charge, the previous day and the second one
too, made defective was repaired and rushed to the Railway Station on
getting the call. This vehicle was stopped 200 yards away from the
Station by a crowd of Muslims led by this Corporator, who pulled the
driver down and got the windscreen smashed. Sensing threat to his
life, the driver managed to restart the engine and ploughed through
the crowd running helter skelter and reached the S-6 coach to put off
the fire.
10. Over 58 people in S-6 were burnt to death. It is reported that
when CPI team visited the coach, two plastic jerry cans were planted
in the coach to prove that the Kar-sevaks were carrying petrol within
the coach!! Little did they realise the folly that plastic jerry cans
would not have survived the inferno that bent even steel fittings in
the coach!!
11. The Collector attempted to play down the incident as outcome of
petty quarrel at the platform when Ram-sevaks did not pay for the tea
that resulted in the carnage. Such feeble attempts to point the
finger at Hindu devotees were consistently made by the Railway
Protection Force, English media and so called Voluntary agencies
vying with one another to disprove the horrendous act by the Muslims
and none of them were able to explain the fact how over 2000 Muslims
collected with all sorts of arms and petrol to attack the train
within 5 minutes of the actual departure of the train.
12. Some allegations were made against the devotees pulling a Muslim
girl into the compartment, which in fact was a mild skirmish when the
tea-vendors daughter had joined the fracas regarding payment for the
tea as many were rushing to moving train.
FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES- GODHRA AND AFTER- A Field Study
By Justice D. S. Tewatia, Dr. J. C. Batra, Dr. Krishan Singh Arya,
Shri Jawahar Lal Kaul, Prof. B. K. Kuthiala
COUNCIL FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AND HUMAN RIGHTSA-208, Surajmal
Vihar, Delhi 110 092. (Phone 2374816, fax 2377653, Email
http://lw11fd.law11.hotmail.msn.com
COUNCIL FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AND HUMAN RIGHTS -GOVERNING BODY
FOR THE TERM 2001-03:
Chairman : Shri Shanta Kumar, Parliamentarian, Palampur
Vice-Chairmen: Justice D S Tewatia, Jurist, Gurgaon
Shri Chaman Lal Gupta, Parliamentarian, Jammu
Shri Y D Ahuja, Academician, New Delhi
Secy. General: Shri Shyam Khosla, Journalist, New Delhi
Secretaries: Prof. B K Kuthiala, Academician; Hisar
Shri R K Sharma, Journalist, New Delhi
Shri Kumar Rakesh, Journalist, New Delhi
Treasurer: Shri R Chandiwala, Chartered Accountant, New Delhi
Members: 1. Shri A. R. Kohli, Governor of Mizoram, Aizwal.
2. Dr Harsh Vardhan, Medical Administrator, New Delhi
3. Dr N K Trikha, Journalist, New Delhi
4. Dr Ajay Kumar, Physician, New Delhi
5. Shri A N Misra, Journalist, Nagpur
6. Mrs. Sudesh Bhatia, Academician, New Delhi
7. Prof. Shivaji Sarkar, Academician, New Delhi
8. Dr. J C Batra, Senior Advocate, New Delhi
9. Shri Vikas Mahajan, Advocate, New Delhi
10. Dr. J B Goyal, Academician, New Delhi
11. Shri Joseph Gathia, Social Activist, New Delhi
12. Shri Pradeep Thakur, Journalist, Gaziabad
13. Dr. K. C. Pandey, Teacher, Gaziabad
PREFACE:
The Council for International Affairs and Human Rights is deeply
concerned over the Godhra carnage that consumed 58 pilgrims,
including 26 women and 12 children, returning from Ayodhya when the
Sabarmati Express carrying them was torched near Godhra railway
station and the subsequent sectarian violence. These gory incidents
shocked the nation to no end. Torching alive innocent citizens is in
total violation of Indian values and traditions and is a blot on the
fair name of this ancient civilization. It is a gross violation of
human rights of innocent citizens who were roasted alive or brutally
killed or maimed for no fault of theirs.
The Gujarat tragedy is too deep for tears. An in-depth and objective
study to understand the conspiracy, if any, that led to the burning
alive of pilgrims and the killing of innocent citizens that took
place is several parts of Gujarat isthe need of the hour. It is
equally important to identify the evil forces that were instrumental
in accomplishing the "mission".
The civil society needs to evolve ways and means to resolve the
communal divide that has become a festering wound and poses a serious
threat to human rights. It is of utmost importance to know how the
administration responded to the challenge and what was the role of
the political parties, social organisations, the intelligentsia and
the media.
It is in this context that the Governing Body of the Council that met
at Delhi on March 22, 2002 decided to send a team to conduct a field
study into the communal strife in Gujarat.
Justice D. S. Tewatia, Vice-Chairman of the Council and a former
Chief Justice of Calcutta and Punjab and Haryana High Courts, is the
leader of the team.
Other members are: Dr J C Batra, senior advocate, Supreme Court of
India, Dr. Krishan Singh Arya, Academician, Chandigarh, Shri Jawahar
Lal Kaul, former Assistant Editor, Jansatta, Delhi, and Prof. B K
Kuthiala, Dean, Faculty of Media Studies, G. J. University Hisar.
The team left for Gujarat on April 1 and returned on April 7, 2002.
The team conducted a scientific field study into the horrendous
happenings in Godhra and other parts of Gujarat and collected
enormous evidence in the form of interviews and documents. It has
produced a comprehensive rep ort dealing with numerous aspects of the
tragedy. It was not possible for the team to uncover each and every
dimension of the tragedy due to constraints of time and resources.
But it has done a wonderful job in the limited time and resources
available to it. The Council is extremely grateful to Justice Tewatia
and his team for conducting the study and producing a comprehensive
report.
The Council hopes that its labours will not go waste and that
authorities concerned, the intelligentsia and the media as also the
common citizens will take serious note of the conclusions and
recommendations made by the team. A careful reading of the report
will help sift fact from fiction and identify rumours and canards
that have been spread by vested interests. The report, one hopes,
will enable the nation to have a correct perspective of the forces
behind the tragedy and the elements that exploited it for partisan
considerations.
The Council is grateful to the members of the team, the
representatives of various organisations of Hindus and Muslims of
Gujarat, concerned citizens who came forward to narrate details of
incidents and provided evidence and the local authorities that
ensured that the team conducted the study without any hindrance.
Shyam Khosla ,Secretary General. April 26, 2002
CONTENTS
S No Chapter Page
1. Introduction 1
2. Data Collection 5
3. Godhra incident 9
4. Facts and inferences 22
5. Communal riots in Gujarat 25
6. Conclusions 35
7. Recommendations 40
INTRODUCTION: NEED FOR AN OBJECTIVE ANALYTICAL STUDY
Finding the truth is the ultimate objective of any intellectual
exercise. Be it a fact-finding mission, analysis of social, political
or economic processes or a spiritual journey the edifice of truth is
built on the facts. In sciences experiments are conducted to generate
new information, which forms the basis for the enunciation of new
theories and principles. Facts become sacred, inferences and opinions
must arise from the information of the past and the new data
gathered. Neutrality in the selection of past data, in the process of
gathering new information and also in the process of analysis and
derivation of inferences is fundamental to any objective intellectual
endeavor.
UNIPOLAR THOUGHT PROCESS
Any exercise to search for truth has to make a beginning without any
predispositions. Objectivity is lost if the past attitudes and
aptitudes of the seeker of truth colour the vision and the analyst
becomes blind to a set of information bits and another set of data is
visualized as being greater than its real worth. In research
hypothesis are stated and the esearcher has a mind- set wherein based
on dispassionate analysis of gathered data the stated hypothesis is
either proved to be right or wrong. Incorrect derivations and
inferences would arise if the researcher were emotionally or
ideologically inclined to prove or disprove a given hypothesis.
Truth is the first casualty of such an exercise. Intellectual honesty
demands observations, analysis and derivations that are free from the
personal or group prejudice and likes and dislikes of the analysts.
Unfortunately in today's India the vocal, articulate and dominant
sections of thinkers and analysts have become predictable. Even
before an exercise of analysis of events and processes begins it is
possible to almost correctly forecast the inferences and conclusions
that are likely to be drawn by the individuals, groups or
organizations.
A newspaper would publish editorials and articles supporting and
proving only one point of view.
The outcome of the discussion is predictable depending upon the
television channel that is hosting it. Even in the case of simple
journalistic reporting the personal predispositions of the reporter
glare prominently in the news stories. The questions asked clearly
indicate the ideological inclinations of the interviewer.
So much so that even the organizations created under the statutes of
the Constitution become partisan and their contentions are blind to a
set of data and hyper-responsive to another set of facts. Unipolar
thought process of Indian analysts and commentators has become a
practice rather than an exception.
QUEST FOR TRUTH
When the problems of the nation receive skewed notice from its
intellectuals the analysis cannot be realistic. Not only the problems
get politicized, the analysis too is coloured with the vision of the
analyst. If the diagnosis of the problem is faulty, the solution is
bound to be unrealistic and misdirected. When a physician commits
error in the diagnosis of an ailment, he fails to cure the disease
and may give birth to new problems. The country today needs better
treatment by its intelligentsia. It is the dharma of the
intelligentsia to be objective and search and state the truth and
only the truth.
If we look back and introspect the achievements and failures of the
nation after independence three facts clearly emerge.
First, there was acute shortage of food grains and the country had to
import wheat. It posed a serious challenge. The farming community and
the scientists responded magnificently and we are now faced with a
problem of plenty.
Second, whenever the nation faced an external threat our jawans lived
up to our expectations and defended our borders at the cost of their
lives.
It is a matter of pride for us that jawans and kisans that constitute
the majority of the population brought glory to the country. The
scientists too have taken the country to new heights, be it
innovations in farming practices, atomic and space research or
information technology.
FAILURE OF GOVERNING CLASS
Third, in most of the cases when a task came before the governing
class of the society that includes bureaucracy and politicians,
mismanagement, failures and deceptions are the outcome.
The ruling class failed to manage the massive surplus produced by the
farmers. The contradiction is that while millions of tonnes of wheat
is rotting, a large chunk of our society is denied two square meals a
day. It is a sad commentary on the governing class. Successive
Governments lost on the table the gains achieved by our jawans in the
battlefields.
A vast majority of the people has contributed towards the growth and
development of the country during fifty-five years of independence
but a minuscule minority comprising the political class, bureaucracy,
intelligentsia and the media have let the country down.
The tragic fact is that despite India being a democratic polity, a
small minority of the elite controls the destiny of the nation. The
intelligentsia, professionals and the media failed to provide the
link between the vast majority of patriotic and duty conscious
citizens and the governing class. They were supposed to keep a watch
and provide policy and action options without prejudice. But what did
they do? They lost their moorings and became a part of the governing
class and diverted their intellect for perpetuation of the
exploitative and self-serving elite class. Whereas kisans, jawans and
scientists have more than met the challenges of nation building the
intelligentsia along with politicians and bureaucrats have miserably
failed to deliver the goods.
ALTERNATE ACTION PLAN
Independent India inherited the problem of disharmonious
relationships between Hindus and Muslims. Amongst many other major
problems communal disharmony has been a serious issue before the
nation after independence. There were certain inherited realities and
solutions were to be found within those parameters. The managers of
free India have miserably failed to solve this problem. In fact, they
have accentuated the problem and widened the gulf between the two
largest communities living in the country. The disease aggravated as
the decades passed largely because of the wrong medication.
Is not the continuation of communal tensions between two major
communities of the country an adverse comment on the performance of
our ruling class, intelligentsia and the media? The answer is an
assertive YES.
The inhuman burning of the Indian citizens travelling in a train at
Godhra in the morning of February 27, 2002 and whatever followed in
Gujarat and elsewhere is an evidence of the mismanagement of the
communal divide between two major communities of the country. The
political class having made appropriate noises to please their
respective constituencies will go to back to its Kumbhkarani sleep to
be woken up only when another carnage takes place. When a physician
fails to cure certain ailment he looks for an alternative action plan
and even takes a second opinion. But not our rulers.
INDEPENDENT PROFESSIONALS
But do our thinkers, planners and implementers ever sit back and
ponder over their failures? They sing the same songs with perhaps new
music. Instead of looking for their own failures they once again
refuse to see the reality and selectively isolate the data to prove
their own, many times repeated and widely known viewpoints. They are
blind to their skewed perceptions.
They are either unaware or wilfully remaining unaware of the need for
an alternate course of action.
It was in this backdrop that the Council for International Affairs
and Human Rights decided to depute a Study Team of conscientious and
independent professionals to conduct a field study in Godhra and
other areas affected by sectarian violence.
The team comprised:
1. Justice D. S. Tewatia, former Chief Justice: Calcutta High Court
and Punjab and Haryana High Court.
2. Dr. J. C. Batra, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India.
3. Dr. Krishan Singh, Academician.
4. Shri Jawahar Lal Kaul, Veteran Journalist.
5. Prof. B. K. Kuthiala, Dean Faculty of Media Studies, G J
University, Hisar.
DATA COLLECTION -VISITS INTERACTION AND DOCUMENTS
The team reached Ahmedabad on 02. 04.02 in the morning by train and
visited three affected areas and some of the relief camps. At all the
places team members interacted with the members of the public freely
without intervention of any officials, government or otherwise.
On 03.04.02 the team went to Godhra and five delegations from both
communities and also of mixed composition presented their views and
facts to the team. The team then went to the Godhra Railway Station
and interviewed the officials and some other witnesses of the burning
of the S-6 Coach of the Sabarmati Express in the morning of 27.02.02.
The site where the train was initially stopped and stoned was also
visited.
The team also minutely observed the burnt S-6 coach. The officials of
the Fire Brigade who were involved in the fire fighting on the
morning of 27.02.02 were also interviewed.
The localities adjacent to the railway station along with the sites
where demolition of structures illegally erected was carried out on
27.02.02 during the curfew hours were also visited. The team also
visited a Girls High School at Godhra where Muslims from rural
hinterland had migrated for safety.
In the evening the team had a meeting with the District Collector,
Godhra along with other officials. The District Collector made a
presentation of the actions that the district administration had
taken after the incident near the railway station. Information was
also provided in response to the questions raised by the members of
the team. Prime Minister was to reach Godhra the next day and the
team left for Vadodara late at night, as it did not want to be an
obstacle in the arrangements being made for his visit.
RELIEF CAMPS OF HINDUS AND MUSLIMS
On 04.04.02 the team was in Vadodara where it visited five relief
camps of both the communities and seven areas, which were the scenes
of arson, fire and violence during the last month. Team also exposed
itself to ground situations by visiting some sensitive areas where
either:
a. two communities lived face to face with each other in different
localities.
b. a small number of families of one community lived in neighbourhood
and surrounded by a large number of the families of the other
community.
c. two communities lived in the same locality, both in significant
numbers with houses of both communities randomly distributed.
The team visited some of the areas, which have been evacuated by the
residents because either they were attacked or they apprehended an
attack. To have the exposure to the realities the team also visited
some areas where curfew was imposed. Permission to visit such areas
was taken from the appropriate authorities.
In the afternoon the Commissioner Police, Vadodra and District
Collector Vadodra met the team along with other officials. The team
members were updated with the information regarding the management of
situation till that day. The officials also answered the queries of
the team.
At 5.00 pm the team met with the representatives of various media
organizations - both print and electronic. About thirty media persons
were present and an informative interaction took place. The team had
taken a conscious decision not to address a press conference, as it
did not want to express unprocessed, half-baked and impressionistic
opinions.
MEETING THE GOVERNOR & THE CHIEF MINISTER
In the evening thirteen (13) delegations consisting of 121 citizens
met the team and presented their viewpoints and information. The
delegations included not only the members of both the communities but
ranged from the Association of Hoteliers to a group of adivasis to
affected Muslim and Hindu women.
On 05.04.02 the team once again visited the affected areas to see the
change in the ground situation in two days after the team has visited
on 02. 04.02. Here once again the team spoke to common persons at the
affected sites. In the afternoon the team had an in-depth discussion
on the situation in the state with Shri Narendra Modi, Chief
Minister, Gujarat.
After meeting the Chief Minister, the team met the Police
Commissioner, Ahmedabad. He gave some data about the preventive
arrests (3046), booked (1807), FIRs lodged (636) killed (267
including 58 in police firing) and rounds fired by police (2842). In
the afternoon seven delegations - five from Ahmedabad and two
representing state level organizations briefed the team of their
version of the incidents, perceptions and possible remedial measures.
Total number of citizens, both Muslims and Hindus, present in these
meetings was 91.
During and after dinner some important persons of the minority
community met the team members personally and provided useful
information. A retired judge of the High Court belonging to the
Muslim community also apprised the team of his perception of the
communal riots. He himself is a victim as his house was burnt a few
days ago. In the morning of 06. 04. 02 team members went out
individually to interact informally with common men to feel the pulse
of the people. At noon the team went to Raj Bhawan to meet Shri
Sunder Singh Bhandari, Governor, Gujarat where a very useful
interaction took place.
OBJECTIVITY IN OBSERVATION AND ANALYSIS:
In the evening the members boarded a train back to Delhi from where
the team members dispersed to their respective stations. At this
point of time every team member carried a heavy load of information,
views and images of realities. For a week the team members engaged
themselves in the process of sieving facts from fiction, correlating
data with perceived realities and an objective dispassionate
analysis. On 15.04.02 and also on 19.04.02 the team met in Delhi and
after sharing each other's analysis the report has been penned down
as a collective effort.
It would also be worth mentioning that the Study Team has used both
audio and video systems to record images of ground situation,
evidence, and narration of the events by victims and witnesses and
interviews. Some of these recordings were done with an explicit
assurance given by the team to use the material only for the purposes
of analysis and shall not be made public. Similarly a load of printed
and handwritten documents have also been collected both from official
and privates sources. Use of Internet has also been made extensively
to interact and surfing for collection of relevant information.
All this information about the methodology is being provided so that
the consumers of this information can evaluate the observations and
analysis of the team independently.
The strengths and weaknesses are both laid out and there is no
attempt to pronounce hasty judgments without any scientific analysis
or even without collating the information with other members of the
study team. It did not visit the affected areas to strengthen the
beliefs and perceptions of its members in a partisan manner, but it
went with an open mind and a clean state and allowed the facts to
speak for themselves. The objectivity of observation and analysis has
been coupled with the honesty and integrity of scientific process of
deducing and theory propositions.
GODHRA INCIDENT: BURNING ALIVE OF 58 INDIAN CITIZENS TRAVELLING IN
COACH S-6 OF SABARMATI EXPRESS
Train numbers 9164, 9166 and 9168 have been named Sabarmati Express
after the name of the Sabarmati Ashram established by Mahatma Gandhi
to experiment and propagate his philosophies of non-violence and
swadeshi. The train runs up to Ahmedabad, from Faizabad (9164) on
Saturdays, from Muzaffarabad (9166) on Wednesday, Friday and Monday
and from Varanasi (9168) on Thursday, Sunday and Tuesday. It covers
Lucknow, Gwalior, Bhopal, Indore and Dahod is its first halt in
Gujarat.
After travelling 74 km in 2 hrs and 19 minutes from Dahod the train
is scheduled to arrive at 0255hrs at Godhra. After Godhra it halts at
Vadodra, Anand and Nadiad reaching Ahmedabad at 0700hrs
INNOCENT PILGRIMS:
On 26.02.02 Sabarmati Express started from Faizabad about 225 minutes
late. On that fateful day, about 2300 pilgrims were travelling by the
train. Most of them were returning from Ayodhya where they had gone
for either participating in the shila pujan or for the purana ahuti
of the ritual jap of Ram naam that the devotees began one month in
advance at their respective places.
There were other passengers in the train including members of the
Muslim community. However, it has been reported that most of the
Muslim passengers got down at Dahod Railway Station and rest of them
at Godhra and it appears that when the train was torched there was no
Muslim passengers on the train except the elements who were to stop
the train by pulling the chain as part of a conspiracy to burn the
pilgrims alive.
CHAIN PULLED AND VACUUM PIPE CUT:
At 07.42 hrs the train stopped at Godhra railway Station. After about
five minutes, the train started to move but stopped for a few moments
as some passengers could not board the train. It finally left the
station but came to halt about 700 metres away from the station as
some one had pulled the chain. The vacuum pipe between the Coaches
No. S-6 and S-7 was cut thereby preventing any further movement of
the train.*
*Press reports the next day stated of one Syed, a Muslim employee
/pointsman of the Railway, stopped the train the second time at the
outer signal, soon after it started after the chain-pulling incident.
The hose pipe was cut after this second stoppage when the crowd had
already collected ready for the attack.
Miscreants threw bricks and stones at the train as soon as it left
Godhra railway station. The stoning intensified after it finally
stopped about 700 metres from the station. The passengers of the
train, particularly Coaches S-5, S-6 and S-7, were the main targets.
The passengers reportedly shut the windows and doors to protect
themselves. Burning missiles and acid bulbs were thrown on and in the
coaches. One such acid missile landed in Coach S-7 and a fire started
which the passengers were able to extinguish. But the attack
continued and more burning missiles were thrown into the Coach S-6.
FIFTY EIGHT PILGRIMS ROASTED ALIVE:*
*Police investigations later revealed that miscreants entered the S-5
and came through the vestibule to S-6 and threw the inflammable
petrol, and set fire to the coach. This corroborates the findings of
the State Forensic Laboratory that the inflammable material was not
thrown through windows from outside, but was lighted/ignited within
the coach S-6
Soon, S-6 caught fire and within minutes it was in flames. Passengers
who managed to get out of the burning compartment were attacked with
sharp weapons and stoned. They received serious injuries. Some of
them got out through the windows and took shelter below the coach.
After some time (between 20 minutes and 40 minutes) fire engine
arrived at the scene and took about half an hour to extinguish the
fire.
Inside the coach, 58 charred bodies were found. These included 26
women and 12 children. Those who had seen the charred bodies shiver
even weeks after the incident while recalling the gory scene. Even a
cursory look at the photographs of the charred bodies is a chilling
experience. Forty-three(43) injured persons were rushed to the Civil
Hospital at Godhra with different degrees of burns. The train left
Godhra at about 1230 hours minus Coach S-6, 58 dead and 43 injured.
The question why a large number of Hindus were roasted alive at the
hands of Muslim crowds at Godhra and also what was the motivation to
enact such a ghastly act needs to be answered. There is strong logic
supported by direct and circumstantial evidence that enables the team
to assert without an iota of doubt that the entire action was carried
out on the behest of the Government of Pakistan. The primary
objective was to create Hindu-Muslim communal conflagration in India.
The reasons why Pakistan would resort to such acts are:
1. Hindu-Muslim communal riots in India would have echo in
Bangladesh, and would help in cleansing of Hindus from that country
resulting in further straining of relations with India. The communal
rioting will provide yet another excuse for India bashing. The
reaction in Bangladesh will add fuel to the already communally tense
situation in India. It would ultimately gives sustenance to the "Two
Nation Theory".
2. Hindu-Muslim riots in India would further accentuate alienation of
Kashmiri Muslims, thereby creating further space in Kashmir for
Pakistan's nefarious activities against India.
3. Hindu-Muslim riots in India would tend to adversely affect India's
present friendly relations with Afghanistan. It is worth mentioning
here that Prime Minister of Afghanistan had in a television interview
while responding to a question about the nature of Afghanistan's
relations with India observed, "That would depend upon how India
treats its Muslim minority". Incidentally, the Prime Minister of
Afghanistan was in Delhi on the fateful day the train was torched.
4. Situation at the Indo-Pak border is extremely critical and
volatile. A little misunderstanding or even an unintended move can
lead to a war between the two countries. Hindu-Muslim riots in such a
situation would come handy to weaken our defence as the army would
have to be withdrawn from the borders to combat riots. The army is
normally summoned to assist the civil authorities when the situation
worsens as happened during recent riots in Gujarat.
With a view to maintain law and order, two Brigades of army were
deployed in various parts of the state thereby leaving a portion of
our border uncovered or weakly protected. To cite an example, if the
troops deployed on the Kutch border are withdrawn our defences in
that area become weak and border more porous thereby increasing the
danger of infiltration by jehadis and smugglers dealing with drugs
and arms. What would please more the hostile neighbour and ISI than
weak defences and porous borders and what can be a better mechanism
than creating a situation where Indian army's attention is diverted
because of its deployment in riot- hit areas. All patriotic and
nationalist forces demanding deployment of army to assist the civil
authority for one reason or the other need to look at the situation
from this angle as well.
5. Hindu-Muslim riots increase the alienation of the saner elements
among Kashmiri Muslim and add to the support base of terrorist
outfits sponsored, armed and financed by ISI. Terrorism and
insurgency get a shot in the arm. In the event of a war between the
two countries these subversive groups can play havoc.
6. Hindu-Muslim riots create tensions and misunderstanding between
India and Muslim countries with which India has developed
understanding and goodwill. By provoking communal violence, Pakistan
wants to isolate India in the international community and tarnish its
image as a pluralistic and democratic society.
Another question that needs systematic analysis is: Why Godhra?
Why did Pakistan choose to enact this ghastly act at a small, little
known town of Godhra?
On the basis of information gathered from various sources the team
identifies the following reasons for choosing Godhra for this
carnage:
The rate of growth of Muslim population in Godhra is much higher than
the national growth rate of Muslim population. At present the
estimated ratio of Hindu-Muslim population ranges from 60:40 to
48:52. In any case, it is an established fact that Godhra has a very
large Muslim population. Most of them live on both the sides of the
railway station in depth.
In normal course, the Sabarmati Express was to arrive at Godhra
railway Station at 02.55 a.m. The conspirators must have chosen the
place with a view to complete their operation "Burn the train" at the
dead of night when most of the passengers would be asleep. They must
have planned to accomplish their evil "mission" unhindered and with
impunity.
Godhra has the dubious distinction of having a large number of Muslim
fundamentalists and jehadi elements. Godhra is neither a Muslim
pilgrim centre like Ajmer nor a Muslim educational center like
Aligarh and Deoband. The local Muslims are not economically affluent
either, yet this town had hosted three istema'- religious
congregations. In one of the istema', Muslim representatives from
more than hundred countries participated.
The holding of international congregations on such a massive scale
gives credence to the commonly held perception that there has been a
massive inflow of foreign money into Godhra.
One Shri Haji Bilal, a Congress member of Nagarpalika, who has been
booked by the police as the executor of the carnage, have been,
according to locals, proudly proclaiming himself to be "Bin Laden of
Godhra".
President of the District Congress Committee, Farooq Malla and
Congress activist and member of Godhra Nagarpalika, Abdul Rehman
Dhatia, are amongst those booked for the carnage giving credence to
reports that local Congressmen were actively involved in the burning
of the train.
The next question is: Why was this particular train chosen for
torching?
The team provides the following answer:
This particular train was chosen because the 2300 pilgrims were
returning from Ayodhya on this train. Torching and burning alive a
large number of Hindu pilgrims (including women and children) was
intended to let loose a tide of indignation and provocation of
horrendous proportion in Hindu population resulting in intended
ignition of the communal tinder box, causing wide spread Hindu-Muslim
riots all over the country.
However, the train got late and the miscreants were able to burn only
one compartment instead of the entire train and (contrary to the
expectations of their Pakistani masters) the communal riots were
confined to only a part of Gujarat.
The evidence that leads to the conclusion that the torching of
Sabarmati Express on the morning of 27. 02.02 was pre-meditated can
be stated as:
The train took only three minutes, as per the statement of the
Stationmaster, form the platform to the place where it was stopped by
pulling the chain at a distance of about 700 metres. It is impossible
for a mob of about 2000 persons carrying acid bulbs and highly
combustible liquids to converge within three minutes that too in the
early hours of the morning.
The conspirators had done their homework. They ensured that the mob
gets enough time to accomplish the misdeed. Had the train stopped
because of chain pulling, the driver could have re-started the train
after it was attacked by the mob. In order to ensure that the train
would not move even an inch further, the conspirators had deputed
certain persons to cut the vacuum pipe. Consequently, the train could
not move before the pipe was repaired.
In order to establish the correct chronology of events the Study Team
collected information from:
Staff at the Railway Station, Godhra
District Administration
Passengers traveling in Sabarmati Express on 27.02.02 in S-6
4. Passengers traveling in Sabarmati Express on 27. 02. 02 other than
in S-6
5. Staff of the Fire Brigade, Godhra
6. Others who were witness to the later part of the incident
7. Reports in local, regional and Delhi Press.
STAFF OF RAILWAY STATION GODHRA
The staff at the Railway Station Godhra told the team that no serious
quarrel took place on the platform when the train halted there for
about 05 minutes. Immediately after the train started moving it
stopped and few left-out passengers boarded the train and it started
again. A mob of about 1000 Muslims ahead of the Railway Station
started pelting stones and other missiles on the train. The train
after moving about 700 metres stopped once again but with a jerk as a
result of chain pulling.
The vacuum pipe of the Coach No. S-6 was cut. The mob had by then
swelled to more than 2000. They stoned the train and also threw
burning missiles, concentrating on S-6 and S-7. Soon the Coach S-6
was seen burning and the flames reached outside the coach in no time.
Railway Police rushed to the scene and after initial hesitation fired
in the air to disperse the mob.
There was no impact on the mob that did not disperse even after
firing in the air and kept shouting slogans and throwing missiles at
the police and the crowd comprising railway officials, passengers of
the other coaches of the train and bystanders.
Fire brigade reached the site after about half an hour (from the time
of the departure of the train from the platform). It took about half
an hour to extinguish the flames and cool down the S-6 coach.
District administration reached the spot after the fire had almost
been extinguished and the mob had withdrawn to a distant place but
was still shouting slogans.
All through voices were heard on loudspeakers from both the sides of
the railway track inciting the mob to kill and burn the infidels
(kafirs) and the enemies of Bin Laden. With the help of civilians,
the injured were taken to the Civil Hospital and the dead were
brought out and counted. Burnt bodies of passengers were identified
with the help of other passengers of the train including those of S-6
who had escaped unhurt or were not seriously injured.
DISTRICT ADMINSTRATION, GODHRA
As per the presentation made by the Collector of Panchmahal at
Godhra, the Sabarmati express arrived at Godhra Railway station at
7.43 am (scheduled arrival at 2.55a.m.). Train departed at 7.48 a. m.
and was stopped at a distance of 1km from Godhra railway station by
pulling chain at "Signal Faliya". A mob of about 2000 miscreants
attacked the train with stones and firebombs. Bogies no S/5 and S/6
were set on fire, bogies S/6 was completely burnt with 58 passengers
in it including 26 women, 12 children and 20 men roasted alive.
D. S. P. rushed to the spot as soon as he got the information about
the incident. Relief work started immediately by the Collector.
Arrangements for firefighters were made. Along with the arrangements
of Ambulance Van and ST Buses from RTO. Team of three doctors rushed
to the site.
Twentyfive passengers were treated on site. Food packets, drinking
water was made available to stranded passengers. 43 injured
passengers were shifted to civil hospital. Police fired 14 rounds and
30 teargas shells to prevent the mob from causing further damage.
Curfew was imposed in the town at 10.55am.
Collector with senior railway officers entered the burnt carriage to
assess the casualties - 58 dead bodies found. Train departed for
Ahmedabad with the rest of passengers at 12.40 pm. Inquest & post-
mortem of all bodies was done by 4.30 pm. Bodies dispatched at 10.30
pm to Civil hospital, Sola, Ahmedabad.
PASSENGERS TRAVELLING IN SABARMATI EXPRESS ON 27.02.02 INCOACH S-6
Kamala (name changed in view of threats received and bomb attack on
her a day before she was interviewed by the Study Team on O4.02.02),
a college student, went to Ayodhya along with her parents and two
sisters to perform the purana ahuti of the Ram jaap her mother was
doing for the last one month. The family boarded the train at
Faizabad in Coach no S-6 on 26.02.02 at about 0800 hours. There were
many passengers on the train who were chanting Ram naam and
occasionally chanting "jai Sri ram".
In the morning of 27.02.02 the train was at Godhra railway station
and as soon as it moved, a barrage of stones were thrown at the
compartment. Terrified and taken aback, the passengers closed the
windows.
The train stopped for a few moments and again started. After about 2-
3 minutes the train stopped with a strong jerk rattling the
passengers and the luggage. The train continued to be stoned with
great intensity. Mob outside the train was pounding upon the windows
and doors.
Somebody from outside the train was able to open a window and threw a
burning object into the compartment. It fell on the luggage and the
fire started. Some passengers stated stamping on the fire, but more
burning objects were thrown in as the mob broke open more windows.
Some liquid was also poured in from the windows, which intensified
the fire.
Iron grills of some windows were detached from one side and bent to
pick up the passengers luggage. This luggage was set on fire and
thrown back into the coach. The passengers were terribly shaken and
shouting for help. Some of them were able to open the door and get
out.
Soon the entire coach was gutted. Smoke was so thick that it was
impossible to breathe or see anything. She looked for her family
members in vain and dropped out of the train from a window whose
grill had been bent and detached from one side.
Lying of the ground she could breathe a little and saw a huge mob
with swords and iron rods hurling abuses at Hindus. She moved below
the coach from where she was rescued after sometime. She may have
remained unconscious for some time. She later identified the charred
bodies of her mother, father and two sisters. One sister was an
engineer and the other was a commerce graduate.
The same train took her to Ahmedabad where she now lives with her
younger sister. She has already got Rs.50,000 as relief and expects
more. She told the team that she had heard certain Muslims saying
that a lot of trouble was caused to them because of her narration of
the Godhra tragedy and that she would be eliminated. A bomb was
thrown into the room in which she was sleeping a day before the team
met her. Fortunately, it did not explode. The matter was reported to
the police who are investigating the case.
Raghu (name changed for reasons of security of the witness) was
travelling in Coach S-6 of the Sabarmati Express on 27.02.02 and his
narration of the events is similar to those of Kamala.
When the coach was set on fire he went up on the upper berth in the
hope that the fire will soon be extinguished. But when he got a
choked because of the thick smoke he moved from one upper berth to
another towards the door but the flames frustrated his first attempt
to jump out. He returned and after some time made a desperate attempt
and was able to reach the door where a passenger whom he had earlier
seen in the train dragged him outside. He fell unconscious and was
given water and sugar by a lady who was managing the passengers
belonging to Ahmedabad. Though he felt dizzy he received no burn
injuries except that his hair were partly burnt. His father and uncle
were burnt alive in the same coach.
PASSENGERS TRAVELLING IN SABARMATI EXPRESS ON 27.02.02 IN COACHES
OTHER THAN S-6
Shakuntla (name changed because of security reasons) narrates a story
similar to that of Kamala and Raghu except that she was traveling in
Coach S-7 and she was looking after a group of pilgrims from
Ahmedabad. She got down at Godhra Railway Station and saw many
pilgrims bidding each other Jai Ram ji ki as the first greeting in
the morning. Some passengers took tea and one of the vendors angrily
asked them not to make a noise. The pilgrims did not respond and got
into the train as it had started moving. As some lady passengers were
not able to board, the train stopped for a few moments and again
steamed-off when the left-out passengers boarded.
Alongwith the stones a burning missile landed in S-7 in which she was
traveling but the fire was put out without much effort. After some
time the train again stopped with a great jerk and shouts of maro-
maro came from outside. She could not tell the approximate number of
persons in the mob as all the windows were closed.
Some one using a mike was inciting the mob to kill and loot the
kafirs and the enemies of Bin laden. . Through a slit in the window
she saw a part of the mob with iron rods and swords.
There was tension and suspense in the compartment No one knew what
was happening or what would happen to him or her the next moment.
After some time both the shouts of the crowd and the voice on the
mike stopped. Shakuntla along with some other passengers got out and
saw S-6 in flames. There were some injured and perplexed passengers
outside. The mob had withdrawn a few hundred yards away. The fire
engine arrived and the fire was put off. The mob kept throwing stones
at the train from a distance.
A few policemen were also there but they did nothing to protect the
passengers. More and more passengers assembled near the burning coach
and urged the police to take action against the miscreants but the
police did nothing. Crying and shouting Shakuntla took out her
bangles and offered them to the two policemen with rifles. The
policemen fired a few shots in the air. That did not deter the mob.
When more police came and the fire was put out several passengers
along with some policemen chased the attackers. Some persons told the
police that the attackers had taken shelter in a nearby garage. The
police hesitated to enter the garage.
When the policemen on duty did not take any action, some passengers
and locals entered the garage. But it was too late as the miscreants
had by then escaped from another door on the other side of the
garage. Shkuntla helped the authorities to identify some of the
bodies and returned to Ahmedabad by the same train.
STAFF OF THE FIRE BRIGADE, GODHRA
Shri Pradeep Singh s/o Shri Bhola Singh, Motor Driver, Fire brigade,
Godhra & Shri Vijay Kumar s/o Shri Ram Chander Sharma, Fireman, Fire
Brigade, Godhra (names mentioned with the consent of the witnesses)
said they reported for their shift duty at 0800 hrs on 27.02.02. One
of the major vehicles was out of order, as its clutch-plates had been
taken out a few days earlier. On their arrival on 27.02.02 in their
office they found that one of the nuts that connects the pipe to the
water tank of the other fire engine was also missing. By the time
they had put the nut in place a message about the fire in the train
was received.
The Driver along with the firemen rushed towards the spot but on the
way a mob led by Haji Balal, a Congress member of the Godhra
Nagarpalika, stopped the vehicle and did not allow it to proceed any
further. A tall well built young man stood in front of the vehicle.
The mob started pelted stones at the vehicle. A fireman sitting in
the front seat had to take shelter behind the driver. The headlights
and the windowpanes of the vehicle got damaged. Fearing for his own
and his crew's life the driver drove the vehicle through the mob, as
it was not possible to move backwards. The mob gave in but by that
time precious 15-20 minutes had been lost.
The vehicle reached at the site late and crew saw one of the
compartments blazing. The fire was brought under control in about
half an hour. Fireman Vijay Singh reported that he saw one woman
trying to come out. He covered himself with a blanket and tried twice
to reach the lady but the flames were too hot and high and he could
not enter the coach. He is deeply disappointed and said some lives
could have been saved if the miscreants had not delayed the arrival
of the fire engine.
Both the witnesses stated that they were sure that the acts of
demobilizing one of the vehicles and removing the nut of the
connection of the pipe with the water tank were premeditated and the
Congress member of Godhra Nagarpalika, Haji Balal, who is also
chairman of the Vehicle Committee of the Nagarpalika, had hatched the
conspiracy. Haji Balal had been visiting the fire station at night
for the past few days on the pretext of watching films on the
television.
They also stated that had the train reached during the night, the
entire train would have been burnt. Both the witnesses also said that
the manner in which the bodies were charred and the furniture and
luggage burnt indicates the use of some highly inflammable material
like solvent in addition to petrol, diesel and kerosene.
The fire-crew informed the team that although they had reported the
damage to the vehicle to their seniors no formal complaint had been
registered. They also reported having received a threatening call
warning them not to give statements about the obstruction to the fire
engine by a crowd on 27.02.02. As the fire station has a call
identification system, they know who made the threatening call.
The Study Team also inspected the Coach S-6. There was no evidence of
any stove in the compartment. Although the Team was surprised to find
two plastic jerrycans that have been referred to in the report
submitted by a team of CPI (M). Wonder of wonders is that while the
entire coach got burnt roasting alive the passengers, two plastic
jerrycans remained intact. It seems to be a deliberate attempt to
plant evidence that is a very serious offence.
OTHERS WHO WERE WITNESS TO LATER PART OF THE INCIDENT
It is natural that when an incident of such a gravity happens many
citizens gather at and near the place of incident. While visiting the
affected areas and the relief camps the team members kept on
searching for the persons who had been the witness to at least some
part of the incident. Three such persons could be contacted and
interviewed. All of them reported of the inability of the police to
take action against the mob. The firing in the air was reluctant and
no one saw firing of teargas shells or use of lathies as claimed by
the police.
Investigations later revealed that the armed Railway Police were
watching the entire incident from the last coach of the train and
moved only after the fire-extinguishers arrived
REPORTS IN LOCAL, REGIONAL AND DELHI MEDIA
The Study Team went carefully through the reports of the gory
incidents published in 22 newspapers and 9 newsmagazines. There is so
much variance in the reporting of the events in these publications
that it is impossible to draw out a cohesive and acceptable chain of
events. The reports vary from an accusation that the fire was stage-
managed in order to malign the Muslim minority to an assertion that
all Muslim passengers were asked to get down before Godhra by the
conspirators. Since the team had reasonably credible evidence from
direct witnesses it decided not to analyze the media reports for
reconstruction of the chronology of events.
GODHRA INCIDENT- ANALYSED- FACTS AND INFERENCES
There has been so much said, written and broadcast about the Godhra
incident that it is difficult to distinguish between facts, half-
truths, innocent imagination and motivated lies. Media and interested
parties have selected, distorted and added fiction to the story to
prove their respective points of view.
Unfortunately, professionalism took a back seat as media persons,
fact-finding commissions and administrators, by and large, failed to
maintain the fairness, neutrality and objectivity expected from them.
To engage in a dispassionate analysis the Study Team has divided all
the facts relating to this incident into four categories:
1. Indisputable facts.
2. Facts that appear to be true but need verification.
3. Information that appears to be untrue.
4. Mysteries.
INDISPUTABLE FACTS
1. On 27.02.02 Sabarmati Express from Faizabad reached Godhra more
than four hours late.
2. There were more than 2000 Hindu pilgrims on this train.
3. No serious dispute took place at the platform at Godhra between
the passengers and the vendors.
4. The entire train was stoned right after it left the platform at
Godhra and it continued even after it was stopped at Signal Faliya.
5. Firebombs, acid bulbs and highly inflammable liquid(s) were used
to set the coaches on fire that must have been stored already for the
purpose.
6. Miscreants succeeded in torching only one coach.
7. The conspirators did not allow the fire fighting staff to reach
the burning train expeditiously.
8. The iron grills of the windows of S-6 were broken and bent from
outside.
9. Fifty-eight passengers of coach S-6 were burnt to death by a
Muslim mob and that one of the conspirators was a Congress
Councillor, Haji Balal.
10. The train was stopped by pulling the chain and the vacuum pipe
was cut.
11. Someone used the public address system exhorting the mob to kill
kafirs and enemies of Bin Laden.
12. Assembly of a mob of about 2000 Muslims in three minutes could
not have been spontaneous.
13. The attack on Sabarmati Express on 27.02.02 was pre-planned and
pre-meditated. It was the result of a criminal conspiracy hatched by
a hostile foreign power with the help of local jehadis.
FACTS THAT NEED VERIFICATION
1. There was a conspiracy to reduce the effectiveness of the fire
fighting system of Godhra municipal committee.
2. The mob that burnt the coach had Muslims from outside the town as
well.
3. Firearms were used by the mob.
4. Police could have caught or killed some of the miscreants at the
spot.
5. Local politicians and elected representatives took active part in
instigating the mob.
6. Railway Police at Dahod sent a message to Godhra Railway police
that some Muslim youths on board Sabarmati Express were likely to
create mischief at Godhra.
7. Head of a passenger of S-6 coach was cut when he tried to get out
of the window. The head was later thrown back into the coach to burn.
Police investigations have opened the lead to an autorikshaw used for
purchasing the petrol from a local petrol-pump and carrying the same
in jerry cans to the Signal Falia area and still continuing.
INFORMATION THAT APPEARS TO BE UNTRUE
1. Some women passengers are missing.
2. Some women passengers were raped or molested.
3. Passengers had pulled the beard of a vendor at Godhra Railway
Station.
4. Passengers carried weapons with them.
5. Railway staff connived with the miscreants.
6. The pilgrims had taunted certain Muslims of Godhra while returning
from Ayodhya.
7. Police firing while they were burning the coach killed two
Muslims.
SOME MYSTERIES
1. Assistant Collector, Godhra (a young Muslim from eastern UP) goes
on leave two days before the incident and does not return till the
middle of the March while the district of his posting was aflame with
communal riots.
2. The unusual growth rate of Muslim population in Godhra.
3. Absence of information with the District officials about the
number of arms licenses issued.
4. Abnormally large number of passports issued to the residents of
Godhra.
5. Presence of a very large number of persons without ration cards in
Signal Faliya and Polan Bazar areas of Godhra.
6. A large number of unemployed Muslims in Godhra have mobile phones.
7. Very high traffic of telephone calls from Godhra to Pakistan
(mainly Karachi) before 27.02. 02.
8. Holding of istema - religious gatherings - at Godhra that were
attended by foreigners in large numbers.
COMMUNAL RIOTS IN GUJARAT AFTER 27.02.02 BOTH SPONTANEOUS AND PLANNED
BUT A TRAP OF INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM
The news of the events of 27. 02.02 at Godhra at about 0800 hrs
spread like wild fire all over the country by the afternoon. The
television media, which has the advantage of instantaneous reporting,
played its role in disseminating the information about this carnage.
Nothing happened for almost twenty-four hours, though the situation
was said to be very tense. Vishwa Hindu Parishad gave a call for
state-wide bandh to protest against the Godhra carnage. Communal
violence erupted almost simultaneously on 28.02.02 in many parts of
the state when the charred bodies, the injured and the passengers
travelling in the ill-fated train reached their homes. It became more
intense during next twenty- four hours and started subsiding after
that. After 01.03.02 there were only stray incidents of communal
violence in certain parts of the state.
On 15.03.02, after shila daan ceremony at Ayodhya by Ramchandra
Paramhans, processions of Ram dhun were taken out all over Gujarat.
The participation on these occasions was very large in Gujarat,
presumably as a reaction of what had happened in Godhra. The Ram dhun
processions at many places including Ahemdabad and Vadodra became the
points of communal tensions once again and the communal tension that
was subsiding again flared up.
Although the Muslim elders had assured the police at Vadodra that
peace would be maintained at all costs, the processions were stoned
from a mosque. The intensity of the attack proves that these were
pre- meditated. The attack was so massive that the police had a tough
time handling it.
The state once again came under the grip of communal riots. The
rioting was very intense for about three days. Sectarian violence,
however, continued in several parts of the state even three days
after the attack on Hindu procession at Vadodra.
Incidents of violence on a large scale were initially reported from
Ahmedabad and Vadodara towns and the districts of Panchmahals,
Sabarkantha and Mehsana. Later it spread to other areas also. However
the communal violence was mainly confined to Central and North
Gujarat. Saurashtra and South Gujarat remained relatively peaceful.
There was no communal violence in almost one half of Gujarat.
The team was told that when the charred bodies of the dead reached
their families or the news of their killings reached the relatives,
friends and neighbors attacked the nearby Muslim establishments.
Similar incidents took place when chautha and kriya ceremonies of the
dead were solemnised.
Gujarat has a long history of communal riots. The first such riot has
been reported in 1714. After independence major riots broke out on
several occasions since 1969. Jagmohan Reddy Commission of Inquiry of
1969 and Dave Commission of Inquiry of 1985 analysed the causes and
consequences of communal tensions in great details. Serious rioting
occurred in 1970 and also in 1992-93. According to official data,
Gujarat witnessed 443 major communal incidents between 1970 and 2002.
Another characteristic of the communal frenzy in Gujarat is that it
has always taken a long time to return to normalcy. For instance in
Godhra itself in 1985 curfew remained imposed for about a year.
Communal disturbance in 1985 continued for more than five months from
February to July 1985.
The Study team has not gone into the facts and figures of the number
of persons killed, injured and displaced, the loss of property
destroyed and the number of cases related to molestation of women, if
any. It is not because these facts are not important but because the
team lacked the time and resources to go into these details. However
the Study Team has analysed the situation for:
1. Administrative response
2. Deployment of Army
3. Relief and resettlement measures
4. Confidence building measures
5. Socio-economic profile of the rioting mobs
6. Involvement of vanvasis
7. Role of media
ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSE
Based on the information collected from official and non-official
sources at Godhra, Ahemdabad and Vadodara the Study Team is of the
considered opinion that:
1. The local administration did not respond with speed to the Godhra
carnage. The police remained a passive spectator and hesitated to use
force against the miscreants. It made no attempt to apprehend the
leaders of the mob that indulged in burning alive innocent pilgrims
returning from Ayodhya. However, the administration took preventive
measures after the VHP gave a call for Gujarat bandh in protest
against the attack on the train.
2. In Godhra, Vadodara and Ahmedabad the police tried to control the
rioting mobs but, more often than not, failed, as the police were
outnumbered - the mobs were unexpectedly large and the police were
inadequately armed. In certain cases, the mob carried more lethal
weapons that the police had.
3. The administration was not prepared to handle massive migration of
riot affected people of both the communities and did not have any
idea of the quantum of the relief and rehabilitation work required.
4. Co-ordination between the administration and the NGOs was
inadequate.
5. Training and drills for managing communal tensions was conspicuous
by its absence in a state that periodically witnesses communal
frenzy.
6. Socio-psychological understanding of the communal divide is
lacking amongst the officials.
7. The adverse comments on the transfers of officials in the media
and not so much the actual transfers demotivated the official
machinery.
8. At many places policemen did commendable work of protecting life
and property.
9. Policemen, by and large, responded to the situation without
communal bias.
DEPLOYMENT OF ARMY
There has been lot of comments on the timing of the deployment of
army in various urban and rural areas in Gujarat after the outbreak
of violence. Although the team did not have enough time to go into
the question in depth, the information made available to it shows
that there was no delay on the part of the Gujarat Government in
summoning and deployment of troops. A comparison with the past is
presented for a proper perspective.
1. By the afternoon of 28.02.02 it was clear that the communal
violence has spread widely and the situation had become so alarming
that it was unlikely to be controlled by the police and paramilitary
forces.
2. On 28.02.02 at 4.30 p.m. the Chief Minister announced at a press
conference that the State Government has decided to call army to
assist the civil administration.
3. By evening the Union Government had given instructions for the
deployment of two brigades in Gujarat.
4. Defence Minister air dashed to Ahmedabad at midnight and had a
meeting with the Chief Minister to discuss deployment of the army.
5. The army had to be withdrawn from the country's border with
Pakistan despite the fact that the troops are deployed in full
strength in eye-ball-to-eye-ball situation on Indo-Pak borders.
6. Withdrawal of army from the border may have weakened the country's
defensive and offensive strategies.
7. Within less than 24 hours at least one brigade of Indian Army had
air landed at Ahmedabad. In a meeting at 0800hrs in which Chief
Minister, Defence Minister, army generals and civil officers
participated the formal plan for the deployment of the army was
approved. Magistrates who must accompany the army were appointed and
by 11 a. m. on 01.03.02 the actual deployment of army at sensitive
points had begun.
8. The second brigade was deputed to Rajkot and Vadodara on 01.03.02
by that night.
9. Columns allotted to Godhra reached there in the morning of
02.03.02.
10. Army went back to barracks on 10.03.02.
11. In 1969 rioting started on 18.09.69 and army was called in on
21.09.69.
12. In 1985 the riots started on 15.04.85 and the army was called in
on 16.04.85.
RELIEF AND REHABILITATION MEASURES
1. Many persons of both the communities whose houses were burnt or
destroyed fled and came to the nearby towns for shelter.
2. Many persons who feared an attack on them also fled and gathered
in nearby towns.
3. The State Government arranged for shelters called Relief Camps to
provide safe temporary shelter to the displaced persons.
4. Many voluntary organizations of both the communities also opened
Relief Camps for the displaced persons.
5. The Government managed some camps while other camps were run by
the voluntary organizations.
6. Most of the inhabitants in the camps remained unoccupied, leading
to idle talk and further reinforcement of views on communal basis.
7. The inhabitants did not feel confident and safe to go back to
their respective habitations.
According to the State Government following is the information about
the camps:
District Number of Camps Number of inmates
Ahmedabad 44- 68100
Anand 13- 5200
Dahod 6 -4526
Kheda 3- 1441
Mahesana 6- 2648
Panchmahals 7- 8091
Sabarkantha 13- 10938
Vadodara 11- 12753
State Total 103- 113697
CONFIDENCE BUILDING MEASURES
1. In affected areas deployment of police or other forces was very
scanty.
2. Residents of the sensitive areas were living in an environment of
fear.
3. The mutual mistrust between Hindu and Muslim population is on the
increase.
4. Longer the stay in the camps more is the feeling of anxiety and
uncertainty.
5. In affected areas, sensitive areas and relief camps there was no
publicity material appealing and advising for communal harmony and
peaceful co-existence
6. The Information and Public Relations machinery of the state did
not disseminate words of assurance and appeals by the Prime Minister,
Chief Minister and others that are likely to have a soothing effect
on the hurt psyche of the people.
7. Presence of the reports of arson in newspapers and repetition of
such reports on television affected negatively the process of
confidence building.
8. Most of the voluntary and social organizations were working on
sectarian lines and hardly worked for creating an environment of
communal harmony.
9. Efforts of some of the officials to bring both the communities
together and arrive at a compromise failed, as the amount of
antagonism against each other is very high.
10. Rumors spread like wild fire increasing the level of anxieties.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROFILES OF THE RIOTING MOBS
(Based on information collected from officials and public, no direct
observation)
1. Muslim mobs predominantly included persons of lower socio-economic
strata.
2. Muslim mobs included many known faces but number of persons not
earlier seen in the locality was also very large.
3. Hindu mobs, especially during the first week of March, comprised a
mix of people belonging to lower, lower middle and upper middle
socio-economic strata of the society.
4. Involvement of upper middle class Hindus in arson and looting is a
phenomenon seen for the first time in the country.
5. The Hindu mobs appeared to be more interested in destroying the
property of selected establishments of Muslims. It was reported that
a chain of restaurants with Hindu names and owned by a Muslim family
was targeted because of the perception that lot of money from gulf
countries had been invested thereby putting Hindu competitors at a
disadvantage.
6. Another new phenomenon reported to the Study Team was the presence
and active participation of women in the mobs.
INVOLVEMENT OF TRIBALS
Earlier in Gujarat, tribals never got involved in the Hindu- Muslim
riots. However, their involvement in post Godhra riots added a new
dimension to the communal violence. In rural areas the vanvasis
attacked the Muslim moneylenders, shopkeepers and the forest
contractors. They used their traditional bow and arrows as also their
implements used to cut the trees and grass while attacking Muslims.
They moved in groups and used coded signals for communication.
Two factors seems to have contributed to this disturbing phenomenon:
1. A delegation of tribals told the Study team that the Muslim
moneylenders, shopkeepers and forest contractors have been exploiting
the tribals for decades. They charged exorbitant rate of interest to
money loaned to tribals. In certain cases the rate of interest is as
high as 50 per cent per year.
Having got into this never-ending vicious circle of loans, the
tribals have been reduced to the status of bonded labour. Tribals
working as servants are ill-treated by these money lenders who happen
to be Muslims.
The accumulated anger of years of exploitation became explosive when
moneylenders sexually exploited their womenfolk. The tribals are no
longer allowed to use forest produce that has been their sustenance
for centuries. This too fuelled the feelings of anger, hatred and
revenge among them.
2. Tribals have, of late, become conscious of their Hindu identity
because of the awareness campaign launched by VHP and other Hindu
outfits. Burning alive of Hindu pilgrims by a Muslim mob at Godhra
provided the spark for the fire of revenge and hatred.
It may be mentioned that these are only exploratory postulations,
scientific anthropological, economic and sociological analysis is
required to understand the changed behavior of tribals.
ROLE OF MEDIA
The Study Team received a large number of complaints against biased
reporting', non-objective attitude and anti Gujarat conspiracy of
Delhi Media. The team felt it necessary to objectively observe and
analyse the role of Media both regional and English language
newspapers published from metropolitan cities. It also solicited
comments about the role of media from about 500 persons with whom the
members of the team interacted. The team's observations are:
1. Local and regional papers at times seemed to be emotionally
surcharged and lost sight of objectivity. However, Gujarati
newspapers, by and large, were factual in day to day reporting.
2. The editorial pages of local and regional newspapers maintained a
balance in projecting all viewpoints.
3. Newspapers published in English from Delhi invariably
editorialized the news. Direct and indirect comments in the news
writing were so telling that the personal likes and dislikes of the
news reporters were too obvious to be missed.
4. English language newspapers published from Delhi appeared to have
assumed the role of crusaders against the State Government from day
one. It coloured the entire operation of news gathering, feature
writing and editorials.
5. The edit pages of English language press carried comments that
clearly indicated biases:
a. against the State Government of Gujarat,
b. in favor of Congress, leftist parties and the secularist
intellectuals,
c. indifferent to the carnage at Godhra,
d. against the Hindu organizations, and
e. against the NDA government at the Centre.
6. Most of the national newspapers and news channels played down the
intensity of Godhra carnage and projected it as a result of
provocation by pilgrims. Not many reporters were deputed to dig out
facts or to do follow-up stories. This resulted in large number of
editorials and articles that projected Godhra as a reaction to
provocation by karsevaks' and riots in rest of the state as "state
sponsored terrorism".
7. A distorted image of sectarian violence in the state was projected
by the electronic and print media based in Delhi.
8. Repeated telecasts of arson and violence contributed in spreading
the tension to unaffected areas. TV channels ignored warning from
officials and kept telecasting communal riots like infotainment.
9. Coverage of Machhipiti in Vadodara is an example. One national
news channel went overboard to telecast police firing at Machhipit as
if it had taken place in Ahmedabad.
10. On 27.02.02 the Government of Gujarat announced a compensation of
Rs. 2 lakh for the next of kin of victims of Godhra carnage. There
were protests about discrimination between Hindu and Muslim victims
and the Government announced on March 9 that all victims would get Rs
one lakh.
Yet, as late as the first week of April a Congressperson in USA cited
a report in an Indian newspaper to accuse the Government of
discriminating against minorities in the grant of compensation. The
newspaper concerned did not care to inform its readers of the correct
situation.
11. The code of ethics prescribed by the Press Council of India was
violated by the media with impunity. It so enraged the citizens that
several concerned citizens in the disturbed areas suggested that
peace could return to the state only if some of the TV channels were
closed for some weeks.
12. Media did not help to cool down the tempers. It failed to act as
a platform for a dialogue between the Hindus and Muslims on the one
hand and between the people and the establishment on the other.
The Study Team is of the considered opinion that the media in general
failed to perform as conscious and socially responsible gatekeepers
of information.
It followed in the footsteps of an American journalist who said, " My
job is to report the facts. I give a damn to the consequences".
Telecasting images that spread hatred and instigated violence is
unhealthy, but their repeated telecast is lethal. The media acted as
an interested party in the confrontation, not a neutral reporter of
facts.
The team was alarmed at the intensity of hostile attitude among the
people of the state for Delhi press and television news channels.
This attitude was especially articulated by delegations of
intellectuals like lawyers, doctors, and businessmen. Even the
tribals complained that the media had no time to hear their tale of
their agony and was spreading canards against the Hindus.
CONCLUSIONS
TERRORISM NURTURED BY COMMUNAL DISHARMONY:
The Godhra carnage and related incidents make a typical case study of
international designs and conspiracies to weaken India as an emerging
world power. Analysts and professional strategists of all ideological
inclinations converge on one forecast that India is going to be a
major player on the international scene sooner rather than later.
The global community also realizes the inevitability of India
becoming an important economic and military power. In such a
situation it is but natural that nations hostile to India or its
adversaries make all out efforts to create impediments in this
process.
Their strategy is to keep India engaged in communal and caste strife
so that the nation's focus on development is defused and its
endeavour to emerge as a super- power is thwarted. It would surprise
no one if Pakistan with the tacit support of not-so-friendly
neighbours and world powers hatches conspiracies to destablise and
weaken the Indian State.
A careful and in-depth analysis, if carried out with an open mind,
would throw open an action plans where terrorist activities appear to
be merging with the already existing strong antagonism between
Muslims and Hindus. Our hostile neighbour, sometimes in the guise of
a friend, keeps on creating wounds on the body polity of our nation.
Creation and perpetuation of Kashmir problem is one such example. The
support to the authoritarian regimes in Pakistan by USA and European
countries speaks volumes about the super power's commitment, or lack
of it, to democratic values. Godhra and the wide spread communal
violence in Gujarat in recent weeks is a part of this nefarious
design.
The Study Team concludes:
1. Burning of 58 Hindu pilgrims at Godhra on 27.02.02 was an act of
international terrorism carried out with the evil objective of
pushing the country into a communal cauldron.
2. The plan was to burn the entire train with more than two thousand
passengers in the wee hours of February 27, 2002. It was a terrorist
action plan that partly failed. The perpetrators of the terrorist
acts received support from jehadi elements operating from Godhra.
These included some Congress members of the Nagarpalika.
1. Preparations for enacting Godhra carnage were made in advance.
2. There were no quarrels or fights between Hindus and Muslim
passengers on the train.
3. There were no quarrels or fights between the vendors and the Hindu
pilgrims on the platform of Godhra Railway Station.
4. The intention of the mob was to put to death all the pilgrims
travelling by the Sabharmati Express.
5. The fire fighting system available in Godhra was weakened and its
arrival at the place of incident wilfully delayed by the mob with the
open participation of a Congress Councillor, Haji Balal.
6. The demographic changes in Godhra in recent years have made it a
centre for jehadi activities.
7. The Army was requisitioned and deployed in time.
8. The police was on many occasions overwhelmed by the rioting mobs
that were massive and carried more lethal weapons than the police
did.
9. Police did not have the training and know-how to mange situations
of communal strife witnessed in the state in recent weeks.
10. Barring a few exceptions, the police was not found to be
communally motivated.
11. Frequent deployment of army for internal management weakens the
defence of our international borders and facilitates infiltration
from across the border.
12. The local administration and police at Godhra did not take
adequate and prompt action even after the receipt of information
about the attack on the train by an armed mob. The local police was
reluctant to use force against the rioting mob and made no attempt to
arrest the leaders of the gang.
13. The local administration and the police should have been on the
alert in view of the demographic and political changes taking place
in the town.
15. The administration in Godhra, Ahmedabad and Vadodra was on the
whole sensitized to the plight of Muslim minorities in their
respective areas. However, the police failed to protect the citizens
from frenzied mobs indulging in arson, looting and killing.
16. The relief work was carried out by establishing relief camps for
victims of the riots. There are separate camps for Hindus and
Muslims. Refugees are not satisfied with the facilities available in
the camps.
17. Riot-affected citizens belonging to both the communities are
reluctant to go back to their homes due to communal tension and
apprehensions about violence.
18. Although Gujarat is a state notorious for communal riots, the
bureaucracy and the police are not trained to handle communal riots
and to take pre-emptive action to prevent sectarian violence.
19. Alternate strategies to mange communal divide have not been
worked out.
20. Adverse media reports about role of officials affected their
performance and de-motivated them. Several officers were reluctant to
take firm action.
21. Gujarati language media was factual and objective. Yet its
propensity to highlight the gory incidents in great details
heightened communal tension.
22. English language media, particularly the Delhi Press, is
perceived by the Gujaratis to be biased. The information disseminated
by it was neither balanced nor impartial.
23. By converting half-baked news stories into major headlines, print
as well as electronic media widened the psychological hiatus between
Muslims and Hindus.
24. By disseminating half-truths and lies, the media played no mean
role in distorting country's image in the World.
25. The credibility of the media both electronic and print is at
dangerously low ebb in Gujarat.
The sectarian violence in Gujarat that began in Godhra on 27.02.02
can be divided into four phases:
1. The first phase was Godhra incident which was planned and executed
by a combination of external and internal jehadi forces. It lasted
for less than an hour.
2. The second phase was the reaction of Godhra where Hindu pilgrims
were roasted alive in the train. The backlash was very intense for 3-
4 days. However, sporadic incidents continued for several weeks.
3. The third phase began on 15.03.02 after a Muslim mob attacked a
Hindu procession chanting Ram dhun. Extensive media coverage of this
attack provoked yet another round of communal riots that lasted for
4/5 days.
4. Sectarian violence continues even more than a month after Godhra.
This fourth phase of violence has no provocation or justification
other than to sustain the "Remove Modi" campaign. It is the
constitutional duty of the State Government to protect citizens and
maintain law and order.
It is also in the partisan interest of the ruling party in the state
to put an end to the communal violence as its continuity in office
depends on how soon and how effectively it combats violence. It is,
therefore, hard to reject Chief Minister's contention that the
Congress party that has a vested interest in getting him sacked is
perpetuating the communal violence by provoking stray incidents.
Thus the Study Team concludes:
26. Communal violence in Gujarat has become politicized, and instead
of treating it as human tragedy it is being used to get political
mileage by political parties.
27. Loaded statements made by political leaders propounding their
action plans increases the hiatus between Muslims and Hindus.
28. Continued communal violence in Gujarat has tarnished the image of
the country in international field thereby reducing its status and
bargaining power. Western countries jealous of India's growing clout
in the international community have used the riots to interfere in
our internal affairs. The Centre has taken some steps to stem the rot
but the role of the opposition is negative. It is encouraging Muslim
outfits to involve foreign powers in their "oust Mody" campaign.
29. On the world canvass today strong indicators are visible that
point to a concerted effort by jehadi forces to slow down ever-
increasing importance of India in the world affairs.
30. There are also concerted efforts to disintegrate India,
politically as well as emotionally.
31. There are elements within the country that help and collaborate
with the forces inimical to India.
32. The governing class in India is ignorant or wilfully blind to the
threat perceptions posed by the jehadi forces.
RECOMMENDATIONS- ALTERNATE PLAN OF THOUGHT AND ACTION
India cannot escape taking the responsibility of failure to manage
the relationship between Hindus and Muslims just by pleading that the
problem was inherited from the colonial rulers and the Muslim
invaders. Fifty-five years is a long enough period to resolve the
issue. Unfortunately, no serious effort has been made to bring Hindus
and Muslims closer.
On the other hand, certain parties for partisan considerations have
exploited the hiatus between the two communities. External agencies
fuel the fire of hatred but they succeed only because there are
weaknesses within the country. International designs find a ready
response from within the civil society as there is a fertile ground
for separatist tendencies to grow.
Traditional methods of conflict resolution having failed, new systems
need to be employed to convert communal mistrust into national
affection and brotherhood. New approaches are required to convert the
weaknesses into strength.
A minority as large as the second largest Muslim country should not
feel alienated nor should the majority community be made to feel that
the minorities were appeased at its cost.
The amount of time, energy, effort and other resources that the
country spends for managing the communal conflicts and failing again
and again, if gets diverted to the process of growth and development,
India can become a land of plenty and prosperity. But the old
problems must be seen from new angles and unorthodox measures taken.
The intelligentsia will have to come up with new yet realistic
principles and theories of social systems that are based on ground
realities. They must stop romanticizing the miseries of the nation.
The bureaucracy have to devise action plans that show results within
their lifetimes and cease to give extensions to the problem solving
systems. The politicians have to look for alternate means of winning
elections and stop treating citizens as mere voters to be used only
as pawns in the hands of politicians.
The nation must accept that Hindus and Muslims have no options but to
live together. There are only two options. One, to live in amity and
the other to live in mutual hostility. Saner elements in the two
communities would prefer the first option. Every action and situation
that carries the potential of disturbing the mutual amity have to be
identified and weeded out.
The problem is complex and multifaceted and solution is bound to be
difficult and elusive. But the country has a large storehouse of
brains that can find solutions to still harder problems. New faces
have to be entrusted this job. So a different set of persons who look
at the problems from new angles and propose a mix of curative and
preventive measures is the need of the hour.
In view of the enormity of the cancerous problem of communal
conflicts and the field experience of recent happenings in Gujarat
the Study Team proposes to recommend:
a. long term measures b. short term measures c. immediate steps to be
taken
LONG TERM MEASURES
1. Following groups be constituted to study the problems of communal
conflicts in the country:
c. Diagnostic Team: to investigate the genesis of the process of
communal conflict and identify key problem areas
d. Curative Team: to determine the solutions for the problems
identified by the diagnostic team
e. Pre-emptive Action Team: to prepare action plans so that existing
tensions do not flare up and also to ensure that no new conflict
situations arise.
The teams should comprise of social scientists, conflict managers,
jurists and media persons.
2. Participation in the acts of communal violence should be treated
as a crime of as serious nature as an act of terrorism. In no case,
communal violence should be allowed to become a lucrative vocation.
3. Deployment of army for internal law and order should be confined
to the situation of internal emergency. The enemies of the country
should not be allowed to use communal violence as a strategy for
withdrawal of army from the border.
4. In the states, police forces on the lines of rapid action force be
created for deployment during riots and natural disasters.
5. Election laws need to be amended so that the politicians are not
able to use caste or religion for nurturing votes banks. Once the
politicians are aware that vote banks based on caste or religion
would not serve their purpose, a major portion of the communal
problem will disappear.
6. A citizens standing committee be constituted to keep a watch on
the communal situation so that if and when communal tension in any
part of the country tends to increase the administration is warned to
take preventive measures. Such committees need to be constituted at
State, District, Block and Village levels.
SHORT TERM MEASURES
7. Several laws and orders passed by the successive governments have
remained on paper only. Two such laws are directly related with
maintenance of communal peace:
a. The order to ban the use of loud speakers in religious places as
well as in processions.
b. the law to regulate the sale of property by the members of one
community to the other in communally sensitive areas.
It is recommended that the above orders should be implemented and
indirect sale deeds such as on power of attorney should also be taken
care of. All encroachments in important public places, busy markets,
religious places, near railway stations and bus stations as well as
on highways especially at the entry points to the cities should be
cleared.
8. It is recommended that the orders for the ban of loud speakers be
put to practice with the cooperation with the leaders of various
communities.
9. An inquiry commission should be set up to inquire into:
c. Economic and social exploitation of tribals in the state.
d. Recommend ways and means to stop their exploitation
10. Rehabilitation is not merely a physical act of placement of
families. Serious efforts need to be done to restore the emotional
state of mind. The village and mohalla majorities should be
intimately involved in the work of rehabilitation.
11. Gujarat must conduct a review of its police force, which appears
to be ill equipped to handle communal violence at the level of recent
riots. Special training needs to be given in crowd control methods.
IMMEDIATE STEPS TO BE TAKEN
12. The case of issuance of disproportionate number of passports in
Godhra be investigated.
13. Punitive fines be imposed on the residents of localities where
communal violence erupts after a notified date.
14. Media should use itself as a platform for creating harmonious
relationships between different communities. Its crusade, if at all,
should be for or against the processes and not for or against
individuals.
15. Persons living in relief camps should be provided safe
habitations. Community leaders should be actively involved in
managing the rehabilitation.
16. Persons booked for communal violence must be prosecuted quickly
and given exemplary punishment so that it acts as a deterrent.
17. An independent commission should examine the role of media, both
electronic and print, during the communal violence in Gujarat.
18. A code-of-conduct should be developed for the media both for
general news gathering and news presentation and during the communal
riots. Till the time new code is adopted the guidelines given by the
Press Council of India for covering communal tensions should be
followed.
19. Television news channels have very significant influence on the
minds of the viewers. If the channels so desire they can provide a
healing touch to the wounded population of Gujarat. Indian news
channels also have the professional talent required for the job. It
is suggested that the television news channels take the roles of
crusaders for peace.
20. A situation of continuous dialogue needs to be created in every
habitation in Gujarat by establishing citizens peace committees. It
has been proved that regular communication links reduces antagonism
between warring groups.
P.S.: Mr. S. M. F. Bukhari,IAS, head of the Rehabilitation of
refugees in the State, in a press statement in the first week of
Aug.2002, said that out of over 130,000 refugees in different camps
in the State, only below 10% or 13,000 remained in the Govt. run
camps and others have returned to their homes.
Most of the inmates of the Shah Alam or other camps in Ahmedabad are
the poorer Muslims, illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, who were even
otherwise living in Jhuggi/Jhopda-s or temporary shelters built by
waste wood and plastic material on Govt. land, sleeping in the open
and nowhere to go back, nor they desire to go back as they are happy
with the ample free rations and blame the Govt. of atrocities to
every VIP visiting these camps. They are claiming from the Govt.
houses to be built for them now!!
End of forwarded message from S. Kalyanaraman
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
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Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Godhra carnage: Tewatia commission, first to visit Godhra
THE GODHRA CARNAGE
SYNOPSIS:
1. The burning of the Sabarmati Express was apparently a pre-planned
conspiracy with the connivance of ISI and SIMI, the conspiracy
conceived and planned at Deoband School of Islamic studies in U.P.
with their counterparts in Godhra. The intention was to burn the
whole train at Godhra on this day when over 2300 Hindu pilgrims were
returning from Ayodhya. Since the scheduled arrival was 2.55 AM, the
inferno could be complete and unattended for a long time giving the
perpetrators time to escape in the darkness after inflicting maximum
possible carnage. The plan was to repeat a WTC here in India.
2. Monitoring of the movement of the train of the coaches occupied by
Hindu devotees were reportedly regularly fed to Godhra where most of
the porters, staff and stall-holders were Muslims and part of the
conspiracy. As planned, Muslim passengers were made to alight at
previous stoppages, last at Dahod by the conspirators. That is how
the Railway reports of fewer reserved passengers in S-6 than in the
list, who were burnt to death.
3. The train started from the platform but was immediately brought to
stoppage by chain-pulling as many passengers still sipping tea,
didnt re-enter the train and reportedly there was a skirmish towards
payment for tea to the vendor in which his daughter too
intervened.(Collector Jayanti Ravi made a premature and immature
statement of the carnage due to this skirmish at 8AM on the same day)
4. According to train/station staff, the train restarted as the
mechanism was set right in a few minutes and moved towards the outer
signal. The train was stopped a second time at the outer point
joining the main line by one points-man named Syed, and some
miscreants disabled the vacuum system by cutting off the flexible
pipes, a pre-planned step to disable the braking system .
5. No sooner the train stopped, a crowd of over 2000 Muslims who had
collected earlier with all sorts of weapons started attacking the
passengers, who closed the windows when stones were thrown at them.
Crowbars were used to wrench out the iron bars of the windows and the
windows were broken open.
6. Some passengers who tried to escape through such windows were
beheaded by swords. Few others escaped with injuries.
7. A few Muslims entered the S-5 coach with cans of inflammable
liquid- petrol, and splashed the petrol into the coach S-6 standing
at the vestibule and the toilet area. The fuel was then ignited by
them. (This corroborates findings of the Forensic Dept. that fuel was
lighted and burnt from inside the train and not thrown through
windows)
8. All the time the crowd was shouting Kill the infidels in
orchestrated way and was led by Chairman of Municipality and
Councillors, all Muslims belonging to Congress Party..
9. One of the fire-fighters was earlier disabled by removal of bolts
by the Municipal Corporator Haji Balal during his long presence at
the Firestation as in-charge, the previous day and the second one
too, made defective was repaired and rushed to the Railway Station on
getting the call. This vehicle was stopped 200 yards away from the
Station by a crowd of Muslims led by this Corporator, who pulled the
driver down and got the windscreen smashed. Sensing threat to his
life, the driver managed to restart the engine and ploughed through
the crowd running helter skelter and reached the S-6 coach to put off
the fire.
10. Over 58 people in S-6 were burnt to death. It is reported that
when CPI team visited the coach, two plastic jerry cans were planted
in the coach to prove that the Kar-sevaks were carrying petrol within
the coach!! Little did they realise the folly that plastic jerry cans
would not have survived the inferno that bent even steel fittings in
the coach!!
11. The Collector attempted to play down the incident as outcome of
petty quarrel at the platform when Ram-sevaks did not pay for the tea
that resulted in the carnage. Such feeble attempts to point the
finger at Hindu devotees were consistently made by the Railway
Protection Force, English media and so called Voluntary agencies
vying with one another to disprove the horrendous act by the Muslims
and none of them were able to explain the fact how over 2000 Muslims
collected with all sorts of arms and petrol to attack the train
within 5 minutes of the actual departure of the train.
12. Some allegations were made against the devotees pulling a Muslim
girl into the compartment, which in fact was a mild skirmish when the
tea-vendors daughter had joined the fracas regarding payment for the
tea as many were rushing to moving train.
FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES- GODHRA AND AFTER- A Field Study
By Justice D. S. Tewatia, Dr. J. C. Batra, Dr. Krishan Singh Arya,
Shri Jawahar Lal Kaul, Prof. B. K. Kuthiala
COUNCIL FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AND HUMAN RIGHTSA-208, Surajmal
Vihar, Delhi 110 092. (Phone 2374816, fax 2377653, Email
http://lw11fd.law11.hotmail.msn.com
COUNCIL FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AND HUMAN RIGHTS -GOVERNING BODY
FOR THE TERM 2001-03:
Chairman : Shri Shanta Kumar, Parliamentarian, Palampur
Vice-Chairmen: Justice D S Tewatia, Jurist, Gurgaon
Shri Chaman Lal Gupta, Parliamentarian, Jammu
Shri Y D Ahuja, Academician, New Delhi
Secy. General: Shri Shyam Khosla, Journalist, New Delhi
Secretaries: Prof. B K Kuthiala, Academician; Hisar
Shri R K Sharma, Journalist, New Delhi
Shri Kumar Rakesh, Journalist, New Delhi
Treasurer: Shri R Chandiwala, Chartered Accountant, New Delhi
Members: 1. Shri A. R. Kohli, Governor of Mizoram, Aizwal.
2. Dr Harsh Vardhan, Medical Administrator, New Delhi
3. Dr N K Trikha, Journalist, New Delhi
4. Dr Ajay Kumar, Physician, New Delhi
5. Shri A N Misra, Journalist, Nagpur
6. Mrs. Sudesh Bhatia, Academician, New Delhi
7. Prof. Shivaji Sarkar, Academician, New Delhi
8. Dr. J C Batra, Senior Advocate, New Delhi
9. Shri Vikas Mahajan, Advocate, New Delhi
10. Dr. J B Goyal, Academician, New Delhi
11. Shri Joseph Gathia, Social Activist, New Delhi
12. Shri Pradeep Thakur, Journalist, Gaziabad
13. Dr. K. C. Pandey, Teacher, Gaziabad
PREFACE:
The Council for International Affairs and Human Rights is deeply
concerned over the Godhra carnage that consumed 58 pilgrims,
including 26 women and 12 children, returning from Ayodhya when the
Sabarmati Express carrying them was torched near Godhra railway
station and the subsequent sectarian violence. These gory incidents
shocked the nation to no end. Torching alive innocent citizens is in
total violation of Indian values and traditions and is a blot on the
fair name of this ancient civilization. It is a gross violation of
human rights of innocent citizens who were roasted alive or brutally
killed or maimed for no fault of theirs.
The Gujarat tragedy is too deep for tears. An in-depth and objective
study to understand the conspiracy, if any, that led to the burning
alive of pilgrims and the killing of innocent citizens that took
place is several parts of Gujarat isthe need of the hour. It is
equally important to identify the evil forces that were instrumental
in accomplishing the "mission".
The civil society needs to evolve ways and means to resolve the
communal divide that has become a festering wound and poses a serious
threat to human rights. It is of utmost importance to know how the
administration responded to the challenge and what was the role of
the political parties, social organisations, the intelligentsia and
the media.
It is in this context that the Governing Body of the Council that met
at Delhi on March 22, 2002 decided to send a team to conduct a field
study into the communal strife in Gujarat.
Justice D. S. Tewatia, Vice-Chairman of the Council and a former
Chief Justice of Calcutta and Punjab and Haryana High Courts, is the
leader of the team.
Other members are: Dr J C Batra, senior advocate, Supreme Court of
India, Dr. Krishan Singh Arya, Academician, Chandigarh, Shri Jawahar
Lal Kaul, former Assistant Editor, Jansatta, Delhi, and Prof. B K
Kuthiala, Dean, Faculty of Media Studies, G. J. University Hisar.
The team left for Gujarat on April 1 and returned on April 7, 2002.
The team conducted a scientific field study into the horrendous
happenings in Godhra and other parts of Gujarat and collected
enormous evidence in the form of interviews and documents. It has
produced a comprehensive rep ort dealing with numerous aspects of the
tragedy. It was not possible for the team to uncover each and every
dimension of the tragedy due to constraints of time and resources.
But it has done a wonderful job in the limited time and resources
available to it. The Council is extremely grateful to Justice Tewatia
and his team for conducting the study and producing a comprehensive
report.
The Council hopes that its labours will not go waste and that
authorities concerned, the intelligentsia and the media as also the
common citizens will take serious note of the conclusions and
recommendations made by the team. A careful reading of the report
will help sift fact from fiction and identify rumours and canards
that have been spread by vested interests. The report, one hopes,
will enable the nation to have a correct perspective of the forces
behind the tragedy and the elements that exploited it for partisan
considerations.
The Council is grateful to the members of the team, the
representatives of various organisations of Hindus and Muslims of
Gujarat, concerned citizens who came forward to narrate details of
incidents and provided evidence and the local authorities that
ensured that the team conducted the study without any hindrance.
Shyam Khosla ,Secretary General. April 26, 2002
CONTENTS
S No Chapter Page
1. Introduction 1
2. Data Collection 5
3. Godhra incident 9
4. Facts and inferences 22
5. Communal riots in Gujarat 25
6. Conclusions 35
7. Recommendations 40
INTRODUCTION: NEED FOR AN OBJECTIVE ANALYTICAL STUDY
Finding the truth is the ultimate objective of any intellectual
exercise. Be it a fact-finding mission, analysis of social, political
or economic processes or a spiritual journey the edifice of truth is
built on the facts. In sciences experiments are conducted to generate
new information, which forms the basis for the enunciation of new
theories and principles. Facts become sacred, inferences and opinions
must arise from the information of the past and the new data
gathered. Neutrality in the selection of past data, in the process of
gathering new information and also in the process of analysis and
derivation of inferences is fundamental to any objective intellectual
endeavor.
UNIPOLAR THOUGHT PROCESS
Any exercise to search for truth has to make a beginning without any
predispositions. Objectivity is lost if the past attitudes and
aptitudes of the seeker of truth colour the vision and the analyst
becomes blind to a set of information bits and another set of data is
visualized as being greater than its real worth. In research
hypothesis are stated and the esearcher has a mind- set wherein based
on dispassionate analysis of gathered data the stated hypothesis is
either proved to be right or wrong. Incorrect derivations and
inferences would arise if the researcher were emotionally or
ideologically inclined to prove or disprove a given hypothesis.
Truth is the first casualty of such an exercise. Intellectual honesty
demands observations, analysis and derivations that are free from the
personal or group prejudice and likes and dislikes of the analysts.
Unfortunately in today's India the vocal, articulate and dominant
sections of thinkers and analysts have become predictable. Even
before an exercise of analysis of events and processes begins it is
possible to almost correctly forecast the inferences and conclusions
that are likely to be drawn by the individuals, groups or
organizations.
A newspaper would publish editorials and articles supporting and
proving only one point of view.
The outcome of the discussion is predictable depending upon the
television channel that is hosting it. Even in the case of simple
journalistic reporting the personal predispositions of the reporter
glare prominently in the news stories. The questions asked clearly
indicate the ideological inclinations of the interviewer.
So much so that even the organizations created under the statutes of
the Constitution become partisan and their contentions are blind to a
set of data and hyper-responsive to another set of facts. Unipolar
thought process of Indian analysts and commentators has become a
practice rather than an exception.
QUEST FOR TRUTH
When the problems of the nation receive skewed notice from its
intellectuals the analysis cannot be realistic. Not only the problems
get politicized, the analysis too is coloured with the vision of the
analyst. If the diagnosis of the problem is faulty, the solution is
bound to be unrealistic and misdirected. When a physician commits
error in the diagnosis of an ailment, he fails to cure the disease
and may give birth to new problems. The country today needs better
treatment by its intelligentsia. It is the dharma of the
intelligentsia to be objective and search and state the truth and
only the truth.
If we look back and introspect the achievements and failures of the
nation after independence three facts clearly emerge.
First, there was acute shortage of food grains and the country had to
import wheat. It posed a serious challenge. The farming community and
the scientists responded magnificently and we are now faced with a
problem of plenty.
Second, whenever the nation faced an external threat our jawans lived
up to our expectations and defended our borders at the cost of their
lives.
It is a matter of pride for us that jawans and kisans that constitute
the majority of the population brought glory to the country. The
scientists too have taken the country to new heights, be it
innovations in farming practices, atomic and space research or
information technology.
FAILURE OF GOVERNING CLASS
Third, in most of the cases when a task came before the governing
class of the society that includes bureaucracy and politicians,
mismanagement, failures and deceptions are the outcome.
The ruling class failed to manage the massive surplus produced by the
farmers. The contradiction is that while millions of tonnes of wheat
is rotting, a large chunk of our society is denied two square meals a
day. It is a sad commentary on the governing class. Successive
Governments lost on the table the gains achieved by our jawans in the
battlefields.
A vast majority of the people has contributed towards the growth and
development of the country during fifty-five years of independence
but a minuscule minority comprising the political class, bureaucracy,
intelligentsia and the media have let the country down.
The tragic fact is that despite India being a democratic polity, a
small minority of the elite controls the destiny of the nation. The
intelligentsia, professionals and the media failed to provide the
link between the vast majority of patriotic and duty conscious
citizens and the governing class. They were supposed to keep a watch
and provide policy and action options without prejudice. But what did
they do? They lost their moorings and became a part of the governing
class and diverted their intellect for perpetuation of the
exploitative and self-serving elite class. Whereas kisans, jawans and
scientists have more than met the challenges of nation building the
intelligentsia along with politicians and bureaucrats have miserably
failed to deliver the goods.
ALTERNATE ACTION PLAN
Independent India inherited the problem of disharmonious
relationships between Hindus and Muslims. Amongst many other major
problems communal disharmony has been a serious issue before the
nation after independence. There were certain inherited realities and
solutions were to be found within those parameters. The managers of
free India have miserably failed to solve this problem. In fact, they
have accentuated the problem and widened the gulf between the two
largest communities living in the country. The disease aggravated as
the decades passed largely because of the wrong medication.
Is not the continuation of communal tensions between two major
communities of the country an adverse comment on the performance of
our ruling class, intelligentsia and the media? The answer is an
assertive YES.
The inhuman burning of the Indian citizens travelling in a train at
Godhra in the morning of February 27, 2002 and whatever followed in
Gujarat and elsewhere is an evidence of the mismanagement of the
communal divide between two major communities of the country. The
political class having made appropriate noises to please their
respective constituencies will go to back to its Kumbhkarani sleep to
be woken up only when another carnage takes place. When a physician
fails to cure certain ailment he looks for an alternative action plan
and even takes a second opinion. But not our rulers.
INDEPENDENT PROFESSIONALS
But do our thinkers, planners and implementers ever sit back and
ponder over their failures? They sing the same songs with perhaps new
music. Instead of looking for their own failures they once again
refuse to see the reality and selectively isolate the data to prove
their own, many times repeated and widely known viewpoints. They are
blind to their skewed perceptions.
They are either unaware or wilfully remaining unaware of the need for
an alternate course of action.
It was in this backdrop that the Council for International Affairs
and Human Rights decided to depute a Study Team of conscientious and
independent professionals to conduct a field study in Godhra and
other areas affected by sectarian violence.
The team comprised:
1. Justice D. S. Tewatia, former Chief Justice: Calcutta High Court
and Punjab and Haryana High Court.
2. Dr. J. C. Batra, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India.
3. Dr. Krishan Singh, Academician.
4. Shri Jawahar Lal Kaul, Veteran Journalist.
5. Prof. B. K. Kuthiala, Dean Faculty of Media Studies, G J
University, Hisar.
DATA COLLECTION -VISITS INTERACTION AND DOCUMENTS
The team reached Ahmedabad on 02. 04.02 in the morning by train and
visited three affected areas and some of the relief camps. At all the
places team members interacted with the members of the public freely
without intervention of any officials, government or otherwise.
On 03.04.02 the team went to Godhra and five delegations from both
communities and also of mixed composition presented their views and
facts to the team. The team then went to the Godhra Railway Station
and interviewed the officials and some other witnesses of the burning
of the S-6 Coach of the Sabarmati Express in the morning of 27.02.02.
The site where the train was initially stopped and stoned was also
visited.
The team also minutely observed the burnt S-6 coach. The officials of
the Fire Brigade who were involved in the fire fighting on the
morning of 27.02.02 were also interviewed.
The localities adjacent to the railway station along with the sites
where demolition of structures illegally erected was carried out on
27.02.02 during the curfew hours were also visited. The team also
visited a Girls High School at Godhra where Muslims from rural
hinterland had migrated for safety.
In the evening the team had a meeting with the District Collector,
Godhra along with other officials. The District Collector made a
presentation of the actions that the district administration had
taken after the incident near the railway station. Information was
also provided in response to the questions raised by the members of
the team. Prime Minister was to reach Godhra the next day and the
team left for Vadodara late at night, as it did not want to be an
obstacle in the arrangements being made for his visit.
RELIEF CAMPS OF HINDUS AND MUSLIMS
On 04.04.02 the team was in Vadodara where it visited five relief
camps of both the communities and seven areas, which were the scenes
of arson, fire and violence during the last month. Team also exposed
itself to ground situations by visiting some sensitive areas where
either:
a. two communities lived face to face with each other in different
localities.
b. a small number of families of one community lived in neighbourhood
and surrounded by a large number of the families of the other
community.
c. two communities lived in the same locality, both in significant
numbers with houses of both communities randomly distributed.
The team visited some of the areas, which have been evacuated by the
residents because either they were attacked or they apprehended an
attack. To have the exposure to the realities the team also visited
some areas where curfew was imposed. Permission to visit such areas
was taken from the appropriate authorities.
In the afternoon the Commissioner Police, Vadodra and District
Collector Vadodra met the team along with other officials. The team
members were updated with the information regarding the management of
situation till that day. The officials also answered the queries of
the team.
At 5.00 pm the team met with the representatives of various media
organizations - both print and electronic. About thirty media persons
were present and an informative interaction took place. The team had
taken a conscious decision not to address a press conference, as it
did not want to express unprocessed, half-baked and impressionistic
opinions.
MEETING THE GOVERNOR & THE CHIEF MINISTER
In the evening thirteen (13) delegations consisting of 121 citizens
met the team and presented their viewpoints and information. The
delegations included not only the members of both the communities but
ranged from the Association of Hoteliers to a group of adivasis to
affected Muslim and Hindu women.
On 05.04.02 the team once again visited the affected areas to see the
change in the ground situation in two days after the team has visited
on 02. 04.02. Here once again the team spoke to common persons at the
affected sites. In the afternoon the team had an in-depth discussion
on the situation in the state with Shri Narendra Modi, Chief
Minister, Gujarat.
After meeting the Chief Minister, the team met the Police
Commissioner, Ahmedabad. He gave some data about the preventive
arrests (3046), booked (1807), FIRs lodged (636) killed (267
including 58 in police firing) and rounds fired by police (2842). In
the afternoon seven delegations - five from Ahmedabad and two
representing state level organizations briefed the team of their
version of the incidents, perceptions and possible remedial measures.
Total number of citizens, both Muslims and Hindus, present in these
meetings was 91.
During and after dinner some important persons of the minority
community met the team members personally and provided useful
information. A retired judge of the High Court belonging to the
Muslim community also apprised the team of his perception of the
communal riots. He himself is a victim as his house was burnt a few
days ago. In the morning of 06. 04. 02 team members went out
individually to interact informally with common men to feel the pulse
of the people. At noon the team went to Raj Bhawan to meet Shri
Sunder Singh Bhandari, Governor, Gujarat where a very useful
interaction took place.
OBJECTIVITY IN OBSERVATION AND ANALYSIS:
In the evening the members boarded a train back to Delhi from where
the team members dispersed to their respective stations. At this
point of time every team member carried a heavy load of information,
views and images of realities. For a week the team members engaged
themselves in the process of sieving facts from fiction, correlating
data with perceived realities and an objective dispassionate
analysis. On 15.04.02 and also on 19.04.02 the team met in Delhi and
after sharing each other's analysis the report has been penned down
as a collective effort.
It would also be worth mentioning that the Study Team has used both
audio and video systems to record images of ground situation,
evidence, and narration of the events by victims and witnesses and
interviews. Some of these recordings were done with an explicit
assurance given by the team to use the material only for the purposes
of analysis and shall not be made public. Similarly a load of printed
and handwritten documents have also been collected both from official
and privates sources. Use of Internet has also been made extensively
to interact and surfing for collection of relevant information.
All this information about the methodology is being provided so that
the consumers of this information can evaluate the observations and
analysis of the team independently.
The strengths and weaknesses are both laid out and there is no
attempt to pronounce hasty judgments without any scientific analysis
or even without collating the information with other members of the
study team. It did not visit the affected areas to strengthen the
beliefs and perceptions of its members in a partisan manner, but it
went with an open mind and a clean state and allowed the facts to
speak for themselves. The objectivity of observation and analysis has
been coupled with the honesty and integrity of scientific process of
deducing and theory propositions.
GODHRA INCIDENT: BURNING ALIVE OF 58 INDIAN CITIZENS TRAVELLING IN
COACH S-6 OF SABARMATI EXPRESS
Train numbers 9164, 9166 and 9168 have been named Sabarmati Express
after the name of the Sabarmati Ashram established by Mahatma Gandhi
to experiment and propagate his philosophies of non-violence and
swadeshi. The train runs up to Ahmedabad, from Faizabad (9164) on
Saturdays, from Muzaffarabad (9166) on Wednesday, Friday and Monday
and from Varanasi (9168) on Thursday, Sunday and Tuesday. It covers
Lucknow, Gwalior, Bhopal, Indore and Dahod is its first halt in
Gujarat.
After travelling 74 km in 2 hrs and 19 minutes from Dahod the train
is scheduled to arrive at 0255hrs at Godhra. After Godhra it halts at
Vadodra, Anand and Nadiad reaching Ahmedabad at 0700hrs
INNOCENT PILGRIMS:
On 26.02.02 Sabarmati Express started from Faizabad about 225 minutes
late. On that fateful day, about 2300 pilgrims were travelling by the
train. Most of them were returning from Ayodhya where they had gone
for either participating in the shila pujan or for the purana ahuti
of the ritual jap of Ram naam that the devotees began one month in
advance at their respective places.
There were other passengers in the train including members of the
Muslim community. However, it has been reported that most of the
Muslim passengers got down at Dahod Railway Station and rest of them
at Godhra and it appears that when the train was torched there was no
Muslim passengers on the train except the elements who were to stop
the train by pulling the chain as part of a conspiracy to burn the
pilgrims alive.
CHAIN PULLED AND VACUUM PIPE CUT:
At 07.42 hrs the train stopped at Godhra railway Station. After about
five minutes, the train started to move but stopped for a few moments
as some passengers could not board the train. It finally left the
station but came to halt about 700 metres away from the station as
some one had pulled the chain. The vacuum pipe between the Coaches
No. S-6 and S-7 was cut thereby preventing any further movement of
the train.*
*Press reports the next day stated of one Syed, a Muslim employee
/pointsman of the Railway, stopped the train the second time at the
outer signal, soon after it started after the chain-pulling incident.
The hose pipe was cut after this second stoppage when the crowd had
already collected ready for the attack.
Miscreants threw bricks and stones at the train as soon as it left
Godhra railway station. The stoning intensified after it finally
stopped about 700 metres from the station. The passengers of the
train, particularly Coaches S-5, S-6 and S-7, were the main targets.
The passengers reportedly shut the windows and doors to protect
themselves. Burning missiles and acid bulbs were thrown on and in the
coaches. One such acid missile landed in Coach S-7 and a fire started
which the passengers were able to extinguish. But the attack
continued and more burning missiles were thrown into the Coach S-6.
FIFTY EIGHT PILGRIMS ROASTED ALIVE:*
*Police investigations later revealed that miscreants entered the S-5
and came through the vestibule to S-6 and threw the inflammable
petrol, and set fire to the coach. This corroborates the findings of
the State Forensic Laboratory that the inflammable material was not
thrown through windows from outside, but was lighted/ignited within
the coach S-6
Soon, S-6 caught fire and within minutes it was in flames. Passengers
who managed to get out of the burning compartment were attacked with
sharp weapons and stoned. They received serious injuries. Some of
them got out through the windows and took shelter below the coach.
After some time (between 20 minutes and 40 minutes) fire engine
arrived at the scene and took about half an hour to extinguish the
fire.
Inside the coach, 58 charred bodies were found. These included 26
women and 12 children. Those who had seen the charred bodies shiver
even weeks after the incident while recalling the gory scene. Even a
cursory look at the photographs of the charred bodies is a chilling
experience. Forty-three(43) injured persons were rushed to the Civil
Hospital at Godhra with different degrees of burns. The train left
Godhra at about 1230 hours minus Coach S-6, 58 dead and 43 injured.
The question why a large number of Hindus were roasted alive at the
hands of Muslim crowds at Godhra and also what was the motivation to
enact such a ghastly act needs to be answered. There is strong logic
supported by direct and circumstantial evidence that enables the team
to assert without an iota of doubt that the entire action was carried
out on the behest of the Government of Pakistan. The primary
objective was to create Hindu-Muslim communal conflagration in India.
The reasons why Pakistan would resort to such acts are:
1. Hindu-Muslim communal riots in India would have echo in
Bangladesh, and would help in cleansing of Hindus from that country
resulting in further straining of relations with India. The communal
rioting will provide yet another excuse for India bashing. The
reaction in Bangladesh will add fuel to the already communally tense
situation in India. It would ultimately gives sustenance to the "Two
Nation Theory".
2. Hindu-Muslim riots in India would further accentuate alienation of
Kashmiri Muslims, thereby creating further space in Kashmir for
Pakistan's nefarious activities against India.
3. Hindu-Muslim riots in India would tend to adversely affect India's
present friendly relations with Afghanistan. It is worth mentioning
here that Prime Minister of Afghanistan had in a television interview
while responding to a question about the nature of Afghanistan's
relations with India observed, "That would depend upon how India
treats its Muslim minority". Incidentally, the Prime Minister of
Afghanistan was in Delhi on the fateful day the train was torched.
4. Situation at the Indo-Pak border is extremely critical and
volatile. A little misunderstanding or even an unintended move can
lead to a war between the two countries. Hindu-Muslim riots in such a
situation would come handy to weaken our defence as the army would
have to be withdrawn from the borders to combat riots. The army is
normally summoned to assist the civil authorities when the situation
worsens as happened during recent riots in Gujarat.
With a view to maintain law and order, two Brigades of army were
deployed in various parts of the state thereby leaving a portion of
our border uncovered or weakly protected. To cite an example, if the
troops deployed on the Kutch border are withdrawn our defences in
that area become weak and border more porous thereby increasing the
danger of infiltration by jehadis and smugglers dealing with drugs
and arms. What would please more the hostile neighbour and ISI than
weak defences and porous borders and what can be a better mechanism
than creating a situation where Indian army's attention is diverted
because of its deployment in riot- hit areas. All patriotic and
nationalist forces demanding deployment of army to assist the civil
authority for one reason or the other need to look at the situation
from this angle as well.
5. Hindu-Muslim riots increase the alienation of the saner elements
among Kashmiri Muslim and add to the support base of terrorist
outfits sponsored, armed and financed by ISI. Terrorism and
insurgency get a shot in the arm. In the event of a war between the
two countries these subversive groups can play havoc.
6. Hindu-Muslim riots create tensions and misunderstanding between
India and Muslim countries with which India has developed
understanding and goodwill. By provoking communal violence, Pakistan
wants to isolate India in the international community and tarnish its
image as a pluralistic and democratic society.
Another question that needs systematic analysis is: Why Godhra?
Why did Pakistan choose to enact this ghastly act at a small, little
known town of Godhra?
On the basis of information gathered from various sources the team
identifies the following reasons for choosing Godhra for this
carnage:
The rate of growth of Muslim population in Godhra is much higher than
the national growth rate of Muslim population. At present the
estimated ratio of Hindu-Muslim population ranges from 60:40 to
48:52. In any case, it is an established fact that Godhra has a very
large Muslim population. Most of them live on both the sides of the
railway station in depth.
In normal course, the Sabarmati Express was to arrive at Godhra
railway Station at 02.55 a.m. The conspirators must have chosen the
place with a view to complete their operation "Burn the train" at the
dead of night when most of the passengers would be asleep. They must
have planned to accomplish their evil "mission" unhindered and with
impunity.
Godhra has the dubious distinction of having a large number of Muslim
fundamentalists and jehadi elements. Godhra is neither a Muslim
pilgrim centre like Ajmer nor a Muslim educational center like
Aligarh and Deoband. The local Muslims are not economically affluent
either, yet this town had hosted three istema'- religious
congregations. In one of the istema', Muslim representatives from
more than hundred countries participated.
The holding of international congregations on such a massive scale
gives credence to the commonly held perception that there has been a
massive inflow of foreign money into Godhra.
One Shri Haji Bilal, a Congress member of Nagarpalika, who has been
booked by the police as the executor of the carnage, have been,
according to locals, proudly proclaiming himself to be "Bin Laden of
Godhra".
President of the District Congress Committee, Farooq Malla and
Congress activist and member of Godhra Nagarpalika, Abdul Rehman
Dhatia, are amongst those booked for the carnage giving credence to
reports that local Congressmen were actively involved in the burning
of the train.
The next question is: Why was this particular train chosen for
torching?
The team provides the following answer:
This particular train was chosen because the 2300 pilgrims were
returning from Ayodhya on this train. Torching and burning alive a
large number of Hindu pilgrims (including women and children) was
intended to let loose a tide of indignation and provocation of
horrendous proportion in Hindu population resulting in intended
ignition of the communal tinder box, causing wide spread Hindu-Muslim
riots all over the country.
However, the train got late and the miscreants were able to burn only
one compartment instead of the entire train and (contrary to the
expectations of their Pakistani masters) the communal riots were
confined to only a part of Gujarat.
The evidence that leads to the conclusion that the torching of
Sabarmati Express on the morning of 27. 02.02 was pre-meditated can
be stated as:
The train took only three minutes, as per the statement of the
Stationmaster, form the platform to the place where it was stopped by
pulling the chain at a distance of about 700 metres. It is impossible
for a mob of about 2000 persons carrying acid bulbs and highly
combustible liquids to converge within three minutes that too in the
early hours of the morning.
The conspirators had done their homework. They ensured that the mob
gets enough time to accomplish the misdeed. Had the train stopped
because of chain pulling, the driver could have re-started the train
after it was attacked by the mob. In order to ensure that the train
would not move even an inch further, the conspirators had deputed
certain persons to cut the vacuum pipe. Consequently, the train could
not move before the pipe was repaired.
In order to establish the correct chronology of events the Study Team
collected information from:
Staff at the Railway Station, Godhra
District Administration
Passengers traveling in Sabarmati Express on 27.02.02 in S-6
4. Passengers traveling in Sabarmati Express on 27. 02. 02 other than
in S-6
5. Staff of the Fire Brigade, Godhra
6. Others who were witness to the later part of the incident
7. Reports in local, regional and Delhi Press.
STAFF OF RAILWAY STATION GODHRA
The staff at the Railway Station Godhra told the team that no serious
quarrel took place on the platform when the train halted there for
about 05 minutes. Immediately after the train started moving it
stopped and few left-out passengers boarded the train and it started
again. A mob of about 1000 Muslims ahead of the Railway Station
started pelting stones and other missiles on the train. The train
after moving about 700 metres stopped once again but with a jerk as a
result of chain pulling.
The vacuum pipe of the Coach No. S-6 was cut. The mob had by then
swelled to more than 2000. They stoned the train and also threw
burning missiles, concentrating on S-6 and S-7. Soon the Coach S-6
was seen burning and the flames reached outside the coach in no time.
Railway Police rushed to the scene and after initial hesitation fired
in the air to disperse the mob.
There was no impact on the mob that did not disperse even after
firing in the air and kept shouting slogans and throwing missiles at
the police and the crowd comprising railway officials, passengers of
the other coaches of the train and bystanders.
Fire brigade reached the site after about half an hour (from the time
of the departure of the train from the platform). It took about half
an hour to extinguish the flames and cool down the S-6 coach.
District administration reached the spot after the fire had almost
been extinguished and the mob had withdrawn to a distant place but
was still shouting slogans.
All through voices were heard on loudspeakers from both the sides of
the railway track inciting the mob to kill and burn the infidels
(kafirs) and the enemies of Bin Laden. With the help of civilians,
the injured were taken to the Civil Hospital and the dead were
brought out and counted. Burnt bodies of passengers were identified
with the help of other passengers of the train including those of S-6
who had escaped unhurt or were not seriously injured.
DISTRICT ADMINSTRATION, GODHRA
As per the presentation made by the Collector of Panchmahal at
Godhra, the Sabarmati express arrived at Godhra Railway station at
7.43 am (scheduled arrival at 2.55a.m.). Train departed at 7.48 a. m.
and was stopped at a distance of 1km from Godhra railway station by
pulling chain at "Signal Faliya". A mob of about 2000 miscreants
attacked the train with stones and firebombs. Bogies no S/5 and S/6
were set on fire, bogies S/6 was completely burnt with 58 passengers
in it including 26 women, 12 children and 20 men roasted alive.
D. S. P. rushed to the spot as soon as he got the information about
the incident. Relief work started immediately by the Collector.
Arrangements for firefighters were made. Along with the arrangements
of Ambulance Van and ST Buses from RTO. Team of three doctors rushed
to the site.
Twentyfive passengers were treated on site. Food packets, drinking
water was made available to stranded passengers. 43 injured
passengers were shifted to civil hospital. Police fired 14 rounds and
30 teargas shells to prevent the mob from causing further damage.
Curfew was imposed in the town at 10.55am.
Collector with senior railway officers entered the burnt carriage to
assess the casualties - 58 dead bodies found. Train departed for
Ahmedabad with the rest of passengers at 12.40 pm. Inquest & post-
mortem of all bodies was done by 4.30 pm. Bodies dispatched at 10.30
pm to Civil hospital, Sola, Ahmedabad.
PASSENGERS TRAVELLING IN SABARMATI EXPRESS ON 27.02.02 INCOACH S-6
Kamala (name changed in view of threats received and bomb attack on
her a day before she was interviewed by the Study Team on O4.02.02),
a college student, went to Ayodhya along with her parents and two
sisters to perform the purana ahuti of the Ram jaap her mother was
doing for the last one month. The family boarded the train at
Faizabad in Coach no S-6 on 26.02.02 at about 0800 hours. There were
many passengers on the train who were chanting Ram naam and
occasionally chanting "jai Sri ram".
In the morning of 27.02.02 the train was at Godhra railway station
and as soon as it moved, a barrage of stones were thrown at the
compartment. Terrified and taken aback, the passengers closed the
windows.
The train stopped for a few moments and again started. After about 2-
3 minutes the train stopped with a strong jerk rattling the
passengers and the luggage. The train continued to be stoned with
great intensity. Mob outside the train was pounding upon the windows
and doors.
Somebody from outside the train was able to open a window and threw a
burning object into the compartment. It fell on the luggage and the
fire started. Some passengers stated stamping on the fire, but more
burning objects were thrown in as the mob broke open more windows.
Some liquid was also poured in from the windows, which intensified
the fire.
Iron grills of some windows were detached from one side and bent to
pick up the passengers luggage. This luggage was set on fire and
thrown back into the coach. The passengers were terribly shaken and
shouting for help. Some of them were able to open the door and get
out.
Soon the entire coach was gutted. Smoke was so thick that it was
impossible to breathe or see anything. She looked for her family
members in vain and dropped out of the train from a window whose
grill had been bent and detached from one side.
Lying of the ground she could breathe a little and saw a huge mob
with swords and iron rods hurling abuses at Hindus. She moved below
the coach from where she was rescued after sometime. She may have
remained unconscious for some time. She later identified the charred
bodies of her mother, father and two sisters. One sister was an
engineer and the other was a commerce graduate.
The same train took her to Ahmedabad where she now lives with her
younger sister. She has already got Rs.50,000 as relief and expects
more. She told the team that she had heard certain Muslims saying
that a lot of trouble was caused to them because of her narration of
the Godhra tragedy and that she would be eliminated. A bomb was
thrown into the room in which she was sleeping a day before the team
met her. Fortunately, it did not explode. The matter was reported to
the police who are investigating the case.
Raghu (name changed for reasons of security of the witness) was
travelling in Coach S-6 of the Sabarmati Express on 27.02.02 and his
narration of the events is similar to those of Kamala.
When the coach was set on fire he went up on the upper berth in the
hope that the fire will soon be extinguished. But when he got a
choked because of the thick smoke he moved from one upper berth to
another towards the door but the flames frustrated his first attempt
to jump out. He returned and after some time made a desperate attempt
and was able to reach the door where a passenger whom he had earlier
seen in the train dragged him outside. He fell unconscious and was
given water and sugar by a lady who was managing the passengers
belonging to Ahmedabad. Though he felt dizzy he received no burn
injuries except that his hair were partly burnt. His father and uncle
were burnt alive in the same coach.
PASSENGERS TRAVELLING IN SABARMATI EXPRESS ON 27.02.02 IN COACHES
OTHER THAN S-6
Shakuntla (name changed because of security reasons) narrates a story
similar to that of Kamala and Raghu except that she was traveling in
Coach S-7 and she was looking after a group of pilgrims from
Ahmedabad. She got down at Godhra Railway Station and saw many
pilgrims bidding each other Jai Ram ji ki as the first greeting in
the morning. Some passengers took tea and one of the vendors angrily
asked them not to make a noise. The pilgrims did not respond and got
into the train as it had started moving. As some lady passengers were
not able to board, the train stopped for a few moments and again
steamed-off when the left-out passengers boarded.
Alongwith the stones a burning missile landed in S-7 in which she was
traveling but the fire was put out without much effort. After some
time the train again stopped with a great jerk and shouts of maro-
maro came from outside. She could not tell the approximate number of
persons in the mob as all the windows were closed.
Some one using a mike was inciting the mob to kill and loot the
kafirs and the enemies of Bin laden. . Through a slit in the window
she saw a part of the mob with iron rods and swords.
There was tension and suspense in the compartment No one knew what
was happening or what would happen to him or her the next moment.
After some time both the shouts of the crowd and the voice on the
mike stopped. Shakuntla along with some other passengers got out and
saw S-6 in flames. There were some injured and perplexed passengers
outside. The mob had withdrawn a few hundred yards away. The fire
engine arrived and the fire was put off. The mob kept throwing stones
at the train from a distance.
A few policemen were also there but they did nothing to protect the
passengers. More and more passengers assembled near the burning coach
and urged the police to take action against the miscreants but the
police did nothing. Crying and shouting Shakuntla took out her
bangles and offered them to the two policemen with rifles. The
policemen fired a few shots in the air. That did not deter the mob.
When more police came and the fire was put out several passengers
along with some policemen chased the attackers. Some persons told the
police that the attackers had taken shelter in a nearby garage. The
police hesitated to enter the garage.
When the policemen on duty did not take any action, some passengers
and locals entered the garage. But it was too late as the miscreants
had by then escaped from another door on the other side of the
garage. Shkuntla helped the authorities to identify some of the
bodies and returned to Ahmedabad by the same train.
STAFF OF THE FIRE BRIGADE, GODHRA
Shri Pradeep Singh s/o Shri Bhola Singh, Motor Driver, Fire brigade,
Godhra & Shri Vijay Kumar s/o Shri Ram Chander Sharma, Fireman, Fire
Brigade, Godhra (names mentioned with the consent of the witnesses)
said they reported for their shift duty at 0800 hrs on 27.02.02. One
of the major vehicles was out of order, as its clutch-plates had been
taken out a few days earlier. On their arrival on 27.02.02 in their
office they found that one of the nuts that connects the pipe to the
water tank of the other fire engine was also missing. By the time
they had put the nut in place a message about the fire in the train
was received.
The Driver along with the firemen rushed towards the spot but on the
way a mob led by Haji Balal, a Congress member of the Godhra
Nagarpalika, stopped the vehicle and did not allow it to proceed any
further. A tall well built young man stood in front of the vehicle.
The mob started pelted stones at the vehicle. A fireman sitting in
the front seat had to take shelter behind the driver. The headlights
and the windowpanes of the vehicle got damaged. Fearing for his own
and his crew's life the driver drove the vehicle through the mob, as
it was not possible to move backwards. The mob gave in but by that
time precious 15-20 minutes had been lost.
The vehicle reached at the site late and crew saw one of the
compartments blazing. The fire was brought under control in about
half an hour. Fireman Vijay Singh reported that he saw one woman
trying to come out. He covered himself with a blanket and tried twice
to reach the lady but the flames were too hot and high and he could
not enter the coach. He is deeply disappointed and said some lives
could have been saved if the miscreants had not delayed the arrival
of the fire engine.
Both the witnesses stated that they were sure that the acts of
demobilizing one of the vehicles and removing the nut of the
connection of the pipe with the water tank were premeditated and the
Congress member of Godhra Nagarpalika, Haji Balal, who is also
chairman of the Vehicle Committee of the Nagarpalika, had hatched the
conspiracy. Haji Balal had been visiting the fire station at night
for the past few days on the pretext of watching films on the
television.
They also stated that had the train reached during the night, the
entire train would have been burnt. Both the witnesses also said that
the manner in which the bodies were charred and the furniture and
luggage burnt indicates the use of some highly inflammable material
like solvent in addition to petrol, diesel and kerosene.
The fire-crew informed the team that although they had reported the
damage to the vehicle to their seniors no formal complaint had been
registered. They also reported having received a threatening call
warning them not to give statements about the obstruction to the fire
engine by a crowd on 27.02.02. As the fire station has a call
identification system, they know who made the threatening call.
The Study Team also inspected the Coach S-6. There was no evidence of
any stove in the compartment. Although the Team was surprised to find
two plastic jerrycans that have been referred to in the report
submitted by a team of CPI (M). Wonder of wonders is that while the
entire coach got burnt roasting alive the passengers, two plastic
jerrycans remained intact. It seems to be a deliberate attempt to
plant evidence that is a very serious offence.
OTHERS WHO WERE WITNESS TO LATER PART OF THE INCIDENT
It is natural that when an incident of such a gravity happens many
citizens gather at and near the place of incident. While visiting the
affected areas and the relief camps the team members kept on
searching for the persons who had been the witness to at least some
part of the incident. Three such persons could be contacted and
interviewed. All of them reported of the inability of the police to
take action against the mob. The firing in the air was reluctant and
no one saw firing of teargas shells or use of lathies as claimed by
the police.
Investigations later revealed that the armed Railway Police were
watching the entire incident from the last coach of the train and
moved only after the fire-extinguishers arrived
REPORTS IN LOCAL, REGIONAL AND DELHI MEDIA
The Study Team went carefully through the reports of the gory
incidents published in 22 newspapers and 9 newsmagazines. There is so
much variance in the reporting of the events in these publications
that it is impossible to draw out a cohesive and acceptable chain of
events. The reports vary from an accusation that the fire was stage-
managed in order to malign the Muslim minority to an assertion that
all Muslim passengers were asked to get down before Godhra by the
conspirators. Since the team had reasonably credible evidence from
direct witnesses it decided not to analyze the media reports for
reconstruction of the chronology of events.
GODHRA INCIDENT- ANALYSED- FACTS AND INFERENCES
There has been so much said, written and broadcast about the Godhra
incident that it is difficult to distinguish between facts, half-
truths, innocent imagination and motivated lies. Media and interested
parties have selected, distorted and added fiction to the story to
prove their respective points of view.
Unfortunately, professionalism took a back seat as media persons,
fact-finding commissions and administrators, by and large, failed to
maintain the fairness, neutrality and objectivity expected from them.
To engage in a dispassionate analysis the Study Team has divided all
the facts relating to this incident into four categories:
1. Indisputable facts.
2. Facts that appear to be true but need verification.
3. Information that appears to be untrue.
4. Mysteries.
INDISPUTABLE FACTS
1. On 27.02.02 Sabarmati Express from Faizabad reached Godhra more
than four hours late.
2. There were more than 2000 Hindu pilgrims on this train.
3. No serious dispute took place at the platform at Godhra between
the passengers and the vendors.
4. The entire train was stoned right after it left the platform at
Godhra and it continued even after it was stopped at Signal Faliya.
5. Firebombs, acid bulbs and highly inflammable liquid(s) were used
to set the coaches on fire that must have been stored already for the
purpose.
6. Miscreants succeeded in torching only one coach.
7. The conspirators did not allow the fire fighting staff to reach
the burning train expeditiously.
8. The iron grills of the windows of S-6 were broken and bent from
outside.
9. Fifty-eight passengers of coach S-6 were burnt to death by a
Muslim mob and that one of the conspirators was a Congress
Councillor, Haji Balal.
10. The train was stopped by pulling the chain and the vacuum pipe
was cut.
11. Someone used the public address system exhorting the mob to kill
kafirs and enemies of Bin Laden.
12. Assembly of a mob of about 2000 Muslims in three minutes could
not have been spontaneous.
13. The attack on Sabarmati Express on 27.02.02 was pre-planned and
pre-meditated. It was the result of a criminal conspiracy hatched by
a hostile foreign power with the help of local jehadis.
FACTS THAT NEED VERIFICATION
1. There was a conspiracy to reduce the effectiveness of the fire
fighting system of Godhra municipal committee.
2. The mob that burnt the coach had Muslims from outside the town as
well.
3. Firearms were used by the mob.
4. Police could have caught or killed some of the miscreants at the
spot.
5. Local politicians and elected representatives took active part in
instigating the mob.
6. Railway Police at Dahod sent a message to Godhra Railway police
that some Muslim youths on board Sabarmati Express were likely to
create mischief at Godhra.
7. Head of a passenger of S-6 coach was cut when he tried to get out
of the window. The head was later thrown back into the coach to burn.
Police investigations have opened the lead to an autorikshaw used for
purchasing the petrol from a local petrol-pump and carrying the same
in jerry cans to the Signal Falia area and still continuing.
INFORMATION THAT APPEARS TO BE UNTRUE
1. Some women passengers are missing.
2. Some women passengers were raped or molested.
3. Passengers had pulled the beard of a vendor at Godhra Railway
Station.
4. Passengers carried weapons with them.
5. Railway staff connived with the miscreants.
6. The pilgrims had taunted certain Muslims of Godhra while returning
from Ayodhya.
7. Police firing while they were burning the coach killed two
Muslims.
SOME MYSTERIES
1. Assistant Collector, Godhra (a young Muslim from eastern UP) goes
on leave two days before the incident and does not return till the
middle of the March while the district of his posting was aflame with
communal riots.
2. The unusual growth rate of Muslim population in Godhra.
3. Absence of information with the District officials about the
number of arms licenses issued.
4. Abnormally large number of passports issued to the residents of
Godhra.
5. Presence of a very large number of persons without ration cards in
Signal Faliya and Polan Bazar areas of Godhra.
6. A large number of unemployed Muslims in Godhra have mobile phones.
7. Very high traffic of telephone calls from Godhra to Pakistan
(mainly Karachi) before 27.02. 02.
8. Holding of istema - religious gatherings - at Godhra that were
attended by foreigners in large numbers.
COMMUNAL RIOTS IN GUJARAT AFTER 27.02.02 BOTH SPONTANEOUS AND PLANNED
BUT A TRAP OF INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM
The news of the events of 27. 02.02 at Godhra at about 0800 hrs
spread like wild fire all over the country by the afternoon. The
television media, which has the advantage of instantaneous reporting,
played its role in disseminating the information about this carnage.
Nothing happened for almost twenty-four hours, though the situation
was said to be very tense. Vishwa Hindu Parishad gave a call for
state-wide bandh to protest against the Godhra carnage. Communal
violence erupted almost simultaneously on 28.02.02 in many parts of
the state when the charred bodies, the injured and the passengers
travelling in the ill-fated train reached their homes. It became more
intense during next twenty- four hours and started subsiding after
that. After 01.03.02 there were only stray incidents of communal
violence in certain parts of the state.
On 15.03.02, after shila daan ceremony at Ayodhya by Ramchandra
Paramhans, processions of Ram dhun were taken out all over Gujarat.
The participation on these occasions was very large in Gujarat,
presumably as a reaction of what had happened in Godhra. The Ram dhun
processions at many places including Ahemdabad and Vadodra became the
points of communal tensions once again and the communal tension that
was subsiding again flared up.
Although the Muslim elders had assured the police at Vadodra that
peace would be maintained at all costs, the processions were stoned
from a mosque. The intensity of the attack proves that these were
pre- meditated. The attack was so massive that the police had a tough
time handling it.
The state once again came under the grip of communal riots. The
rioting was very intense for about three days. Sectarian violence,
however, continued in several parts of the state even three days
after the attack on Hindu procession at Vadodra.
Incidents of violence on a large scale were initially reported from
Ahmedabad and Vadodara towns and the districts of Panchmahals,
Sabarkantha and Mehsana. Later it spread to other areas also. However
the communal violence was mainly confined to Central and North
Gujarat. Saurashtra and South Gujarat remained relatively peaceful.
There was no communal violence in almost one half of Gujarat.
The team was told that when the charred bodies of the dead reached
their families or the news of their killings reached the relatives,
friends and neighbors attacked the nearby Muslim establishments.
Similar incidents took place when chautha and kriya ceremonies of the
dead were solemnised.
Gujarat has a long history of communal riots. The first such riot has
been reported in 1714. After independence major riots broke out on
several occasions since 1969. Jagmohan Reddy Commission of Inquiry of
1969 and Dave Commission of Inquiry of 1985 analysed the causes and
consequences of communal tensions in great details. Serious rioting
occurred in 1970 and also in 1992-93. According to official data,
Gujarat witnessed 443 major communal incidents between 1970 and 2002.
Another characteristic of the communal frenzy in Gujarat is that it
has always taken a long time to return to normalcy. For instance in
Godhra itself in 1985 curfew remained imposed for about a year.
Communal disturbance in 1985 continued for more than five months from
February to July 1985.
The Study team has not gone into the facts and figures of the number
of persons killed, injured and displaced, the loss of property
destroyed and the number of cases related to molestation of women, if
any. It is not because these facts are not important but because the
team lacked the time and resources to go into these details. However
the Study Team has analysed the situation for:
1. Administrative response
2. Deployment of Army
3. Relief and resettlement measures
4. Confidence building measures
5. Socio-economic profile of the rioting mobs
6. Involvement of vanvasis
7. Role of media
ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSE
Based on the information collected from official and non-official
sources at Godhra, Ahemdabad and Vadodara the Study Team is of the
considered opinion that:
1. The local administration did not respond with speed to the Godhra
carnage. The police remained a passive spectator and hesitated to use
force against the miscreants. It made no attempt to apprehend the
leaders of the mob that indulged in burning alive innocent pilgrims
returning from Ayodhya. However, the administration took preventive
measures after the VHP gave a call for Gujarat bandh in protest
against the attack on the train.
2. In Godhra, Vadodara and Ahmedabad the police tried to control the
rioting mobs but, more often than not, failed, as the police were
outnumbered - the mobs were unexpectedly large and the police were
inadequately armed. In certain cases, the mob carried more lethal
weapons that the police had.
3. The administration was not prepared to handle massive migration of
riot affected people of both the communities and did not have any
idea of the quantum of the relief and rehabilitation work required.
4. Co-ordination between the administration and the NGOs was
inadequate.
5. Training and drills for managing communal tensions was conspicuous
by its absence in a state that periodically witnesses communal
frenzy.
6. Socio-psychological understanding of the communal divide is
lacking amongst the officials.
7. The adverse comments on the transfers of officials in the media
and not so much the actual transfers demotivated the official
machinery.
8. At many places policemen did commendable work of protecting life
and property.
9. Policemen, by and large, responded to the situation without
communal bias.
DEPLOYMENT OF ARMY
There has been lot of comments on the timing of the deployment of
army in various urban and rural areas in Gujarat after the outbreak
of violence. Although the team did not have enough time to go into
the question in depth, the information made available to it shows
that there was no delay on the part of the Gujarat Government in
summoning and deployment of troops. A comparison with the past is
presented for a proper perspective.
1. By the afternoon of 28.02.02 it was clear that the communal
violence has spread widely and the situation had become so alarming
that it was unlikely to be controlled by the police and paramilitary
forces.
2. On 28.02.02 at 4.30 p.m. the Chief Minister announced at a press
conference that the State Government has decided to call army to
assist the civil administration.
3. By evening the Union Government had given instructions for the
deployment of two brigades in Gujarat.
4. Defence Minister air dashed to Ahmedabad at midnight and had a
meeting with the Chief Minister to discuss deployment of the army.
5. The army had to be withdrawn from the country's border with
Pakistan despite the fact that the troops are deployed in full
strength in eye-ball-to-eye-ball situation on Indo-Pak borders.
6. Withdrawal of army from the border may have weakened the country's
defensive and offensive strategies.
7. Within less than 24 hours at least one brigade of Indian Army had
air landed at Ahmedabad. In a meeting at 0800hrs in which Chief
Minister, Defence Minister, army generals and civil officers
participated the formal plan for the deployment of the army was
approved. Magistrates who must accompany the army were appointed and
by 11 a. m. on 01.03.02 the actual deployment of army at sensitive
points had begun.
8. The second brigade was deputed to Rajkot and Vadodara on 01.03.02
by that night.
9. Columns allotted to Godhra reached there in the morning of
02.03.02.
10. Army went back to barracks on 10.03.02.
11. In 1969 rioting started on 18.09.69 and army was called in on
21.09.69.
12. In 1985 the riots started on 15.04.85 and the army was called in
on 16.04.85.
RELIEF AND REHABILITATION MEASURES
1. Many persons of both the communities whose houses were burnt or
destroyed fled and came to the nearby towns for shelter.
2. Many persons who feared an attack on them also fled and gathered
in nearby towns.
3. The State Government arranged for shelters called Relief Camps to
provide safe temporary shelter to the displaced persons.
4. Many voluntary organizations of both the communities also opened
Relief Camps for the displaced persons.
5. The Government managed some camps while other camps were run by
the voluntary organizations.
6. Most of the inhabitants in the camps remained unoccupied, leading
to idle talk and further reinforcement of views on communal basis.
7. The inhabitants did not feel confident and safe to go back to
their respective habitations.
According to the State Government following is the information about
the camps:
District Number of Camps Number of inmates
Ahmedabad 44- 68100
Anand 13- 5200
Dahod 6 -4526
Kheda 3- 1441
Mahesana 6- 2648
Panchmahals 7- 8091
Sabarkantha 13- 10938
Vadodara 11- 12753
State Total 103- 113697
CONFIDENCE BUILDING MEASURES
1. In affected areas deployment of police or other forces was very
scanty.
2. Residents of the sensitive areas were living in an environment of
fear.
3. The mutual mistrust between Hindu and Muslim population is on the
increase.
4. Longer the stay in the camps more is the feeling of anxiety and
uncertainty.
5. In affected areas, sensitive areas and relief camps there was no
publicity material appealing and advising for communal harmony and
peaceful co-existence
6. The Information and Public Relations machinery of the state did
not disseminate words of assurance and appeals by the Prime Minister,
Chief Minister and others that are likely to have a soothing effect
on the hurt psyche of the people.
7. Presence of the reports of arson in newspapers and repetition of
such reports on television affected negatively the process of
confidence building.
8. Most of the voluntary and social organizations were working on
sectarian lines and hardly worked for creating an environment of
communal harmony.
9. Efforts of some of the officials to bring both the communities
together and arrive at a compromise failed, as the amount of
antagonism against each other is very high.
10. Rumors spread like wild fire increasing the level of anxieties.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROFILES OF THE RIOTING MOBS
(Based on information collected from officials and public, no direct
observation)
1. Muslim mobs predominantly included persons of lower socio-economic
strata.
2. Muslim mobs included many known faces but number of persons not
earlier seen in the locality was also very large.
3. Hindu mobs, especially during the first week of March, comprised a
mix of people belonging to lower, lower middle and upper middle
socio-economic strata of the society.
4. Involvement of upper middle class Hindus in arson and looting is a
phenomenon seen for the first time in the country.
5. The Hindu mobs appeared to be more interested in destroying the
property of selected establishments of Muslims. It was reported that
a chain of restaurants with Hindu names and owned by a Muslim family
was targeted because of the perception that lot of money from gulf
countries had been invested thereby putting Hindu competitors at a
disadvantage.
6. Another new phenomenon reported to the Study Team was the presence
and active participation of women in the mobs.
INVOLVEMENT OF TRIBALS
Earlier in Gujarat, tribals never got involved in the Hindu- Muslim
riots. However, their involvement in post Godhra riots added a new
dimension to the communal violence. In rural areas the vanvasis
attacked the Muslim moneylenders, shopkeepers and the forest
contractors. They used their traditional bow and arrows as also their
implements used to cut the trees and grass while attacking Muslims.
They moved in groups and used coded signals for communication.
Two factors seems to have contributed to this disturbing phenomenon:
1. A delegation of tribals told the Study team that the Muslim
moneylenders, shopkeepers and forest contractors have been exploiting
the tribals for decades. They charged exorbitant rate of interest to
money loaned to tribals. In certain cases the rate of interest is as
high as 50 per cent per year.
Having got into this never-ending vicious circle of loans, the
tribals have been reduced to the status of bonded labour. Tribals
working as servants are ill-treated by these money lenders who happen
to be Muslims.
The accumulated anger of years of exploitation became explosive when
moneylenders sexually exploited their womenfolk. The tribals are no
longer allowed to use forest produce that has been their sustenance
for centuries. This too fuelled the feelings of anger, hatred and
revenge among them.
2. Tribals have, of late, become conscious of their Hindu identity
because of the awareness campaign launched by VHP and other Hindu
outfits. Burning alive of Hindu pilgrims by a Muslim mob at Godhra
provided the spark for the fire of revenge and hatred.
It may be mentioned that these are only exploratory postulations,
scientific anthropological, economic and sociological analysis is
required to understand the changed behavior of tribals.
ROLE OF MEDIA
The Study Team received a large number of complaints against biased
reporting', non-objective attitude and anti Gujarat conspiracy of
Delhi Media. The team felt it necessary to objectively observe and
analyse the role of Media both regional and English language
newspapers published from metropolitan cities. It also solicited
comments about the role of media from about 500 persons with whom the
members of the team interacted. The team's observations are:
1. Local and regional papers at times seemed to be emotionally
surcharged and lost sight of objectivity. However, Gujarati
newspapers, by and large, were factual in day to day reporting.
2. The editorial pages of local and regional newspapers maintained a
balance in projecting all viewpoints.
3. Newspapers published in English from Delhi invariably
editorialized the news. Direct and indirect comments in the news
writing were so telling that the personal likes and dislikes of the
news reporters were too obvious to be missed.
4. English language newspapers published from Delhi appeared to have
assumed the role of crusaders against the State Government from day
one. It coloured the entire operation of news gathering, feature
writing and editorials.
5. The edit pages of English language press carried comments that
clearly indicated biases:
a. against the State Government of Gujarat,
b. in favor of Congress, leftist parties and the secularist
intellectuals,
c. indifferent to the carnage at Godhra,
d. against the Hindu organizations, and
e. against the NDA government at the Centre.
6. Most of the national newspapers and news channels played down the
intensity of Godhra carnage and projected it as a result of
provocation by pilgrims. Not many reporters were deputed to dig out
facts or to do follow-up stories. This resulted in large number of
editorials and articles that projected Godhra as a reaction to
provocation by karsevaks' and riots in rest of the state as "state
sponsored terrorism".
7. A distorted image of sectarian violence in the state was projected
by the electronic and print media based in Delhi.
8. Repeated telecasts of arson and violence contributed in spreading
the tension to unaffected areas. TV channels ignored warning from
officials and kept telecasting communal riots like infotainment.
9. Coverage of Machhipiti in Vadodara is an example. One national
news channel went overboard to telecast police firing at Machhipit as
if it had taken place in Ahmedabad.
10. On 27.02.02 the Government of Gujarat announced a compensation of
Rs. 2 lakh for the next of kin of victims of Godhra carnage. There
were protests about discrimination between Hindu and Muslim victims
and the Government announced on March 9 that all victims would get Rs
one lakh.
Yet, as late as the first week of April a Congressperson in USA cited
a report in an Indian newspaper to accuse the Government of
discriminating against minorities in the grant of compensation. The
newspaper concerned did not care to inform its readers of the correct
situation.
11. The code of ethics prescribed by the Press Council of India was
violated by the media with impunity. It so enraged the citizens that
several concerned citizens in the disturbed areas suggested that
peace could return to the state only if some of the TV channels were
closed for some weeks.
12. Media did not help to cool down the tempers. It failed to act as
a platform for a dialogue between the Hindus and Muslims on the one
hand and between the people and the establishment on the other.
The Study Team is of the considered opinion that the media in general
failed to perform as conscious and socially responsible gatekeepers
of information.
It followed in the footsteps of an American journalist who said, " My
job is to report the facts. I give a damn to the consequences".
Telecasting images that spread hatred and instigated violence is
unhealthy, but their repeated telecast is lethal. The media acted as
an interested party in the confrontation, not a neutral reporter of
facts.
The team was alarmed at the intensity of hostile attitude among the
people of the state for Delhi press and television news channels.
This attitude was especially articulated by delegations of
intellectuals like lawyers, doctors, and businessmen. Even the
tribals complained that the media had no time to hear their tale of
their agony and was spreading canards against the Hindus.
CONCLUSIONS
TERRORISM NURTURED BY COMMUNAL DISHARMONY:
The Godhra carnage and related incidents make a typical case study of
international designs and conspiracies to weaken India as an emerging
world power. Analysts and professional strategists of all ideological
inclinations converge on one forecast that India is going to be a
major player on the international scene sooner rather than later.
The global community also realizes the inevitability of India
becoming an important economic and military power. In such a
situation it is but natural that nations hostile to India or its
adversaries make all out efforts to create impediments in this
process.
Their strategy is to keep India engaged in communal and caste strife
so that the nation's focus on development is defused and its
endeavour to emerge as a super- power is thwarted. It would surprise
no one if Pakistan with the tacit support of not-so-friendly
neighbours and world powers hatches conspiracies to destablise and
weaken the Indian State.
A careful and in-depth analysis, if carried out with an open mind,
would throw open an action plans where terrorist activities appear to
be merging with the already existing strong antagonism between
Muslims and Hindus. Our hostile neighbour, sometimes in the guise of
a friend, keeps on creating wounds on the body polity of our nation.
Creation and perpetuation of Kashmir problem is one such example. The
support to the authoritarian regimes in Pakistan by USA and European
countries speaks volumes about the super power's commitment, or lack
of it, to democratic values. Godhra and the wide spread communal
violence in Gujarat in recent weeks is a part of this nefarious
design.
The Study Team concludes:
1. Burning of 58 Hindu pilgrims at Godhra on 27.02.02 was an act of
international terrorism carried out with the evil objective of
pushing the country into a communal cauldron.
2. The plan was to burn the entire train with more than two thousand
passengers in the wee hours of February 27, 2002. It was a terrorist
action plan that partly failed. The perpetrators of the terrorist
acts received support from jehadi elements operating from Godhra.
These included some Congress members of the Nagarpalika.
1. Preparations for enacting Godhra carnage were made in advance.
2. There were no quarrels or fights between Hindus and Muslim
passengers on the train.
3. There were no quarrels or fights between the vendors and the Hindu
pilgrims on the platform of Godhra Railway Station.
4. The intention of the mob was to put to death all the pilgrims
travelling by the Sabharmati Express.
5. The fire fighting system available in Godhra was weakened and its
arrival at the place of incident wilfully delayed by the mob with the
open participation of a Congress Councillor, Haji Balal.
6. The demographic changes in Godhra in recent years have made it a
centre for jehadi activities.
7. The Army was requisitioned and deployed in time.
8. The police was on many occasions overwhelmed by the rioting mobs
that were massive and carried more lethal weapons than the police
did.
9. Police did not have the training and know-how to mange situations
of communal strife witnessed in the state in recent weeks.
10. Barring a few exceptions, the police was not found to be
communally motivated.
11. Frequent deployment of army for internal management weakens the
defence of our international borders and facilitates infiltration
from across the border.
12. The local administration and police at Godhra did not take
adequate and prompt action even after the receipt of information
about the attack on the train by an armed mob. The local police was
reluctant to use force against the rioting mob and made no attempt to
arrest the leaders of the gang.
13. The local administration and the police should have been on the
alert in view of the demographic and political changes taking place
in the town.
15. The administration in Godhra, Ahmedabad and Vadodra was on the
whole sensitized to the plight of Muslim minorities in their
respective areas. However, the police failed to protect the citizens
from frenzied mobs indulging in arson, looting and killing.
16. The relief work was carried out by establishing relief camps for
victims of the riots. There are separate camps for Hindus and
Muslims. Refugees are not satisfied with the facilities available in
the camps.
17. Riot-affected citizens belonging to both the communities are
reluctant to go back to their homes due to communal tension and
apprehensions about violence.
18. Although Gujarat is a state notorious for communal riots, the
bureaucracy and the police are not trained to handle communal riots
and to take pre-emptive action to prevent sectarian violence.
19. Alternate strategies to mange communal divide have not been
worked out.
20. Adverse media reports about role of officials affected their
performance and de-motivated them. Several officers were reluctant to
take firm action.
21. Gujarati language media was factual and objective. Yet its
propensity to highlight the gory incidents in great details
heightened communal tension.
22. English language media, particularly the Delhi Press, is
perceived by the Gujaratis to be biased. The information disseminated
by it was neither balanced nor impartial.
23. By converting half-baked news stories into major headlines, print
as well as electronic media widened the psychological hiatus between
Muslims and Hindus.
24. By disseminating half-truths and lies, the media played no mean
role in distorting country's image in the World.
25. The credibility of the media both electronic and print is at
dangerously low ebb in Gujarat.
The sectarian violence in Gujarat that began in Godhra on 27.02.02
can be divided into four phases:
1. The first phase was Godhra incident which was planned and executed
by a combination of external and internal jehadi forces. It lasted
for less than an hour.
2. The second phase was the reaction of Godhra where Hindu pilgrims
were roasted alive in the train. The backlash was very intense for 3-
4 days. However, sporadic incidents continued for several weeks.
3. The third phase began on 15.03.02 after a Muslim mob attacked a
Hindu procession chanting Ram dhun. Extensive media coverage of this
attack provoked yet another round of communal riots that lasted for
4/5 days.
4. Sectarian violence continues even more than a month after Godhra.
This fourth phase of violence has no provocation or justification
other than to sustain the "Remove Modi" campaign. It is the
constitutional duty of the State Government to protect citizens and
maintain law and order.
It is also in the partisan interest of the ruling party in the state
to put an end to the communal violence as its continuity in office
depends on how soon and how effectively it combats violence. It is,
therefore, hard to reject Chief Minister's contention that the
Congress party that has a vested interest in getting him sacked is
perpetuating the communal violence by provoking stray incidents.
Thus the Study Team concludes:
26. Communal violence in Gujarat has become politicized, and instead
of treating it as human tragedy it is being used to get political
mileage by political parties.
27. Loaded statements made by political leaders propounding their
action plans increases the hiatus between Muslims and Hindus.
28. Continued communal violence in Gujarat has tarnished the image of
the country in international field thereby reducing its status and
bargaining power. Western countries jealous of India's growing clout
in the international community have used the riots to interfere in
our internal affairs. The Centre has taken some steps to stem the rot
but the role of the opposition is negative. It is encouraging Muslim
outfits to involve foreign powers in their "oust Mody" campaign.
29. On the world canvass today strong indicators are visible that
point to a concerted effort by jehadi forces to slow down ever-
increasing importance of India in the world affairs.
30. There are also concerted efforts to disintegrate India,
politically as well as emotionally.
31. There are elements within the country that help and collaborate
with the forces inimical to India.
32. The governing class in India is ignorant or wilfully blind to the
threat perceptions posed by the jehadi forces.
RECOMMENDATIONS- ALTERNATE PLAN OF THOUGHT AND ACTION
India cannot escape taking the responsibility of failure to manage
the relationship between Hindus and Muslims just by pleading that the
problem was inherited from the colonial rulers and the Muslim
invaders. Fifty-five years is a long enough period to resolve the
issue. Unfortunately, no serious effort has been made to bring Hindus
and Muslims closer.
On the other hand, certain parties for partisan considerations have
exploited the hiatus between the two communities. External agencies
fuel the fire of hatred but they succeed only because there are
weaknesses within the country. International designs find a ready
response from within the civil society as there is a fertile ground
for separatist tendencies to grow.
Traditional methods of conflict resolution having failed, new systems
need to be employed to convert communal mistrust into national
affection and brotherhood. New approaches are required to convert the
weaknesses into strength.
A minority as large as the second largest Muslim country should not
feel alienated nor should the majority community be made to feel that
the minorities were appeased at its cost.
The amount of time, energy, effort and other resources that the
country spends for managing the communal conflicts and failing again
and again, if gets diverted to the process of growth and development,
India can become a land of plenty and prosperity. But the old
problems must be seen from new angles and unorthodox measures taken.
The intelligentsia will have to come up with new yet realistic
principles and theories of social systems that are based on ground
realities. They must stop romanticizing the miseries of the nation.
The bureaucracy have to devise action plans that show results within
their lifetimes and cease to give extensions to the problem solving
systems. The politicians have to look for alternate means of winning
elections and stop treating citizens as mere voters to be used only
as pawns in the hands of politicians.
The nation must accept that Hindus and Muslims have no options but to
live together. There are only two options. One, to live in amity and
the other to live in mutual hostility. Saner elements in the two
communities would prefer the first option. Every action and situation
that carries the potential of disturbing the mutual amity have to be
identified and weeded out.
The problem is complex and multifaceted and solution is bound to be
difficult and elusive. But the country has a large storehouse of
brains that can find solutions to still harder problems. New faces
have to be entrusted this job. So a different set of persons who look
at the problems from new angles and propose a mix of curative and
preventive measures is the need of the hour.
In view of the enormity of the cancerous problem of communal
conflicts and the field experience of recent happenings in Gujarat
the Study Team proposes to recommend:
a. long term measures b. short term measures c. immediate steps to be
taken
LONG TERM MEASURES
1. Following groups be constituted to study the problems of communal
conflicts in the country:
c. Diagnostic Team: to investigate the genesis of the process of
communal conflict and identify key problem areas
d. Curative Team: to determine the solutions for the problems
identified by the diagnostic team
e. Pre-emptive Action Team: to prepare action plans so that existing
tensions do not flare up and also to ensure that no new conflict
situations arise.
The teams should comprise of social scientists, conflict managers,
jurists and media persons.
2. Participation in the acts of communal violence should be treated
as a crime of as serious nature as an act of terrorism. In no case,
communal violence should be allowed to become a lucrative vocation.
3. Deployment of army for internal law and order should be confined
to the situation of internal emergency. The enemies of the country
should not be allowed to use communal violence as a strategy for
withdrawal of army from the border.
4. In the states, police forces on the lines of rapid action force be
created for deployment during riots and natural disasters.
5. Election laws need to be amended so that the politicians are not
able to use caste or religion for nurturing votes banks. Once the
politicians are aware that vote banks based on caste or religion
would not serve their purpose, a major portion of the communal
problem will disappear.
6. A citizens standing committee be constituted to keep a watch on
the communal situation so that if and when communal tension in any
part of the country tends to increase the administration is warned to
take preventive measures. Such committees need to be constituted at
State, District, Block and Village levels.
SHORT TERM MEASURES
7. Several laws and orders passed by the successive governments have
remained on paper only. Two such laws are directly related with
maintenance of communal peace:
a. The order to ban the use of loud speakers in religious places as
well as in processions.
b. the law to regulate the sale of property by the members of one
community to the other in communally sensitive areas.
It is recommended that the above orders should be implemented and
indirect sale deeds such as on power of attorney should also be taken
care of. All encroachments in important public places, busy markets,
religious places, near railway stations and bus stations as well as
on highways especially at the entry points to the cities should be
cleared.
8. It is recommended that the orders for the ban of loud speakers be
put to practice with the cooperation with the leaders of various
communities.
9. An inquiry commission should be set up to inquire into:
c. Economic and social exploitation of tribals in the state.
d. Recommend ways and means to stop their exploitation
10. Rehabilitation is not merely a physical act of placement of
families. Serious efforts need to be done to restore the emotional
state of mind. The village and mohalla majorities should be
intimately involved in the work of rehabilitation.
11. Gujarat must conduct a review of its police force, which appears
to be ill equipped to handle communal violence at the level of recent
riots. Special training needs to be given in crowd control methods.
IMMEDIATE STEPS TO BE TAKEN
12. The case of issuance of disproportionate number of passports in
Godhra be investigated.
13. Punitive fines be imposed on the residents of localities where
communal violence erupts after a notified date.
14. Media should use itself as a platform for creating harmonious
relationships between different communities. Its crusade, if at all,
should be for or against the processes and not for or against
individuals.
15. Persons living in relief camps should be provided safe
habitations. Community leaders should be actively involved in
managing the rehabilitation.
16. Persons booked for communal violence must be prosecuted quickly
and given exemplary punishment so that it acts as a deterrent.
17. An independent commission should examine the role of media, both
electronic and print, during the communal violence in Gujarat.
18. A code-of-conduct should be developed for the media both for
general news gathering and news presentation and during the communal
riots. Till the time new code is adopted the guidelines given by the
Press Council of India for covering communal tensions should be
followed.
19. Television news channels have very significant influence on the
minds of the viewers. If the channels so desire they can provide a
healing touch to the wounded population of Gujarat. Indian news
channels also have the professional talent required for the job. It
is suggested that the television news channels take the roles of
crusaders for peace.
20. A situation of continuous dialogue needs to be created in every
habitation in Gujarat by establishing citizens peace committees. It
has been proved that regular communication links reduces antagonism
between warring groups.
P.S.: Mr. S. M. F. Bukhari,IAS, head of the Rehabilitation of
refugees in the State, in a press statement in the first week of
Aug.2002, said that out of over 130,000 refugees in different camps
in the State, only below 10% or 13,000 remained in the Govt. run
camps and others have returned to their homes.
Most of the inmates of the Shah Alam or other camps in Ahmedabad are
the poorer Muslims, illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, who were even
otherwise living in Jhuggi/Jhopda-s or temporary shelters built by
waste wood and plastic material on Govt. land, sleeping in the open
and nowhere to go back, nor they desire to go back as they are happy
with the ample free rations and blame the Govt. of atrocities to
every VIP visiting these camps. They are claiming from the Govt.
houses to be built for them now!!
End of forwarded message from S. Kalyanaraman
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
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