Gujarat Genocide Feb 27, 2002 onwards

A Report on the situation after the genocide in Gujarat.

It all began in Godhra or so the Gujarat government and the BJP, VHP,RSS, Bajrang Dal combine maintain. A coach of the Sabarmati express carrying karsevaks, was set on fire by a mob, killing 58 of them. Survivors testified to the compartment being locked and burnt- an incident which exposed the lack of law enforcement in a sensitive area like Godhra. Chief minister Narendra Modi called this a "terrorist attack" and contrary to what the VHP likes to believe, there was all round condemnation of the incident. But Modi went a step further, dubbing the carnage that ensued as reaction to this action. In a matter of days, many parts of Gujarat witnessed brutalities that had never been seen before and nearly 700 people were killed, more numbers than the communal riots of 1969 and perhaps the most barbaric.

What happened certainly did not have its genesis in Godhra- it lay in the machiavellian minds of the VHP and its allies. It was a plan to cleanse Gujarat of the Muslim population which was about 8.73 per cent according to the 1991 census. As part of its gameplan, the VHP even issued pamphlets calling for the economic boycott of the Muslims. It set out six rules by which devout Hindus must now live – in future their lives would be lived to undermine and break the back of the Muslim population.

And no one was spared- not even judges, police officers, MPs, pregnant women, infants, children, young men, greying older men and women, teenaged girls, mothers. The events of the last week are memorable for the intensity of the violence, the brutality and meticulous manner of destruction. Muslims were attacked, their property burnt or looted and their houses and business establishments reduced to a cinder. Mosques all over the state were burnt, the holy korans reduced to ashes. Temples came up in impromptu places where there were shops or mosques and entire bastis have become"maidans."

No quarter was given and the law enforcing agencies watched and took part actively along with politicians, peoples representatives and professionals from all walks of life in utterly destroying the foundation of civil society. Testimonies of victims and media coverage bear this out. And they seem to be getting away it.

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Everywhere in Ahmedabad and in smaller towns and villages, refugees of this carnage live in camps, schools or people’s houses. The numbers could be anywhere between 30 to 35,000 or more in the city. In cases like Sardarpura, in Mehsana, district, the victims have shifted to other villages which are more friendly. They have been given clothes, food and shelter. Toilet facilities are non existent and bathing a forgotten luxury. They have nothing now and no hope of going back to their homes.

SHAH ALAM DARGAH

STATEMENTS OF VICTIMS FROM NARODA, near Ahmedabad

Justice and sanity are alien now for them. "Why don’t you export Muslims to another country," said Iqbal Malik, an autorickshaw driver from Naroda, where the carnage claimed over 20 lives. At the Shah Alam dargah in Ahmedabad, Malik and other young men are angry."You don’t want us here, send us away," they repeat. Shah Alam mosque, a historic symbol of religious unity, is now a refuge for over 6000 people. Food is provided by the community leaders, even clothes. People live under large shamianas and only Allah is their protector."We have no one else now,": said greying Zubeidabibi Ahmed Mia, who escaped with her life.

"We saw all the neighbours we knew, people who ate our sheer korma and lived with us, now turned into killers. Why did they do this?,"asked Mansuri Yusuf, an employee of the Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Services.

Salimbhai from Naroda said,"We saw young women being raped and killed, pregnant women speared to death, with their unborn children. People came with petrol cans, they exploded LPG cylinders in our houses. The police watched and when we pleaded for help, they told us to run away or we would be shot. The nearby police pickets watched the tamasha."

Residents repeatedly called the police but they refused to help. Zubeida said,"On Thursday morning, when the mob first came , they burnt a mattress shop and then the masjid. They were all Hindus-wearing saffron bands and some had covered their faces. They burnt all our houses- 200 –250 of them, while we tried to escape."

"I saw Jaideep Patel with a revolver inciting crowds," said Mansuri. He said finish all the Muslims. There were two Ahmedabad municipal corporators with him and a local criminal. Dr Patel is the Gujarat state VHP president.

Imtiaz Quereish said,"I called the fire brigade ten times but no one came. Knives and arms were supplied to the mobs from vehicles.The police were taking part in the attack. The leaders prevented an SRP mobile van from helping us. There are 175 houses in Naroda and all were burnt," said Mansuri. About five lakh Hindus live in Naroda. "We saw AMC vehicles giving them water-the mob was helped by the police and the municipal vehicles. Our women were raped, some burnt badly- and we had nothing to fight back. We engaged the mob but we were outnumbered," he added.

Even today(March 9), there is no help from the government, it is the Muslim community which has given us the clothes on our back and food and shelter. Police men(K K Mysorewalla,PI) drank Pepsi as he watched a father and son burn," said Mansuri. He pointed to the pesh Imam of the Naroda mosque and said, the mob fired on him.

Arzoo, a standard ten student, has no hope of appearing for her examinations."My house was burnt and now what will I do." Arzoo asked,"Are we not people? Why did they do this?"

"I think we will all become terrorists," said Mohammed Sharif, another resident of Naroda..

At the municipal school at Dariyakhan Gummat, survivors of the ghastly Gulbarg society carnage recount their experiences. There are over 5000 people in the camp and only the Muslim community is helping out. People said most of their shops and establishments were burnt and the police helped the mobs. People are scared of going back and there is no guarantee for their safety. Most of the people had taken shelter with the former MP Ehsan Jafri who called the police for over five hours. Jafri and many others perished in the mob attack. The Meghani Nagar police station is only a short distance away, said Mehboob Mansuri. He lost 18 members of his family as they were all in Jafri’s house, awaiting help.



AHMEDABAD CIVIL HOSPITAL/survivors of the train incident

Women and children are the worst affected in any riot. At the Ahmedabad civil hospital, the much quoted Janaki Chaurasia who was in the ill-fated bogie of Sabarmati express is recovering from respiratory burns. She coughs while speaking. Her three-year –old grandson, Rishab, is missing. "We were in the train and had no place to sit as the kar sevaks occupied all the seats. It was a bit of a crush but we did not mind as they were going for a noble cause.They behaved well and did not harass anyone. But after Godhra, some people attacked us and threw a foul substance inside the train, which emitted black smoke, which choked me. I could not see and I fainted. I found myself on the ground and saw the train burning but we did not find my grandson. He was with my husband who has suffered severe injuries and is in the ICU," she said.

Another family on the train has a different story to tell. Akbar Shah and his newly- wed wife and her father got into the train at Faizabad. "People told my wife to remove her burkha , so I kept it in my bag. " A sweeper in Ahmedabad, Akbar said the kar sevaks used to shout slogans like "Tel lagao dambar ka. Nam mita do Babar ka." Some people were asked to repeat these slogans when they refused, they were made to get down before Godhra." However, whether people were made to get down from the train could not be reconfirmed.

"When the train stopped at Godhra, there was some commotion and shouts of fire, so we ran into Godhra and have been here ever since. We are too scared to leave the camp at Iqbal school in Godhra,"he said. His wife, Gulshan Khatoon, said, "My two kid brothers are in Ahmedabad but I am too scared to leave the camp and go."

In the Ahmedabad civil hospital Farzana Ayub Khan from Naroda Patiya said,"My home was burnt with my daughter and mother, maasi and bhabi and my two- year -old son. My husband was in Palanpur." Only Reshma, her ten year old daughter survived. " Lots of people came with swords and kerosene cans to kill us. The government has not come with any help.-someone gave me two saris that’s all. "

Rehmanbhai Shakhubhai said he lost three children in the attack and only his daughter who was to get married on March 18, survived. "The Bajrang Dal came shouting slogans -- Jai Sri ram. They burnt everything. Only my wife and daughter are alive," he said. Afsana his daughter, sits on the bed, her head shaved, her hands burnt, and her torso covered in bandages." They set fire to my brothers after dousing them with petrol. I tried to save them but the mob gheraoed me and I had to run away." Who will marry me now," she asked?

BOHRA MUSAFIRKHANA

In the Bohra musafirkhana tucked away in Godhra’s small bylanes, refugees from nearby villages cower for their safety. Farida Abbasi Boliwalla from Mora village said there were ten houses belonging to her family in the village. "On February 28, a mob looted my father’s cycle shop and burnt my husband’s tailoring shop. I managed to break the window of my house and run out. We went to the house of a Hindu nearby. My two sons and a daughter were with me. My family of 14 stayed in a small bathroom for three days. We had no food or water. I used to hit my children and tell them to stay quiet," she said, breaking down. "After three days, the police escorted us here." She said tribal people along with neighbors with whom they had lived happily in the past attacked them.

All 106 homes of Bohras were destroyed in the village. "I refuse to go back there-we will be killed. What will we do now,"she wept."We don’t have clothes to wear and my children are hungry-they want to eat biscuits. They don’t understand we cant get these things here."

"A doctor who is our friend, called the police but he was told we would be killed if we stayed there," she added. "We lost Rs nine lakhs in our business. Who will compensate us. Please do something for us," she pleaded.

Another woman, preferring anonymity said, in the Godhra GIDC area, all factories of Muslims were burnt and looted in the presence of the police.The damage could well be over Rs 2 crores. There are several Bohra settlements in all parts of Panchmahals district where Godhra is located and the entire losses could amount to RS 20 crores, she said.

"The problem is the majority of us do not vote for the BJP and the VHP is targeting us because of that.Even during the Babri masjid riots in 1992, our shops and homes were looted."

Indeed, Godhra has a long history of communal riots and long periods of curfew. The population of Hindus and Muslims in Godhra is almost even.

"In one case in Dharia, near Shivrajpur, police demanded we pay for the safety of Bohras and we have paid Rs 40,000 but that did not help. The two people for whom we paid, had to run away and stayed in the forest nearby for two days. Two boys on a motorbike on the Halol-Baroda highway were attacked and one of them was killed. The other managed to escape and reach Bombay from where he called us. The dead body of the boy has not been found yet.," she said.

Nineteen families have taken shelter in the Bohra musafirkhana and the police has been requested to help find missing persons. "The mobs came on the day the train was set on fire and told us to go to Pakistan. Even now, our people are unsafe and there is arson and looting in villages near Godhra. All this is preplanned to destroy our community," she added.

Dr H S Dalal, who runs a dispensary in Biplod village, since the last 25 years, said fifty families are now homeless and all their shops have been looted. Doctors, timber merchants, grocery shops owners, tailors all are now homeless, their shops and business attacked and destroyed. Anish Onali Morawala said , "The police station is opposite my timber shop- and they watched as my good were burnt. We demand safety and security. We cant even go out and file an FIR. The police locked up three people who tried. The mob threatened to bury us alive if we went back….. We will cut you into pieces- that’s what we have been told."

VICTIMS OF PANDARWADA VILLAGE

In another house in Godhra, near a masjid which has been attacked, Miriam Yakub Sayed , 35, and her family recount the horrible events of the day they were watched their people being burnt alive and their homes destroyed. She said the VHP had held a meeting in the village and told people- to remove the Muslims. "We don’t want Muslims here," the VHP proclaimed.

She said the police and government officials - mamlatdars, taluka BJP delegates were with the mob. "The plan was to clear the area of Muslims. Even in 1992 nothing happened here and we used to live together. They killed all the men in front of our eyes. They threw acid or kerosene bombs on women and burnt their faces. I was hit by a sword but managed to run away with my family into the forests closeby, " Miriam said.

"On February 27, my house was burnt and we ran way to the hills behind. A few days later, the army. brought us to Lunavada,. Even my niece was hit with a sword. About 2000 people had gathered to kill us, armed with sticks and swords. My son is missing still and my husband is in hospital. Now we have only tears. I am staying in my mother’s house and I will not go back," she added.

"The VHP also threatened the convoys which were escorting Muslims and tried to attack them. They threw stones and chased the trucks.They tried to burn my grandchildren but we managed to rescue them. They kept saying Yahan se Muslim hatao," she said. The VHP proclaimed in the village that those who ate cow flesh were not with them. They gave the mob free kerosene and told them to do as they wanted to. One of Miriam’s young nephews had a bandaged head- the effect of a sword wound.

A senior resident said,"In all my life we have not seen such brutality. The VHP has managed to involve a lot of Dalits and tribals in their ranks. Most of the landowners are upper caste and they force their employees, the dalits to toe the line of the VHP."

Pandarwada had a population of 8-9000 with Muslims numbering 800 odd. The VHP held small meetings in the village to instigate villagers. The local tribals were among their members. Ironically Miriam’s cousin , Saeed Khan Pathan, is the president of the BJP minorities cell in Godhra, He seems just as helpless as the next person." I tried to call and get help but no one responds to my calls," he said rather sheepishly.

Nathubhai Umed Shaikh looks shell- shocked-"I saw three sons of mine being hacked to death . My whole family has dispersed. I am already dead." Many of the people from Pandarwada may have escaped to Rajasthan as the border is merely 10 km away, said the villagers.

IQBAL SCHOOL- GODHRA

A resident of Dekwa village of Halol taluka, a store owner, said three months ago, meetings were held near Pawagadh, under the guise of social upliftment by the VHP and the Bajrang Dal." The real purpose of these meetings is clear now. Even at mohalla levels secret meetings were held to tell people that the Muslims are our enemies and they are ruling us," he said. The Bajrang Dal threatened him and asked for police protection, which he got for two months.

"The police earlier assured us that we were safe. On Feb27 we got police to escort us to the police station but they escorted the Bajrang Dal people back to our village. They burnt my shop and house The police watched as the Halol masjid was destroyed. And even doctors were told not to treat Muslim victims at Halol referral hospital," he added.

The Bajrang Dal has been paying people and giving them trishuls to kill Muslims, he said. They tell Muslims that they will pay them RS 5000 not to offer namaz. Voters’ lists have been used to identify and kill our people, he added.

Godhra is still under curfew after the Feb 27 incident. The town looks dead except for the occasional policeman. Near the station which has become something of a tourist spot-people go to see the burnt coach of Sabarmati express. The Muslim locality outside the station is oblivious of the curfew-" we have to move around," said one lady carrying a load. Burnt shops, gaping holes in cement work, blackened remains of property stand out. The platform is deserted except for a large posse of police. The police were not in strength when needed on that morning of Feb 27 and the constant heckling of the mostly Muslim vendors on the platform, every time the train from Ayodhya with Kar sevaks returned, was not something that passed unnoticed. Arrests have been made and the police point to the complicity of local municipal corporation head Kalota and others.

At Iqbal primary school, run by the Panchmahals Muslim Education Society,over a thousand people from all nearby villages of Godhra have taken shelter. The community is providing them food and shelter. Yakub Bhatuk, an advocate from Godhra is among those running the camp."We are providing wheat and other items to the people and help is coming from the community itself. People from over 20 villages in Panchmahals district are here since February 28."

Thirty km from Godhra, Sofia(name changed) had gone to celebrate Bakri Id at her mother’s house in Randhikpur village. She was with her three-year-old daughter. On Thursday their homes were burnt and a large group fled the village. They traveled from village to village stopping for nights at Chundgi, Kuwajal and Khudra. One the way to Panivela, the group , which had eight women including Sofia , were assaulted by upper caste people from her village who then gang raped her and other girls and left them on the road. She could name the perpetrators- they include a doctor, a lawyer and a local sarpanch. . She sat on the road for a day and a night before the police found her.

"When I recovered I alone was alive there was no one else. I think my baby died. And my mother was killed as well,"she said.

The 22-year-old can barely articulate her experience and she is in desperate need of counseling and help to recover from her trauma. But that would be expecting a lot from the harried organizers of the camp. A case has been registered with the police and even the district collector has been to visit her.

GODHRA GENERAL HOSPITAL

The days she was knifed in the back will remain forever in ten- year -old Noorunissa’s mind. She cries as the nurse comes for her daily injections. Her mother, Sapura, said,"We were chased and slashed with swords." Noorunissa’s father, Razak Abdul Shekh Ghanchi, is in the next bed-- two fingers of his left hand were cut off by a sword, and the attack left him unconscious. Even now swathed in bandages, he can barely speak.

"We did not eat for four days as we hid in the forest behind the village. My husband was bathed in blood," recalls Sapura.

Twenty- year- old Fatima Murad Sheikh was hiding in the field with her husband when the Bhils came. "My husband was killed I think- I fainted after I was hit. My left hand is fractured by a steel rod and I was hit on the head with a sword. I have arrow injuries on my face. I still don’t know where my husband is."

Johra Ayub Syed was working in the field with her husband when the mob attacked and cut him to death. Her mother- in- law holds Johra’s five-month-old daughter and cries. Johra said,:"My husband was alive for three hours after the assault. I asked the police to help me take him to hospital, they said no- they only brought me and the others here. He could have lived you know had we brought him to a doctor."

Old women too were not spared. At least 70 years old, Sakina’s entire family is either dead or missing. The old lady has fractured hands and also sustained knife wounds. In Nava Rabadia village, Fatima Bibi was about to offer namaz at night when a mob barged in and assaulted her."I have fractured my hand and leg and have injuries all over. I was unconscious for two days."

In the burns ward, Hussaina Ghulam face and chest has been torched with a kerosene bomb, taking the skin of her face . Her husband, Ghulam Majid weeps. "They killed my 21 year old boy. My handicapped girl survived. They were targeting the young men it seems," he said between sobs.

The rampaging mobs dumped women and children into a well in Anjanwa village. Maqsuda who was rescued from the well sits dazed- a bandage around her injured head. Her husband, Hanif can barely speak. "My wife and two children were thrown into a well at Anjanwa in Santrampur taluka. Thirty five houses were burnt and eight bodies were recovered from a well." Hanif’s children were three years and one and half years old and did not survive the assault.

MEHSANA DISTRICT- SARDARPUR VILLAGE

A mass murder took place in Sardarpur village in the prosperous Mehsana district where an entire mohallah adjacent to the Patels was burnt. Twenty nine people were burnt alive in a single house in Sheikh Mohallah. The mohalla is deserted and is now home to stray dogs. Burnt jeeps, scooters, cycles are in evidence and the charred homes belonged to labourers on the farms of rich Patels. Punjiram Patel, a resident of Sardarpur, said the intention of the mob, which was not from this village, was to destroy the masjid but the Muslims attacked first and then the mohalla was burnt. Thirty nine people were charged with murder and arrested for the incidents in this village, according to the police. Those arrested include an ex sarpanch of the village.

The bodies of twenty seven people were recovered. The dead include 16 women, three male children and a teenaged girl. About 40 persons rescued have taken shelter in a village in Banaskantha. Seven people were still alive in that room, two of whom died after police brought them out. The riots took place on the night of March 1-2. The mob had blocked the village roads for upto five km with burning tyres, pipes, and trees and over 2000 people from five villages burnt and pillaged in Sardarpur. There are 18 lakh people living in 611 villages of Mehsana and only 1000 policemen, a senior police official said. In the villages it was a combined mob of Hindus from all parties but not sponsored by any one party, he added.

Savala village in Vis nagar taluka, is home to refugees of Sardarpur and five other villages. The Savala gaon Madrassa Trust set up this camp last Saturday, according to S M Khokjhar. The village has a population of 3000 and two people died in riots here. Muslims are in a majority here. Even in 1969, where major communal riots took place in Ahmedabad, Savala was peaceful. Money has been contributed from villagers. Till a week later, no cash doles or any relief was forthcoming from the government.

Sundarpur, half a km from Sardarpur, has 700 homes of Muslims in a population of 3500. "On February 28 at night, the Patels told the Muslims to leave by morning or we will burn you," said Himmat Khan. The mob came in the evening to Sundarpur and started burning houses. Many people escaped to nearby villages. Munsif Khan Pathan , a large landowner from Sardarpur, called the police many times, fearing riots but the police came and said nothing would happen and left soon after." At night we were attacked from all sides with stones and kerosene bombs. They blockaded the roads leading to the village. We recognized many of the rioters, they were locals and some were leaders," he said.

"By the time the police came everything was burnt and finished. We were taken to Savala. The plan was very clear to decimate Muslims," said residents. Shamim Bano ,20, said ,"First they burnt the shops at the entrance of the mohalla, then we ran as they were intent on killing us. All the people hid in my house which is concrete. I hid in a bathroom with two others and later realized I was among the few survivors. My mother was among those burnt alive."

Women from Sunderpur have left with the clothes on their back. Some of their sons are missing and there is no hope of ever finding them. Many of them owned irrigated land and left behind a lot of cash, jewelry and other valuables.

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RELIEF

About 700 people have been killed officially since Feb 27 , 58 of them in the Sabarmati express. That is the official estimate- but more bodies are being found everyday and the toll could be much higher. The police is yet to ascertain how many are men, women and children. This is the worst carnage in the history of Gujarat and the most barbaric by all accounts.

From a long --term point of view the major questions that needs to be addressed are security, sanity and justice. Most people don’t want to return to their homes- who will guarantee their safety?. There is a terrible sense of loss, that no justice will ever be done and the perpetrators of these events will go scot free.

Secondly, no one has tried to reach out to people in camps. Though the Citizen’s Initiative is carrying relief supplies and has initiated building toilets apart from desperately needed psychiatric counseling services, much more needs to be done.

Rural areas are being totally neglected and there are no interventions. People don’t have any money and are dependent on relief from the Muslim community. Feelings of anger and resentment are dominant- how will all this be addressed?

There is a tremendous sense of isolation- as if no one else cares, about the fate of the people, apart from the Muslim community. This needs to be addressed. I think no one is going out to Godhra and other rural areas, where people are so frightened.

Women specially those who have seen such violence and have been sexually assaulted, are bereft of any specialized interventions. Some women have lost their entire families, or children. They are in a state of shock. Older women and men too have been assaulted and in some cases, have no one. Many children have been attacked and their future seems forever tainted by these incidents. This is a major area where some intervention is necessary. Reaching out to the people is important as also providing some cash allowance. The camps are overrun with people- where will they all go?

Since two days, some relief supplies have come in the form of food but there is nothing else for the people in Shah Alam. While upper middle class families looted shops and took away stolen goods with unparalleled glee, refugees live in camps, wearing the same clothes on their back and dreading the future.

The task is not easy but at least in Bombay there was a massive outpouring of relief from all sections of society which is absent in Gujarat. The contrast is more marked as there was so much relief after the earthquake.

The government’s lack of interest and justification of this violence, compounds the situation.

Most people in the cities feel they can go back if there is some security,but in the villages, there is a certainty that people do not wish to return to their native villages. I am not sure how all can be addressed.

People need money, food shelter and hygienic living conditions. That seems to be the main demand. But paramount is their safety. The businesses have been hit so badly people find it tough to recover from their loss. So there is whole question of the economic aspect of relief as well. The community has lost a lot of shops, factories and establishments- I am not sure what relief can be provided to them. The important thing is to reach out and let those affected know that all of care deeply about what has happened and help with fighting for justice as well.

These are some things about which I felt strongly, I have put them down.

MEENA MENON