"We will meet the Election Commission later this week to impress our
views on them," said Gauhar Raza, who was part of the two-member team
that visited Panchmahal and Dahod earlier this month.

Sahmat will give the Election Commission a detailed report based on
interviews with people in relief camps.

Releasing the report at a news conference this afternoon, Sahmat
activists said: "The situation in Ahmedabad may look normal, but all
you have to do is enter the villages and they look as devastated as
before."

They stressed that the incident-free passage of the rath yatra was no
yardstick for judging whether the state had returned to normal.

"It certainly does not reflect any return to normality," Gauhar said,
pointing out that Muslims and sections of Hindus who had tried to
save Muslim families were still in the grip of terror.

Based on interviews with camp inmates, the report outlines the
character of the violence and the mob. "The witnesses expressed
extreme revulsion towards the RSS, the Bajrang Dal and the VHP, but
had no bitter remarks for Hindus at large," Sahmat said. According to
the organisation, incidents of Hindus saving Muslim families have
been under-reported.

Expressing grave doubts on the feasibility of having free and fair
polls in Gujarat, Gauhar said: "It is not only the Muslims who will
hesitate to come out and vote. There will also be a whole section of
Hindus who will not come out fearing violence."

The report underscores the huge loss of property and lives and the
pittance of a compensation that Muslim families have got. An Assembly
election at this juncture, it suggests, would only aggravate tension
in a highly polarised society.

"The scale of devastation is such that it is only the state
government which can undertake proper rehabilitation even though NGOs
are now doing all the work," said Gauhar.

According to the report, the loss of moveable property that the
sampled victim population suffered was to the tune of Rs 27 crore.
But the average compensation per family has worked out to just Rs
1,422. The total amount that has been paid to the riot victims as
compensation is just 1 per cent of the damage caused during the
carnage.