Officially, there are now only 13, 482 refugees in the state (all of
them in Ahmedabad city) to whom food grains are grudgingly being
provided by the district collector, with only three-four days ration
being dished out at a time. An additional 6,500 persons continue to
live in other camps in Ahmedabad even today but they have ceased to
exist in official records after being coerced into closing down
between June 10-18. (CJP-CC survey for the PIL.) This, despite the
pendency of the writ petition and the government assurance that there
would be no closure of camps.

Over two dozen affidavits filed by the petitioners, 24 camp managers
and refuge seekers for the hearing of the writ that came up before
Justices Sinha and Panchal of the Gujarat High Court on June 26, show
that blatantly aggressive methods (including threatening camp
managers with detention under POTA) were used by the district
collectors to shut down the camps in mid-June. (See box). With the
petitions still pending before the court, the government continues to
pretend the camps were closed down voluntarily.

In short, around 20,000 persons today remain in camps within
Ahmedabad city (only 13,500 as per government figures) and another
2,000-odd persons are in camps located elsewhere in the state but
which have ceased to exist for the government. These camps - Nandasan
(419 persons), Dasaj (400 persons), Lunva (100 persons), Shivali
(400), Gunja (near Visnagar-50 persons), Unjha (250 persons) and
Lunavada (460 persons) - were summarily closed down between mid-May
and early July and the government assumes no responsibility for the
relief or rehabilitation needs of these people.

Gujarat's principal secretary, revenue, CK Koshy told CC that there
are 11 official camps with 13,482 inmates in Ahmedabad. Stating that
he was open to examining the independent figures gathered by us about
camps and its inmates from all over the state, he added that
rehabilitation packages had already been disbursed in their entirety
by the government.

The demonisation of Muslim survivors huddled in relief camps is an
ugly reality of post-genocide Gujarat. Be it the CM or his senior
ministers, vicious and highly publicised statements ("anti-national
elements are suspected to be seeking shelter in relief camps") have
only rubbed salt in the wounds of the traumatised victims of violence.

Modi had made repeated noises, wanting to wind up the camps even
before Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's visit to Ahmedabad on
April 4. The BJP state food and civil supplies minister, Bharat Barot
had also made widely publicised statements about the 'anti-national
elements residing within camps', urging the state minister for home,
Gordhan Zadaphiya that they should be wound up.

After the violence occurred and was allowed to spread, the party in
power and it's spokespersons made their disregard for state
responsibility within constitutional boundaries apparent. The
existence of some democratic institutional safeguards availed of by
the citizenry helped alleviate, the designs of the BJP-ruled
government to some extent.

That legal interventions concerning relief camps were imperative is
evident from what happened in Ahmedabad city on April 3. Soon after
the Ahmedabad collector, Pandaya completed his visit to the Suleimani
Roza Relief Camp located in curfew-bound Gomtipur in the presence of
Mr Parmar of the Ahmedabad collectorate, the police targeted camp
residents. Led by PI SD Sharma, the police set upon the 750 refugees
of the Suleiman Roza Relief Camp (behind Nutan Mills), Saraspur and
actually shot at two persons, Pirujbhai Mohammad Sheikh (30) and
Khatoonbi Sharfuddin Saiyed (45).

The camp, which had been home to 750 displaced persons for over a
month, was thus wound up in brutal fashion. The residents fled and
many were forced to sleep under the open sky in fear and terror. The
35 Al Iqwan Chaali camp also received continuous threats and faced
attacks from local mobs. Two other camps - the Char Toda relief camp
at Gomtipur and the Al Iqwan Committee at Saraspur were threatened by
the police in early April, asking them to shut down.

The PIL still pending before the Gujarat High Court argues that the
basic rights to a life with security and dignity, and free from dire
need are a responsibility of the State. And, that, apart from the
ex-gratia payment offered to those killed during the communal riots,
no comprehensive rehabilitation plan was offered by the Gujarat
government; nor were steps taken in this direction made public. Fair
and non-discriminatory relief and rehabilitation are a must to
restore people's faith in the government and the administration, the
petitioners have argued.

The same state that was quick to declare a sizable rehabilitation
package for the survivors of the January 2001 earthquake has been
silent following the genocide. The earthquake package had included an
ex-gratia amount to the next-of-kin of those killed, compensation for
loss of housing and property, dole money to meet the routine expenses
of the earthquake affected and rehabilitation. This time it is
different.

The petitioners have also demanded a comprehensive survey by an
independent and autonomous committee to assess the extent of damage
caused to life and property to enable the drawing of a reasonable
rehabilitation plan. The absence of a proper plan for the
rehabilitation and re-location of refugees within Gujarat, the
proclaimed 'laboratory for Hindutva', has only compounded the pain
and insecurity of tens of thousands of refugees who, reeling under
the trauma of brutal massacres and violence, had to stay huddled
together for three-four months in camps run by their community
leaders all over the state.

In most cases where Muslims have returned to their villages, they are
faced with economic and social boycott for having had the audacity to
name the perpetrators of violence in their complaints to the police.
In other villages of Gujarat, a land once associated with Mahatma
Gandhi, the village leaders address Muslims wanting to return in
derogatory terms and tell them bluntly: "Baandyaon nathi joyita" ("We
do not want any Muslims here").

A statewide survey undertaken by Communalism Combat on the status of
refugees, reveals a dismal picture (see accompanying story). The
options before Gujarat's Muslims are clear and harsh: servility,
boycott or exodus.

While in many cases, in the villages and towns of Gujarat, the
collector and mamlatdar (civil servants) have attempted the return of
refugees with dignity of their own accord, the hate campaign of the
RSS/BJP/VHP and BD has undermined their constitutional writ and
allowed the denial of basic rights to continue. Though attempts were
made in many cases for dignified rehabilitation, threats and warning
to withdraw criminal complaints and FIRs have won the day.

Three months ago, as per the government's own admission, there were
over 66,000 refugees in camps in Ahmedabad and another 21,000
elsewhere in the state. Hence, in a matter of two-and-a-half months,
as per official figures, 52,500 persons from Ahmedabad city and
another 21,000 from elsewhere (73,500 in all) have left the relief
camps without any systematic survey on their rehabilitation. At least
half the number from within Ahmedabad and a significant majority of
those from the rest of the state have been coerced into leaving with
no state guarantee or responsibility for their security or future.

Even the measly amount of Rs 2,500 (increased from the Rs 1500
announced earlier) for ghar vakhari - purchase of utensils for
restarting a home - has not been paid in 70 per cent of the cases.
The compensation amount of Rs 40,000 for destroyed houses announced
by the Prime Minister at the Shah-e-Alam camp on April 4 has reached
only a small percentage of those eligible.

In what is nothing short of a cruel mockery of the idea of the
State's obligation towards rehabilitation, the victims of Naroda
Patiya - where one of the worst massacres took place - have received
cheques ranging from Rs 500-1,500. The same is true in most other
cases.

Modi has doggedly refused to commit himself to any demand for the
purchase of land and re-building of homes. The CC's statewide survey
shows that the vast majority of homes have been rebuilt by NGOs. Some
90 per cent of these have been at the initiative of Muslim
organisations - Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind, Jamaat-e-Islami, United
Economic Forum and Afmi Charitable Trust, Baroda. The Asha Kiran
Trust, Jansangharsh Manch and SPRAT, are among the non-Muslim
organisations to have contributed the rest.

Given the abject failure and refusal of the state and central
governments to resettle the survivors through reasonable and speedy
rehabilitation, the onus has fallen, almost entirely, on the Muslim
community to look after their co-religionists. A sad commentary on
the social and political reality in India today.

Meanwhile, the Gujarat police was consistent in its indiscriminate
targeting of Muslims even through April and May. Violence broke out
once more in Ahmedabad and it's outskirts on April 3, with the
police, RAF and SRP forces numbering around 150, shooting 29 innocent
victims and killing one. Advocate Nizam was shot dead by the police
inside his home. The same day, on the eve of the PM's visit, Dr Ishaq
Sheikh, vice-president of the Al Ameen Garib Niwas Hospital,
Ahmedabad - an institution that had been at the forefront in helping
the injured and brutalised over the past month or so - was pulled out
of his ambulance by the Ahmedabad police, SRP and RAF personnel and
brutally beaten up.

Police inspectors Modi and Parmar who were present while this
happened did nothing to stop the assault. The second person shot dead
in police firing, Mohammad Yunus Akbarbhai, hailed from Sakhar
Ghanchi ki Chawl. The policemen named by eyewitnesses are NA Modi
(PSI D Staff), NR Jadhav, senior police inspector and Mr. Sawani, DCP.

On April 21, after a constable was killed at Dani Limda, the police
went on the rampage and shot dead six persons in brazen 'reprisal
killings.' Hanifabibi Bashir Ahmed Shaikh (42), living at Modi Chawl,
Kalubhai Shaikh (20), living at Jhoolta Minara, Naziabibi and Mehmood
Hussein Shaikh (daughter and father) aged 13 and 42 respectively,
residents of Patel Chowk, Kamdar Maidan, Abrar Ahmed Hanif Qureshi
(22) also living at Patel Chowki and Mehmoobbhai Sultanbhai
Shaikh(22) living at Maniarwada, Gomtipur, fell victim to police
violence and bullets.

In Baroda on May 1, policemen brutally beat a nine-month pregnant
woman. A week later, when the Concerned Citizens Tribunal recorded
the testimony, her mother said that she had delivered her baby
post-trauma but she could only breast feed her baby from one breast
as from the other, oozed blood, not milk.

Selective and large-scale arrests of members of the minority
community have continued in Ahmedabad, Baroda, Godhra and elsewhere.
In Godhra and other places, despite the passage of three months,
young men have not been released. In the Gulberg society Chamanpura
massacre, 21 arrests have been made while three accused roam
scot-free.

In the Sardarpur massacre at Mehsana in which 34 persons were
brutally killed, the additional sessions judge, Mehsana, DR Shah,
released all the 46 accused when even the primary investigations were
not complete. Interestingly, the public prosecutor in the case is
Dilip Trivedi, general secretary of the VHP, Mehsana district, who
was responsible for publishing an extremely provocative statement in
the widely circulated Gujarati daily, Sandesh, on February 28. (See
legal initiatives section.) Many other legal initiatives being
undertaken in the state face stumbling blocks because public
prosecutors, displaying a blatantly partisan attitude, simply do not
do justice to the cases in hand.

In some cases, after the initial paralysis and complicity, policemen
have attempted speedier and fair investigations (See legal
initiatives.) However, sections of the prosecutors who are partisan
appointments by the government and a conveniently non-interfering
judiciary have allowed injustice to continue.

That, fortunately, some institutions still work, even in
Hindutva-driven Gujarat, is apparent from the forensic investigation
into the Godhra tragedy, which resulted in the first chargesheet
being filed by the police. This investigation by the Ahmedabad-based
Forensic Science Laboratory, contradicts the view held so far that
the attackers had thrown the inflammable liquid at the train from a
distance. Specifically, it explodes the carefully-touted theory by CM
Modi and even hinted at in early March by then Union home minister,
Lal Krishna Advani, that the Godhra tragedy was the result of
Machiavellian pre-planning.

In the cities and villages of Gujarat convulsed by the violence that
spread across 16 of the state's 24 districts, the aftermath for the
minority community is laden with tension and the cold realisation of
a new phase and stage of existence. Forced to go back to their
villages or to re-locate where the former option is simply
unavailable, Muslims in Gujarat face a bitter reality.

In mid-April, they were convinced or compelled to cancel the Muharram
tazia procession. But when it came to the Lord Jagannath rathyatra,
despite police advice to the contrary, Modi insisted it must follow
the traditional route that winds its way through Muslim areas and
mixed localities. On July 12, it was the Muslims who were asked by
the Ahmedabad police to maintain 'junta curfew' (self-imposed
curfew). On the eve of the procession, it was the homes of Muslims en
route in Jamalpur that were searched and re-searched. And it was
Muslims who fled their homes for a few days to return only after the
rathyatra was over.

In Ahmedabad and in Baroda, a silent yet effective boycott of
Muslims, socially and economically, continues. A few icons from the
Gujarati business community have tried to counter the hate politics
led or encouraged by the Gujarat government. (See Good News section).
But schools in Ahmedabad and Baroda have now, more so than before
(See CC, 'Face to Face with Fascism', April 2000), bid good-bye to
Muslim students.

For the state, Gujaratis and the rest of India, post-genocide Gujarat
presents a grimmer challenge than before. Constitutional breakdown
has been evident there since 1998 when the BJP assumed power in the
state. The period between end-February and May provided grim evidence
of what the ideology of supremacy and hatred can achieve when it
comes unto its own; post-May, Gujarat has settled into a state that
lives outside the Indian Constitution; normalcy for 'us', trauma for
'them'.

In his book, We, Or Our Nationhood Defined, which many consider to be
the 'Bible of Hindutva', the revered ideologue and sarsanghchalak of
RSS, Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar ('Guru Golwalkar') wrote in the
mid-30s:

"The foreign races in Hindusthan (Muslims and Christians - ed) must
either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect
and hold in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but
those of the glorification of the Hindu race and culture, ie, of the
Hindu nation and must lose their separate existence to merge in the
Hindu race, or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the
Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any
preferential treatment - not even citizen's rights. There is, at
least, should be, no other course for them to adopt. We are an old
nation; let us deal, as old nations ought to and do deal, with the
foreign races, who have chosen to live in our country."

Were he to be alive, Guruji would proudly proclaim today's Gujarat as
the 'Hindu Rashtra' of his dreams.

Yet, the institutions of Indian democracy and those who man them seem
oblivious to or complacent about the ominous implications of Gujarat
for the rest of India. What more will it take to shake them out of
their complacency?

(With field reports from Rais Khan.)