An Open Letter To Shri L.K. Advani

I am writing this letter to you after considerable deliberation. Ever since the deliberate targeting and killing of my father-in-law, the former Member of Parliament,Ahsan Jafri, during the Gujarat violence of 2002, my family is not the same. His brutal and untimely death has taken the highest toll on my wife, Jafri’s only daughter, whocontinues to swing wildly between the extremes of faith andhopelessness; brotherhood and utter disbelief in humanity; our ancient values and wisdom, and the naked danceof immorality and violence in Gujarat.  She even confronts herroots and religion.

As you know, the Gujarat tragedy had all the signatures of a man-made catastrophe thatwas deliberately let loose by a few in their pursuit of power.  Thosefamilies who lost their near and dear ones have been the true sufferers. It is not only the Muslims of Gujarat who have suffered the fallout of this immoral dance, as manyHindus have suffered enormously including the families of those innocent people who died in the Sabarmaticoach and later in Akshardham temple. 

This pain is further compounded for the family members of many whose bodies could not beidentified or found. There is no sense of closure for them. Financial assistance did provide some help, butonly to a few and that too temporarily.  Families at largecontinue to languish in pain and misery, knowing their loss is irreversible and permanent. As one who has suffered that loss, who is trying to cope with the pain, and still trying to help othersin the community to move forward, I can tell you it is not easy. 

Under these circumstances, the issue of justice is very important to such families. Since our loved ones were killed, the killers must be found and punished. Proper justice alone can provide some closure to our loss. Punishing the guilty will not bring back the dead, but there is a sense of discrimination even in death. Atleast, the families of Godhra and Akshardham victims do not feel that the guilty for those ghastlycrimes are getting away with murder.  Any and every individual suspected of even an association with thecrime, regardless of evidence, has been booked under POTA and these cases are being vigorously andrelentlessly pursued, which is just the way it should be.

On the other hand, the course of law is deliberately being subverted in cases against theperpetrators of mass murder in the rest of Gujarat. It is not an individual case of stray abuse of law, as thetactics employed are a concerted effort that includes neglecting the available evidence,  fabricatingstatements, falsifying FIRs, misrepresenting testimonies, freeing the suspects on bail, and intimidating orinfluencing the witnesses through coercion or money. 

We all know about the disrepute brought to the credibility of the Nanavati Commissioninvestigating Godhra and post-Godhra riots.  And now we know thefate of the Best Bakery trial, where all 21 accused in brutalising and burning of 12 to 14 innocent people,including women and children, in the bakery are set free. 

In the aftermath of  the Gujarat carnage, you have often said that Gujarat willremain a blot on the BJP government and on your conscience -- that it was "outrageous'' and"indefensible.''  There is nothing to doubt your sinceritywhen you say this.  We also know how you feel about what tookplace in your constituency.  Even if your feelings about communalintegrity, unity and harmony were somewhat different in the days prior to forming the NDA government at thecenter, or before the extremists carried out this violence on innocent people in Gujarat, I think, themagnitude of human tragedy during these riots has severely impacted your conscience. You do feel sorry for the needless pain and misery inflicted upon the innocent people of yourconstituency and you do feel outraged at the Gujarat administration’s apathy in controlling the violence.  

This is the time to act on those human feelings. Iappeal to you to ensure that justice is now done in Gujarat.  Thecommunal bias shown by the Gujarat government has been obvious to all,  including perhaps you. Whether it was the issue of denial of its involvement in the post Godhra carnage, or the issue of theamount of compensation declared for the Godhra victims and others, or the issue of justice for Hindu victimsand the rest, the Modi government has shown consistency in its blatant bias and has come under severe nationaland international criticism.  This has also tarnished India’simage in the world.  Employing a communally divisive agenda evenif pays some near term dividends, in a long run will produce more harm and damage to your government and thecountry.

You have the power to stop that.  You can and ought to stop that.  You shoulddirect the Gujarat government to uphold the constitution that promises equality and human dignity to everycitizen of India, regardless of race, religion, or colour. Ensuring this is also important if you have tosucceed in your dream of bringing Ramrajya to the Akhanda Bharatvarsha.

Please direct the Modi government to stop subverting the judicial system and misusing thestate machinery to deny justice to those who have already suffered so much and lost so much for no fault oftheir own. Please allow justice to take its course.  Please ensurethat the perpetrators of the Gujarat violence are brought to justice or, as George Bush said, justice is brought to them. In any case, justice must be served. 

Thank you 

Sincerely,
Dr. Najid Hussain