'We Need To Stop This Madness'

I have great admiration for Hinduism. Historically, Hinduism had been the most tolerant and peaceful faith.The practitioners of Hinduism were never aggressive or violent. It was Hinduism that gave the world leaderslike Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi.

The violence in Gujarat was not because of Hinduism. It was a result of extremism. Extremism is a religionin itself. Converts to this faith include Hindus, Muslims, Christians and many others. But Gujarat arises whenthe elements of the extremist faith enter the government, or the government is controlled by the followers ofextremism.

From all available accounts and from my own personal observations while in India in the aftermath of thekilling of my father-in-law, the former Member of Parliament Ahsan Jafri, it is an unavoidable conclusion thatthe government of Gujarat did not just give a tacit approval to the perpetrators of the violence againstMuslims, but connived in the pogrom. There are evidences that the police, the judiciary and the hospitals, allbecame a part of that operation in ethnic cleansing by Hindu extremists and Sangh Parivaries (BJP, VHP, RSS,Bajrang Dal) in Gujarat.

The carnage carried out in Gujarat in the aftermath of Godhra incident was pre-planned. The detailed andmeticulous preparation of that operation, the availability of weapons, the list of houses and businesses to betargeted based on voters lists and ration card records, the availability of bottled water for the rioters, andmob leaders getting riot instructions and help on cell phones, suggest that Godhra was only a convenientexcuse.

These extremists were fully prepared and on standby to carry out the violence against Muslim men, women andchildren, and were only waiting for the opportunity. The incident in Godhra provided that excuse. If it wasn’tGodhra, it would have been something else. Anything else. There have been times when these extremists haveproduced their own sparks. Not long ago an issue of using a video on cow slaughter was being discussed amongthe elements of Sangh Parivar. Prime Minister Atal Behari Bajpaee’s remark, "had there been no Godhra,there would have been no Gujarat", to say the least is naive if not an attempt in self-denial.

The oft repeated claim of these Hindu extremist outfits justifying violence against innocent Muslims isthat the Muslims are anti-nationalist and terrorists. My father-in-law served his country and its citizens,regardless of their ethnic background, race or religion, for 50 years with pride and distinction. His poemsfull of strong nationalism and his teachings constant with human values, dignity and communal tolerance are atestimony to his deep roots in the Indian culture and respect for all faiths. He was not a terrorist. He wasnot a fundamentalist. He was not an anti-national. He was in fact a very patriotic and proud Indian whodespite every opportunity to have left India and joined us in the United States, chose not to do that, justbecause he understood his duty to his country and its people. He was deliberately targeted by the extremists,with the backing of Gujarat Government, just because he was a Muslim.

During my last visit to India in March while Ahmedabad was still burning, I met a young man at AhmedabadRailway Station with a child in one arm and a little bag in the other. He asked me if I needed my shoespolished. I did not, but said yes. He did not have the foot-rest or a stand on which I could rest my footwhile he polished the shoes. So I just put one foot forward and he started to polish. All the time that he waspolishing my shoes, the child did not let go of his arm and he did not force her either. He polished the shoesjust with one hand holding the child in the other. I advised him that he should buy a little shoe stand thatcould help him polish better and with ease. With tears in his eyes, he said he lost that when the riotersburnt his house a week ago. His wife and the mother of the child was also burnt along with the house. Thelittle child was traumatized. That was the reason she would not let go of his arm. He said he puts her downonly when she is asleep.

That man was not a terrorist. That man was not a fundamentalist. That man was not an anti-national. Thatman had no time even to think about any of these activities. He was only an innocent, hard working and poorMuslim who had a hard time making a living and raising the family. But he was targeted just because he was aMuslim.

This is not to say that the targets of these extremists were only poor and illiterate Muslims. Hundreds ofvery successful Muslim homes and businesses have also been destroyed. The Bohra community, which is one ofvery successful business communities amongst Muslims, was particularly targeted in Rajkot and Ahmedabad wherethey had leadership in business. I have seen brochures distributed by Hindu radicals asking Hindus to boycottMuslim businesses, avoid Muslim partnerships, and eliminate Muslim hires, with warnings of dire consequencesfor those who don’t. Several businesses with Muslim partnerships were destroyed. Hindu women having Muslimspouses were also tortured and killed. The agenda of these Hindu extremists has all the elements of fascistideology, a failed ideology that continues to impress only those sick minds which have otherwise failed tomake a difference in the world through progress, or through the strength of their principles.

Just as these Hindu extremists do not like successful and affluent Muslims, they also do not like moderateintellectual Muslims who want to bring about changes in their communities, educate the elements of theirsociety to make them progressive and tolerant to be able to project a moderate, more modern and morecompassionate face of Islam. The expressions of their Muslim counterparts helps them because they can continuestereotyping Muslims as fundamentalist and terrorists, helping others blame the community for the ills of thesociety and the country, providing them a justification to target Muslims in general through violence. TheseHindu extremists targeted my father-in-law also because he was a moderate Muslim.

I have personally spoken to a couple of police commissioner friends in Gujarat about the Ahmedabad PoliceCommissioner Pandey’s failure to protect Ahsan Jafri despite his promise in the morning of February 28.Commissioner Pandey had come to Gulberg Society and had assured my father-in-law that he would send the policeforce to protect his house and the society. Then despite repeated calls from Mr. Jafri, the Gujarat CongressPresident Mr. Amarsingh Chaudhary, and the All India Congress President Ms. Sonia Gandhi, Commissioner Pandeydid not send any police until the mob had left after massacring and burning Mr. Jafri and nearly 150 others,mostly women and children, who had come to his house seeking protection from the violent mob.

The two commissioners told me that they had the orders from "above" to "lay low". Although they didnot elaborate what is meant by "above" and "lay low", from the behavior of Commissioner Pandey, it isnot difficult to know what they meant. The latest reports of the meeting on February 27, 2002, at theresidence of Gujarat Chief Minister Mr. Narendra Modi, which was attended by several of his cabinet colleaguesand top police officers, including Commissioner Pandey, is a testimony to that connivance and governmentculpability. Modi had asked them to cooperate with the VHP activists during the Gujarat Bandh declared for thenext day and not stop them in their activities. In order to ensure that, two of his cabinet ministers, Bhattand Jadeja, were sitting in the police control room on February 28, 2002, overlooking and directing the mobwork.

Government estimates of those killed during this riot are about 900. Their estimate for the Gulberg Societywas 18, which later was changed to 39 dead. After speaking to the survivors of the Gulberg Society, we know atleast 89 of the society residents are killed. The survivors in our house, including my mother-in-law, saidthat there were several Muslims from outside the society who had come to Mr. Jafri’s house in the morning ofFebruary 28 fearing violence. They suggest that the number of people killed in the Gulberg Society alone maybe more than 200.

I have also visited a few villages in the outskirts of Ahmedabad, where even after 10 days since the startof the violence, there were several dead, decaying and burnt bodies lying in the fields and open grounds. Ihave spoken to many of those 100,000 victims staying in crowded relief camps, everyone of whom has lostsomeone or has witnessed brutalizing, massacring and burning of someone. Little children have seen rape,torture, mutilation and burning of their family members and friends. There are few nights when I myself do notget nightmares about killing and burning of my family members by the extremists and don’t wake up in coldsweat. My seven year old asks me "will they burn us if we go to India?" Such questions are troubling andthere is no convincing answer that I can give him. However, the real tragedy is that I am not alone in thisagony, this atrocity, this loss, this pain.

Someone has said, "We learn from history, that we do not learn anything from history". After the Naziholocaust we said "Never Again." After Rwanda, we resolved no more Rwandas. After Bosnia, we pledged nomore Bosnias. What are we going to do now? Are we going to settle for another pledge of "no more Gujarats"until next time? Or should we do something meaningful and pledge once for all that let the buck stop here?

US is the largest economy in the world. Many extremists and terrorist groups around the world have theirsupporters raising funds for their operations in the US and Europe. There is a lot of U. S. and European moneygoing to support extremism and violence against innocent people in Gujarat. It comes from the many friends ofBJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), the ruling majority, as well as supporters of Sangh Parivar, a few amongst whichare VHP America, Bajrang Dal, and Hindu Sewak Sangh, who are active in the USA and Europe. There are thousandsof innocent Hindus who contribute to these organizations without knowing that their money in the name ofreligion is utilized to fund violent activities of these extremists. This should stop. Just as we have bannedseveral Muslim fundamentalist organizations in the US and other countries and frozen their funds, we must banthese Hindu extremist organizations and freeze their funds and assets. That action will go a long way inputting a stop to such carnage and protecting innocent lives in India.

Gujarat pogrom has killed thousands of innocent people and destroyed the lives of more than 100,000 othersincluding women and children. Many of these victims now living in relief camps are given offers by thepoliticians and other perpetrators of the violence that if they did not press charges against the culprits andmob leaders, they can be allowed to return to their homes. Such offers are deplorable and undemocratic. Itdoes not help build any confidence or a sense of security amongst the minorities. If they are made to acceptthis, they will be made to accept a second-class citizenship in their own country.

India is my country of origin and I am very proud of my heritage and culture. But that culture has fallen ahostage in the hands of extremists. Having given a free hand and a momentum to the religious extremists tocarry out the carnage, the government is unable to control them now. Nearly three months since the riotingstarted, Gujarat continues to burn. Lives continue to be destroyed.

The world community at large continues to watch without as much as providing a lip service in condemningthe violence. Four days after the Gujarat riots began and three days after my father-in-law was brutalized andkilled along with hundreds others, the US National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, during her tour of Indiato emphasize India’s part in our war against terrorism said, "We believe that the Bajpaee [Vajpayee]government will do the right thing and we will encourage them to do the right thing".

One wonders if obsessed with our own war against terrorism, we are neglecting, if not abandoning, our ownideology and pledge on freedom, liberty, democracy, human dignity, rights and justice. The horrors of Gujaratviolence are before our eyes. Let us not turn a blind eye towards them, just because there are othercompensating considerations. Pressed for the need to maintain coalition on our fight against Al Qaeda, can weignore the human rights violations in this government sponsored human tragedy in Gujarat, by accepting therhetoric of Sangh Parivar that the Indian Muslims are all fundamentalists and terrorists? I hope not.

We need to stop this madness. We need to work without reservations to free those countries that are fallingvictims in the hands of inhumane followers of extremism. We need to bring the perpetrators of this crimeagainst humanity in Gujarat, regardless of their religion- Hindus or Muslims, or status- police commissionersor cabinet ministers, to justice. We should ensure that they are brought to justice, or the justice is broughtto them. In any case justice must be served. Thank you all for listening to us and for your efforts to keepthe religious freedom and dignity of the humans alive.

(The author is a Marine Scientist at Delaware University and son-in-law of former MP Ahsan Jafri)