|
|
|
home > News/Analysis > News Archive
|
News : Archive (June 1-15, 2002)
- `Kalam's election will not solve Muslims' problems'
By Our Staff Reporter, The Hindu, June 15, 2002
KOZHIKODE JUNE 14. The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) general secretary, E.Ahmed, MP, said here on Friday that the Muslims were not fools to believe that all the problems of the minorities would be solved with the installation of the missile scientist, A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, as President of the country.
- Advocates expect delay in riot cases
Times News Network, June 16, 2002
AHMEDABAD: With hundreds of riot-related cases piling up, organisations trying to provide legal aid to victims are convinced it will be years before justice is done.
A volunteer with the legal cell of city-based Citizen's Initiative said that the problem was not just the legal procedure but also the way in which the FIRs, chargesheets and statements were recorded.
- Gujarat: On the edge, still
Lyla Bavadam, Frontline, Volume 19 - Issue 12, June 8-21, 2002
Sporadic violence continues, tensions still run high and the communal forces remain emboldened, even as bomb explosions in public places create panic in Gujarat.
- Gujarat: On the edge, still
Lyla Bavadam, Frontline, Volume 19 - Issue 12, June 8-21, 2002
Sporadic violence continues, tensions still run high and the communal forces remain emboldened, even as bomb explosions in public places create panic in Gujarat.
- Gujarat: Orchestrated terror
T.K. Rajalakshmi, Frontline, Volume 19 - Issue 12, June 8-21, 2002
Reports of fact-finding teams sent by organisations with a Left and secular outlook reveal credible evidence of official complicity in the post-Godhra violence against the minority community in Gujarat.
- After PM’s rap, sops for Modi
Santwana Bhattacharya, The Indian Express, June 15, 2002
New Delhi, June 14: With Assembly polls on the cards, Gujarat CM Narendra Modi came shopping for Central funds to support a few vote-catching schemes in his state. And HRD and Science and Technology Minister Murli Manohar Joshi did not disappoint him.
- Before the night fallse
By K. N. Panikkar, The Hindu, June 15th, 2002
The Gujarat events are attempts to enforce a divided and discriminative citizenship based on religious differences. Indian democracy hasn't had such a body blow in its history.
- Gujarat and majority women
By Nonica Datta, The Hindu, June 15th, 2002
The participation of women activists in the movement in favour of Ram's temple in Ayodhya, and in Hindu right-wing organisations is an enduring legacy of the communalisation of Hindu women in colonial India.
- Riots have changed Juhapura
Robin David, Times News Network, June 15, 2002
AHMEDABAD: Juhapura may have been branded today as the largest Muslim ghetto in Gujarat and a source of eruption of communal violence on several occasions in recent weeks.
- Naroda-Patia survivors return home
Times News Network, June 14, 2002
AHMEDABAD: Being close to the entry point of Naroda-Patia had saved them from annihilation once. This locational advantage, which provided easy escape from the jaws of death, brought around 15 families back to their homes on Thursday.
- Modi for reforming `madrassas'
By Neena Vyas, The Hindu, June 14, 2002
NEW DELHI JUNE 13. High on the agenda of the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, is the reforming of `madrassas' (Muslim seminaries) in his State. And he wants the External Affairs Ministry to give him the feedback on the nature of reforms in the `madrassas' of Malaysia, Indonesia and Pakistan so that they can be emulated in Gujarat.
- No direct aid from corporates for Gujarat riot victims
Raveen Thukral, Hindustan Times, June 13, 2002
(Ahmedabad, June 12) Are the business and corporate houses of Gujarat wary of the Modi government and the right wing Hindu organisations? Why then is the state, known for its affluence and bordered by the country's financial capital Mumbai, unable to raise money for the riot-affected victims?
Industrialists admit on the condition of anonymity that they are apprehensive of contributing openly for the rehabilitation work.
- Carving a path to Hindu rashtra
By Achin Vanaik, The Hindu, June 13, 2002
The next Lok Sabha elections could well be the key turning point in the struggle pertaining to the future of Indian democracy — whether it has one or not.
- Carnage in Gujarat - A Public Health Crisis
Report of the investigation by Medico Friend Circle, 13th May 2002
- Gujarat government slammed for justifying anti-media violence
By Indo-Asian News Service, Tuesday June 11, 2002
New Delhi, June 11 (IANS) Four Indian groups have condemned the Gujarat government for justifying violence against mediapersons who were covering the sectarian carnage.
- Communalisation spreads to Gujarat schools
Radha Sharma, Times News Network, June 12, 2002
AHMEDABAD: The alienation of Ram and Rahim in the class-rooms of Ahmedabad is complete. With the academic session to resume later this week in most institutions, schools where children from both communities used to sit next to each other and learn the virtues of communal brotherhood, stand painfully segregated in a city where the communal riots took a troll of over 500.
- A word for every occasion
Hindutva’s votaries deploy a distinct vocabulary that leaves others floundering Mukul Dube
The Indian Express, June 12, 2002
To my knowledge no one has so far explained the prefix ‘pseudo’ in the phrase. Are we to take it that the only ‘real’ secularists are the Hindutva types because although they recognise no religion other than Hinduism, they are willing to tolerate all manner of subdivisions within that paradoxically unitary whole?
- 'Gujarat violence blot on India's secular credentials'
By Vasantha Arora, Indo-Asian News Service, June 11, 2002
Washington, June 11 (IANS) The sectarian violence in Gujarat was not only a blot on India's image as a secular nation but also has profound consequences for its future as a multicultural, liberal democracy, a U.S. body monitoring global religious freedom has been told.
- Cover communal riots at your own risk, look at Daniel Pearl: Gujarat govt
Kota Neelima, The Indian Express, June 11, 2002
New Delhi, June 10: The Gujarat Government does not see much of a difference between the situation in Pakistan that led to the killing of American journalist Daniel Pearl and the communal violence that erupted in its state.
- US panel slams Gujarat govt over riots
PTI, June 11, 2002
WASHINGTON: The Indian government came under attack for its alleged "incompetence and indifference" to the Gujarat riots, by a statutory body advising the US administration, which also condemned the Gujarat government for its alleged complicity in "genocide, ethnic cleansing and pogrom" directed at Muslims. (Additional Information about US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)
- NHRC upset over 'bias' in Gujarat FIRs
PTI, June 10, 2002
NEW DELHI: The National Human Rights Commission has said it was "greatly disturbed" over reports that the chargesheets filed so far in connection with the two major incidents of violence in Gujarat "lack credibility".
- No funds for rebuilding shrines: Modi
Raveen Thukral, The Hindustan Times, Ahmedabad, June 9 2002
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, in a total flip-flop, has said that the government would provide no funds for rebuilding the shrines that were damaged in the post-Godhra riots.
- Women's group flays inadequate riot rehab
Times News Network, June 10, 2002
AHMEDABAD: A delegation of Delhi-based women's group Saheli, after visiting various relief camps in the city, alleged that the state government had done little to provide relief and rehabilitation of riot victims. The group also condemned the functioning of the women's cell set up by the government to look into the problems of women and children living in camps.
- Legal redressal eludes riot victims
Times News Network, June 10, 2002
AHMEDABAD: After being at the receiving end of one of the most goriest riots, the victims continue to be a harried lot with another pressing problem on their hands - legal redressal. With the monsoon round the corner and nothing except a tattered tent to cover their heads with, the victims housed in the city's various camps are worried if they'll ever be fully compensated for the loss they incurred.
- PUCL nails BJP, RSS men for role in riots
Times News Network, June 10, 2002
VADODARA: Another damning report nailing key BJP and RSS functionaries as accused in the communal violence that rocked the city and district in the aftermath of the Godhra carnage will be released as a public information document on June 22.
- Numbers being changed in riot camp
Sanjay Pandey, Times News Network, June 9, 2002
AHMEDABAD: It is an intense number game that is being played between the Ahmedabad district administration and organisers of various riot relief camps in the city.
- One killed, 22 injured in Gujarat violence
The Hindu, June 9, 2002
Ahmedabad, June 9. (PTI): One person was killed and 22 were in jured, six in police firing, as violence erupted after with mobs hurling crude bombs and stones in Juhapura and Guptanagar locali ties here today, police said.
- Normalcy has not returned to Gujarat, claim social activists
PTI, New Delhi, June 9 2002
(Claiming that normalcy has not returned to Gujarat, social activists on Sunday demanded "full and thorough" implementation of National Human Rights Commission's recommendations to restore confidence among the victims.
"We have noticed during our recent visit to Baroda and Ahmedabad that even after three months having passed since the carnage started, the atmosphere is still not conducive for the safe return of the people living in the camps," noted writer and Gnanipith awardee Mahashweta Devi told reporters here.
- Gill says law won’t accept police version of massacres
Raveen Thukral, The Hindustan Times, June 9 2002
(Ahmedabad, June 8) K.P.S. Gill, security adviser to the Gujarat CM, has severely criticised Ahmedabad police's chargesheets in the Naroda Patiya and Gulbarg Society massacres. "If any court of law believes this story then it would be the biggest travesty of justice", Gill told Hindustan Times.
- Modi to use Gujarati Diaspora for propaganda
Times News Network, June 09, 2002
AHMEDABAD: About a dozen ministers of the Modi Cabinet are on a new mission. Shortly, they will be fanning out to different states in the country to tell the people about the 'real' story behind the riots. A story completely at variance from what the newspapers and television channels reported.
- Muslims meet today to discuss post-riot scenario
Times News Network, June 09, 2002
AHMEDABAD: A crucial meeting of Muslims leaders from the city on Sunday will chalk out a plan for the community in the post-riot period, particularly on issues like compensation to the riot victims, rehabilitation of riot-affected people and help to the riot-hit people to restart their businesses.
- Geography and economics of Gujarat’s violence
J Sri Raman, Daily Times, Lahor, June 9, 2002
The ground has been shifting from states like Uttar Pradesh with Muslim ghettos to those where India’s largest minority has acquired affluence and assertiveness. My unfriendly caller was doubtless as agitated about the affluence of Muslims working in Dubai as about the distant Somnath.
The grisly events in Gujarat, among other things, point to the new geography of communalism in India. The violence also had its economic dimension. There is an obvious need to understand both as also the dominant political strand that led to the violence.
- Refugees return to destroyed homes
Radha Sharma & Mahesh Tharani, Times News Network, June 09, 2002
AHMEDABAD: Mumtaz has returned to her home in Vidya Ma ki Chali near the Mahakali temple in Dudheshwar. But smoked walls of her burnt house and stony silence that has replaced the friendly smiles of her Hindu neighbours have ensured that it is not a happy homecoming from a refugee camp.
- Near Gujarat, lessons in communal harmony
Reshma Patil, The Indian Express, June 7, 2002
Pune, June 6: It has taken Maharashtra’s 67,000 primary schools two years to learn lessons in politically-correct education. So now their textbooks say‘‘Yasmeen and Yashoda are yawning. Hasan helps Hemant, and Faiz has found a fat fish’’.
- Ahimsa Yatra enters Gujarat
Times News Network, June 08, 2002
AHMEDABAD: A large number of Terapanth devotees welcomed the 'ahimsa yatra' led by Yugpradhan Acharya Shri Mahapragyaji as it entered Vav in Banaskantha district after passing through parts of Rajasthan.
The yatra aims to create awareness on non-violence and moral values and establish peace and order. It will arrive in Ahmedabad on June 25.
- Gujarat rules out religious zoning
The Hindu, June 7, 2002
Ahmedabad, June 7. (UNI): Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today said that in a bid to avoid the division of residential zones along religious lines, the government had decided not to settle the nearly 100,000 riot victims, presently residing in various relief camps in different parts of the state, to newer locations.
- US Commission to hold hearing on Gujarat massacre
NDTV Correspondent, June 6, 2002 (Washington )
US Commission on International Religious Freedom - a statutory body advising American President and Congress, today announced that it will hold a hearing on June 10 to examine evidences which suggested that recent communal violence in Gujarat, was carefully planned by the state government.
- The Agony in Gujarat: A Report on Gujarat Riots
Shree Shankar Sharan, Mainstream Weekly, June 7, 2002
What surely rings alarm bells about these riots was the brutality of the rioters. Gujarat and the whole country seems headed towards growing brutalisation because brutality is what its fundamentalist leaders advocate and its young followers relish. The qualita-tive difference between the Gujarat riots and earlier riots is the great danger that confronts the country.
- Advani Ban Move in UK
From Shrabani Basu, The Telegraph , 7 June 2002
London, June 6: British Indian Muslims have called on the Labour government to ban home minister L.K. Advani from entering Britain on the grounds that he is directly linked with the communal violence in Gujarat and will provoke communal hatred and racial tension if he enters Britain.
- Biased chargesheets
Gujarat cops must follow the penal code, not Modi’s theory
Editorial, The Indian Express, June 6, 2002
The chargesheets filed in two of the most horrifying massacres in Gujarat confirm that it is still a very long road to justice in the state. As reports in this paper have underlined, the chargesheets the police has filed in the Gulbarg society killings, which left 39 dead, and the Naroda Patiya massacre in which 80 were burnt alive are not the objective presentation of the findings of an unbiased investigation.
- Mythology of hate
By BG Verghese, The Hindustan Times, June 6, 2002
Hindutva’s litany of hate against Muslims and other minorities has been zealously recirculated after Gujarat. In this, interestingly, is reflected its own mindset. An RSS resolution in Bangalore on March 17, 2002, reminded Muslims that “their real safety lies in the goodwill of the majority.” This paraphrased both Savarkar’s ‘Hindutva’ and his early advocacy of the two-nation theory.
- Holding hands to pull themselves out
Muslims who never saw eye to eye will now meet
Janyala Sreenivas, The Indian Express, June 5, 2002
Ahmedabad, June 5: Perhaps, the suffering over the last two months has done to Muslims what their clergy and political leaders have been unable to do so far.
For the first time in Ahmedabad, several Muslim organisations, which never saw eye to eye, are coming together under one roof in a bid to ‘‘unite and make efforts to improve the social and educational status of Muslims.’’ And explore the issues of leadership and national integration.
- UN body urged to reject VHP plea
Hindustan Times, June 04, 2002
The United Nations Economic and Social Council has been urged to reject an application for consultative status by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
In a briefing note to the UN committee on NGOs recently, the South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre said the VHP's activities violated the UN Charter.
- Big names missing in Naroda-Patia charge-sheet
Times News Network, June 04, 2002
AHMEDABAD: The voluminous charge-sheet in the Naroda-Patia massacre filed on Tuesday is also significant for its omissions.
- The Politics of Gender in the Politics of Hate
By Anuradha M. Chenoy, Aman Ekta Manch Digest no 3, 4 June 2002
The politics of gender were integral in the making of a Hindutva militia that led and carried out the carnage throughout Gujarat State against the minority community. The use, abuse and control of women were a critical aspect of the pogroms conducted in Gujarat in March-April 2002.
- House of Hinduism: Room for Everyone
Kamal Morarka, The Times of India, June 03, 2002
No religion preaches violence. If all religions advocate peace, why then do some who profess allegiance to their religion, commit violence to defend their peace-loving, peace-preaching faith?
- The race of fanaticism
Najid Hussain, Rediff.com, June 3rd, 2002
I have great admiration and respect for Hinduism, because I regard the principles of Hinduism as some of the best the human race could have put into practice. The theory of dharma and karma and their importance in seeking nirvana are unique and represent understanding at a very high level of the human intellect.
But just as Islam has been hijacked by a few radicals who did not understand the humanity and more compassionate elements of their religion, Hinduism is being hijacked by a few Hindus who have been working hard at the grassroots for decades in what they believe are efforts at reviving Hinduism.
- Genocide in Rural Gujarat: The Experience of Dahod District
A report prepared by
Forum Against oppression of Women and Aawaaz-E-Niswaan, Bombay, June 2002
- Riot victims return home
By Manas Dasgupta, The Hindu, June 4, 2002
VADODARA June 3. More than 95 per cent of the riot-hit people in various relief camps in Vadodara have returned home, thanks to a proactive role played by the police. Elsewhere in the district, more than 90 per cent of the riot victims returned home, allowing the authorities to close down all but two relief camps.
- When pride is prejudice
Why Gujarat shouldn’t be bumped off Page One
Coomi Kapoor, The Indian Express, June 4, 2002
With war threatening, surely now you should stop focusing on Gujarat, especially when things are settling down,’’ a BJP supporter remonstrates. A Gujarati friend echoes the sentiment: ‘‘You in media have done a wonderful job but now please take Gujarat off the front pages.’’ But can one simply move on and act as if what happened in Gujarat was nothing more than an uncomfortable blip on the screen?
- Chargesheet filed in Gulbarg society case
Raveen Thukral, Hindustan Times, June 4, 2002
(Ahmedabad, June 3) -- In what could be termed as the first chargesheet in the riots that ravaged the city after the Godhra carnage, the Ahmedabad police on Monday filed charges, including murder, rape and arson, against 50 people in the brutal Gulbarg society massacre that left 39 dead, including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, and several injured.
-
- Rapes Go Unpunished In Indian Mob Attacks
Muslim Women Say Claims Are Ignored
By Rama Lakshmi, Special to The Washington Post, June 3, 2002
Three months ago, as religious riots engulfed the western Indian state of Gujarat, Sheikh saw her husband and several relatives burned alive. Then, she said, she was brutally raped by three men as her 4-year-old son wailed nearby.
Sheikh wants to see the criminals brought to justice. But Gujarat police are routinely refusing to file charges against individuals accused of rape during the violence in late February and early March, because they say mob violence cannot be broken down into specific crimes.
- 'It's a travesty of justice if cases not given to CBI'
Times News Network, June 03, 2002
AHMEDABAD: Will a majority of the rioters go scot free if the investigations into the recent communal riots remain in the hands of the agencies of the Gujarat government?
- Modi not in mood for CBI probe into riots
Raveen Thukral, The Hindustan Times, June 3, 2002
(Ahmedabad, June 2) Damning reports by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the People's Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) do not seem to have worried the state government.
- Jansangh blasts Modi Govt for Gujarat bloodbath
PTI, New Delhi, The Hindustan Times, June 2, 2002
In a significant development, the right-wing Akhil Bharatiya Jansangh (BJS), the progenitor of the BJP, has accused the Narendra Modi government of turning a Nelson's eye to the communal bloodbath in Gujarat.
- Minorities on the edge
Amulya Ganguli, Editorial, The Hindustan Times, June 3, 2002
Even from Narendra Modi’s Gujarat, there have been heart-warming tales of Hindus saving their Muslim neighbours and vowing to protect them in future. All of this must be deeply disheartening for the saffron camp, showing that its hate campaign hasn’t been successful enough.
- Back From Dead To Talk Of Life
Basant Rawat, Telegraph - Calcutta, June 3, 2002
Ahmedabad, June 2: Everybody saw him, arms folded and tears welling up in his eyes, in one of the most telling pictures of the Gujarat riots, everybody read how he just about survived the bloodbath, and now Calcutta can hear him.
- 'By tolerating injustice you are supporting it'
Harsh Mander, IAS officer, Interview Of The Week, June 3, 2002, Deccan Chronicle (Hyderabad, India)
(Registration required to access this page)
Harsh Mander told Deccan Chronicle that what has happened in Gujarat is a trend that has developed over the last 20 years and could erupt anywhere given the facilitating environment.
- Hindu Shield in Burning Gujarat
Sunando Sarkar and Alamgir Hossain, Telegraph - Calcutta, June 3, 2002
Gholla (Murshidabad), June 2: Seven days spent mostly in giant metal containers meant for stacking loaves of bread inside a room with no windows. Two drives of an hour each, again in vans meant for shipping bread and through streets strewn with corpses of Muslims. A short walk from the vans to the station, shouting “Jai Shri Ram” with tilaks on their forehead.
- Normalcy a mirage, says Muslim panel
Times News Network, June 02, 2002
AHMEDABAD: The Qaumi Relief Committee of Gujarat, an organisation of Muslim religious leaders and relief workers in the city, came down heavily on the slow pace of rehabilitation efforts undertaken by the state government.
- Heard of a place called Juhapura?
A Muslim city in a divided city: Even Gill’s OSD has moved here; new schools, hospitals are being built
Janyala Sreenivas, The Indian Express, June 2nd, 2002
Ahmedabad, June 1: Slowly but very very surely, the Gujarat carnage has forced a fearful Muslim community to start building a city of their own—hardening the fault lines in an already deeply divided Ahmedabad.
- Rains spell gloom in relief camps
Prerna Shah, Times News Network, June 02, 2002
AHMEDABAD: On Friday night, most people in Ahmedabad celebrated the first showers that suddenly lashed the city. But for the people living in relief camps, the showers sent shivers down their spine.
- Action-packed life
The Hindu, June 2, 2002
Gopal Menon's 21-minute brutally stark film on the post-Godhra violence in Gujarat has drawn various reactions. C.K. MEENA speaks to the film-maker.
- Gujarat violence planned, not an outcome of Godhra: PUDR
PTI, New Delhi, June 1, 2002
People's Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR), a leading human rights organisation, on Saturday alleged that the Gujarat riots were not an outcome of the Godhra incident as the "planning" had begun much earlier and charged the state government with complicity in the violence.
- Probe report names 2 Gujarat ministers
The Times of India, June 01, 2002
NEW DELHI: The National Human Rights Commission’s (NHRC) confidential report on the Gujarat violence - to which the Narendra Modi government has not responded even after two months - says the state administration looked the other way while the murder, rape, loot and arson went on.
- Disquieting incidents
Editorial, The Hindu, June 1, 2002
THE ERUPTION OF violence over the past few days, disrupting the palpably
uneasy quiet that was descending on traumatised Gujarat only goes to
show that the path to restoration of normality in the State is riddled
with landmines.
- Innocence lost
Darshan Desai,The Indian Express, June 1, 2002
Sounds of silence at Gandhi’s ashram
Sabarmati Ashram. It’s an ironical coincidence that the train that was
attacked in Gujarat on the dark morning of February 27th was called the
Sabarmati Express and the state’s attack on journalists also happened
here. But nothing that happened in between those two dates was a
coincidence.
- Investigation as collusion — II
By Brinda Karat & Subhashini Ali, The Hindu, June 1, 2002
You cannot commiserate with wounded and violated women and children...without exposing, condemning and bringing to justice those who are responsible.
- The Guilty of Gujarat
Kingshuk Nag, Editorial, The Times of India, June 01, 2002
More than 700 FIRs have been filed in Ahmedabad alone, but investigations have made no progress. Frequent transfers in the last two months in the lower and middle rungs of the police have hampered investigations as much as the fact that most of the FIRs, under police insistence, name no names.
More - Archive One (May 31 - May 14 13)
|
|