In the situation of the breakdown of administrative machinery in the state and the vulnerability and insecurity with which people are living, there are several levels at which demands and recommendations need to be made urgently.

I. At one level is the actual and meticulous implementation of the various GRs that have been made. These include:

¬ Ensuring payment of cash dole to all affected people;

¬ Resurveying the low assessments and payments that have made to people when they have lost entire houses, shops and livelihoods. The Government has a low ceiling of Rs. 50,000/- in assessment of house damages. The vast majority of payments are well below this amount; some assessments and surveys have claimed the damages are as low as 5,000/- and 10,000/-. Even at a preliminary glance, it is easy to see that in the majority of cases, the damages are much higher than the ceiling. In light of the almost uniform and extensive damage of the houses and shops, a minimum of Rs. 50,000/- should be given to all the people whose houses and shops have been damaged.

¬ Ensuring that everyone gets the compensation for deaths and injuries including the money that has to come in fixed deposits.

¬ Ensuring that ration reaches camps and people and that all compensation and damages due to the people is reached to them without being subjected to further humiliation.

II. At the second level is the need to critique the GRs and other Government measures and attempt to extend or even change them. This is especially important in light of the unprecedented and planned nature of the attacks and systematic violence perpetrated on the bodies, lives, livelihoods and property of the minority community. The losses have been immense, which is not even acknowledged by the measly figures the state government is talking about. This would include among other things:

¬ Changing the GR to increase the ceiling for damage compensation to houses as well as shops.

¬ Changing the Government policy on limited rations to camps as well as shutting down of camps. The State should in fact take complete responsibility for the running and maintenance of the camps in a humane manner. It is imperative that the appalling sanitary conditions be improved and better health care be provided in the camps. Adequate facilities to address the health needs of pregnant women and the trauma of all the camp residents, particularly women, must be provided.

¬ The state should allocate land for people who want to shift from camps into safe localities of their choice and a special rehabilitation package for single women and female headed households.

¬ Changing the Government policy regarding compensation to heirs of `missing' persons. The policy needs to be reviewed in light of the abnormal circumstances in which the people `went missing'.

III. In particular looking at the situation of people in the rural areas, we have specific demands to make regarding the camps. Keeping the camps open until people have a safe place to go is the most urgent need. The situation is such that most people are extremely afraid to go back to their villages, and are actively and aggressively threatened by their non-Muslim neighbours when they do. There is also an extreme concern around the coming rains, and the fact that the vast majority of displaced people lack shelter or funds to rebuild their homes. Hence it is important that the camps be continued for the following reasons:

¬ Safety for displaced people, many of whom face threat of severe violence in their villages

¬ Making sure all available relief supplies reach all victims

¬ Time to plan a fair rehabilitation scheme for displaced people, including providing just government compensation for destroyed property

¬ Time to plan for people who do not fall under current rehabilitation schemes, especially widows, female headed households, and single women.

IV. We also believe that no rehabilitation is possible without the guilty being brought to book. Wherever the accused have been named the government needs to take necessary action and instill the confidence back in people to restart their lives. We condemn all measures of forcing compromises in the form of withdrawal of names of the accused. Instead we demand that:

¬ Proper FIRs be registered and action be taken immediately.

¬ Wherever possible searches be conducted to get back the goods that have been looted from people's houses.

¬ In view of the extraordinary circumstances under which the crimes against women were committed and evidence that state machinery was not accessible to the victims, there is a need to make the "normal" requirements of a legal process contingent on these factors.

¬ Wherever plots of land have been occupied illegally by the Hindu villagers, as in Piplod and other places, urgent and immediate action be taken to restore the land to the rightful owners.

V. At another level is recognizing problems and issues that have not been acknowledged and to seek redressal for those.

¬ The nature of violence against women has taken unprecedented levels. Women and entire communities have been traumatized to such an extent that the entire impact of this has yet to be realized.

¬ Mental trauma as well as insecurity of an extreme form are issues that need to be dealt with.

¬ The deliberate communalization of communities and politics of hate are likely to have both short and long term impacts on the social fabric. These impacts cannot be wished away and need to be recognized as issues that need work and strategizing.

VI. At the national level, it is necessary to deal with the forces of communalism and of the politics of hate. This needs to be done politically as well as by exposing the financers and the beneficiaries of this hate-politics.

VII. The national legal mechanisms are very inadequate to deal with crimes at this level both because of the nature of state complicity in the crimes at every level and because there are no laws to deal with issues of genocide, sexual violence against women in these circumstances, and so on. There is urgent need for international agencies to intervene and help in the process of justice.

¬ To ensure impartial assessment of damages, we call on the Indian government to bring in the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and other UN agencies for various treaties that India is signatory to, for investigation and assessment.

¬ To legislate mechanisms for the implementation of the Genocide Convention, which India has both signed and ratified, and to use these mechanisms to prosecute and punish all those who participated in the planning and execution of murder, sexual violence, theft, and destruction in the state of Gujarat in the recent months.

Dahod District Relief Committee Mota Ghanchivada, Dahid. Particulars regarding loss in Dahod district¹

Village/ Town	Taluka	Family	Affected People	Damage to Property Houses Shops Vehicles			Religious Places Mosque Madresa		Death & Injured Persons Death Injured Total			Total Losses (Lacs)
Dahod	Dahod	11	20	11	20	1	1	1	2	-	2	41.64
Katwara	Dahod	32	180	32	11	17	1	2	-	1	1	57.41
Jhalod	Jhalod	173	764	71	104	9	2	2	4	2	6	459.59
Sanjeli	Jhalod	311	1921	400	187	36	1	6	10	96	106	2057.20
Limdi	Jhalod	8	33	7	4	-	1	-	-	3	3	8.19
Timi	Jhalod	17	99	15	3	-	1	-	-	-	-	40.62
Fatepura	Fatepura	214	1135	260	130	44	2	3	4	7	11	935.35
Sukhsar	Fatepura	179	580	132	89	35	1	3	-	-	-	655.65
Piplod	Baria	190	900	150	94	25	2	4	1	1	2	738.15
Garbada	Garbada	32	176	30	15	-	-	-	-	2	2	53.00
Limkheda	Limkheda	22	130	20	11	7	1	1	10	1	11	93.35
Bandibar	Limkheda	43	230	62	16	1	1	1	2	2	4	112.20
Dhabda	Limkheda	8	35	6	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	16.72
Bor Umaria	Dhanpur	15	70	15	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	26.77
Dhanpur	Dhanpur	4	16	4	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	21.00
Khanpur	Khanpur	1	6	1	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	2.98
Randhikpur	Randhikpur	81	200	80	21	6	1	-	18	-	18	320.30
Scatter		19
		1260	6493	1296	714	183	15	23	51	115	166	5640.12

For copies contact:
Forum Against Oppression of Women
19 - 20, Bhatia Bhawan,
Babrekar Marg,
Off Gokhale Road,
Dadar (W), mumbai 400 028.
Email: inforum@vsnl.com
Tel.: (022) 437 0941.

Aawaaz-E-Niswaan,
C.V.O.D. Jain High School,
84, Samuel Street (Pala Gully),
Dongri, Mumbai 400 009.
Email : niswan@vsnl.net
Tel. : (022) 370 5620.

1 information collected by the Dahod Relief Committee