11/28/2002

Gujarat I: riots press coverage

The BBC had excellent coverage of the riots in Gujarat early this year. You can access it by searching the BBC archives. There are 12 pages of search results!

The Gujarat riots are a case of systematic state-sponsored terrorism, in my opinion:

Forensic evidence suggests that the fire in the train was NOT started by a muslim mob after all.

Horrific tales of rape, mutilation, and slaughter were reported, carried out by well-organized busloads of murderous thugs organized by cell-phones and possibly using voter registration lists to identify Muslims.

The army was sent in, but was ineffective.

Police made some token arrests, there was a token resignation, and token heads rolled to deflect criticism at higher levels.

The state's chief inister (Modi) made some noises of token concern and successfully held on to his post, despite being a known colleague of hard-line violent Hindu rightwing groups.

The local and state authorities were heavily implicated and found complicit in planning the systematic campaigns months before the train incident.

Amnesty International representatives were denied visas to stop them from investigating the violence.

The refugee camps housing the victims of the riots were forced to close by government authorities.

Muslims lived (and still live) in fear after the riots, but life goes on.

Editorials:
The Guilty Men of Ahmedabad
Ayodhya solutions
At Ground Zero in Godhra
Vajpayee hides behind militant smokescreen
Hindu militants and their saffron shield
Vajpayee braces for communal remobilization
Sack Modi, ban VHP
The agony of Gujarat

UPDATE: Suman Palit responds. Also see the comments section for more by Suman on this. I reply to Suman's reply in a new post, since we have drifted from the topic of the Gujrat riots and are now discussing the history of Islam in India.

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