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Gujarat riot victims allege 'communal cleansing'

Nirendra Dev in Ahmedabad

Muslims in Ahmedabad have alleged that there was a distinct pattern of "communal cleansing" in the recent riots.

The manner in which people, irrespective of economic status, were targeted has raised suspicions about the possible misuse of electoral rolls to identify them.

Similarly, according to the victims, licences and other relevant papers from the civic bodies were used to target hotels and other business establishments owned by them.

"All my five hotels, including Renbasera, which is meant for poor people, were attacked," one businessman said.

According to some people, in previous riots attempts were made to oust them from colonies like Meghaninagar. "They succeeded to a large extent during the 1985 violence, yet the posh Gulmohor Society was ours. Now, that's also gone," said one.

Many people alleged that the voters' list was virtually used as a killing tool by frenzied mobs. "They hardly failed to lay hands on their targets, thanks to documents like the voters' list," a senior police officer admitted on condition of anonymity. "The mission was accomplished with clinical precision."

But others said this "game of using documents" was "not a Gujarati invention". "In Jammu & Kashmir," a resident of one of the 'sensitive' colonies in the city pointed out, "it was tried and tested in a more refined manner. Poor Pandits just had to quit the state."

"The voters' list certainly made their task easier and the motivated mob knew exactly who stayed where," a woman at the Sanklitpur relief camp in Juhapura said.

Even business establishments run by Muslims in partnership with Hindus were not spared. "The message for Hindus friendly with Muslims was clear -- do not do business with them," said Ibbal Tadah, an insurance surveyor in Juhapura area.

"Loot was carried out apparently driven by greed, but there was an added refrain that they were looting the properties of Muslims," said Rafiqa Banu of Naroda area, whose four children were charred to death and one daughter was seriously injured.

Then there is the suspicion of state connivance, as alleged by the Congress and other opposition parties, reflected in the traffic police virtually staying away from the roads on February 28.

A senior police officer's reaction on this front was quite terse. "What did you expect? When the state's regular police force could not put a check on the arsonists, do you think my men could have done that just by whistling around?"

Similarly, the fire brigade was hardly in action when Ahmedabad was burning. In many places, shrines were razed and houses burnt at locations hardly a stone's throw away from police stations.

Meanwhile, with each successive riot, there has been a definite pattern in the relocation of population. "Each Hindu pocket is becoming more concentrated with its own people, while the story is the same for Muslim-dominated locations," a police officer said.

PTI

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