1- UK report censures Gujarat rulers
The report is a damning indictment of the government
By Jill McGivering
BBC correspondent in Delhi
British officials in India say the recent
widespread violence in the Indian state of
Gujarat was pre-planned and carried out with
the support of the state government.
In a damning internal report obtained by the
BBC, British officials say the violence had all
the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing and that
reconciliation between Hindus and Muslims is
impossible while the chief minister remains in
power.
News of the British document comes as Indian
politics is in disarray with opposition parties
calling for an independent inquiry into the
violence.
The ruling party, the BJP, has consistently
praised Gujarat's chief minister for his handling
of the crisis.
Damning indictment
This leaked report is the result of an
investigation into the Gujarat violence by
British officials in India.
It is a damning
indictment of the
state government.
It says the violence,
far from being
spontaneous, was
planned, possibly
months in advance,
carried out by an
extremist Hindu
organisation with the
support of the state
government.
The aim, it says, was to purge Muslims from
Hindu areas, and it says at least 2,000 people
died.
Reconciliation between Hindus and Muslims will
be impossible, it concludes, while Gujarat's
chief minister remains in power.
Political chaos
Britain's verdict comes as Indian politics is in
turmoil in the aftermath of the Gujarat crisis.
Leaders of the right-wing BJP, which leads the
coalition government, have staunchly defended
the chief minister, a member of the same
party.
But many in the opposition are demanding his
resignation and an independent inquiry.
Britain's views may be received coldly.
As the world's largest democracy, India bitterly
resents what it calls the interference of foreign
powers in its affairs - all the more so when the
criticisms come from a former colonial power.
-----------------------xx------------------------------
Report damns Gujarat
Government
The reports alleges police did little to stop the
violence
By Ayanjit Sen
BBC correspondent in Delhi
A leading non-governmental organisation in
India - Communalism Combat - says it has
evidence of government complicity in the
recent communal riots in the western state of
Gujarat.
The group says it has
compiled the evidence in
a 150-page report -
Genocide 2002 - which
was released in the
capital Delhi on
Thursday.
It said the document is
based on eye-witness
accounts.
The Home Minister of Gujarat, Govardhan
Jhapadia, told the BBC that the report was
totally baseless.
Nearly 800 people, mostly Muslims, have died
in the riots which erupted in late February
when a Muslim mob attacked a train carrying
Hindu activists, killing 58 people.
'Partisan role'
A member of the group, Teesta Setalwad, told
the BBC that right-wing Hindus had infiltrated
the police as well as other state departments
in Gujarat.
She said police officers
did not take enough
steps to control the
violence.
"The state played a
partisan role in these
riots", Ms Setalwad
said.
She said the police
made only two
preventive arrests
after the train incident
when they had enough
evidence of provocative pamphlets being
circulated in the name of different Hindu
groups asking Hindus to rape, destroy and kill
Muslims.
The report cited a case where it claims that 36
of 40 people killed in a single incident in
Ahmedabad city were Muslims.
It said Hindus freely targeted the Muslims
before the police took action.
Police 'guilty'
The report says the police did not carry out
the mandatory drill in the riot-affected areas.
No effort was made to contact religious and
community leaders for appeals of peace, the
report said.
"The general message sent out to the police
was that minimum response and action to
panic calls should be allowed, that armed
crowds of 5-15,000 should be left to do their
business and complaints should not be
registered or should be doctored", the report
said.
The group has alleged that the police were
guilty of intimidating survivors into filing
complaints without identifying the accused.
The report is the latest in a series of criticisms
of the Gujarat Government which has been
under attack by the opposition as well as
welfare groups for failing to prevent the spread
of violence in the state.
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