NEW DELHI, April 27 (UPI) -- Accusing the Indian state government of inaction and even collusion against Muslims during India's worst religious clashes in over a decade, human rights groups have brought survivors to New Delhi to tell their stories of rape, lootings, arson and killing at the hands of rioting Hindus.
Twelve-year-old Arif Khan watched earlier this year as his parents were stabbed and then burned alive by a mob in Mehsana district, he said. Bundubhai, 11, also saw his mother and sister being stabbed and then thrown into a blaze that was once their house. An elderly Hindu asked Bundubhai to flee to save his life.
Jamila Bano, 37, says her teenaged daughter was gang-raped by five Hindus in front of her eyes while the mob tore away her clothes and set her house on fire. The raped daughter was burnt in the house while Bano suffered severe burns.
Muslims say the police did nothing to prevent Hindu mobs from torching their houses and shops -- an accusation several human rights and other non-governmental organizations contend as well.
The Gujarat state administration, led by Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, is a mute spectator to the religious frenzy that has ruled the prosperous state for the last seven weeks, NGOs told reporters this week, and many Muslims still fear for their lives and are living in refugee camps, they added.
The riots erupted Feb. 28 when a Muslim mob allegedly set afire a train carrying Hindu activists returning from a demonstration in support of a temple on the site of a destroyed mosque. More than 58 people, including women and children, were killed in the blaze. In apparent retaliation, Hindu militants attacked Muslim homes, businesses, mosques and government buildings in the state. Victims included a former lawmaker of the Congress Party, Ehsan Jaffery, and 19 of his family members.
Gujarat state Minister Narender Modi placed tight curfews the next day on some three dozen cities and issued shoot-on-sight command to contain rioters, arsonists and looters. Even with the strict orders, however, mobs still roamed the streets for the next several days.
The state government has nevertheless been accused of being partisan in not controlling the Hindu mobs. Although Indian army troops were called out, for example, the local administration refused to cooperate with the troops to contain the violence.
Muslim leaders also allege that not a single case of arson, looting, rape or killing has been registered. Although the official toll is 900, independent observers say the real toll is more than 2,000.
India's federal ruling coalition is facing international flak from several countries for its alleged complicity in not controlling the violent Hindu mobs that have killed nearly 900 people, mostly Muslims, in seven weeks of religious clashes in western India.
A British mission report sent to London says the violence in Gujarat was planned and carried out with the support of the state government.
The report, obtained by the British Broadcasting Corp. and earlier leaked to Indian media, said the violence had all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing, and that reconciliation between Hindus and Muslims is impossible while the current chief minister remains in power.
The report says that the violence, far from being spontaneous, was planned, possibly months in advance, carried out by an extremist Hindu organization with the support of the state government.
The ruling party, the BJP, has consistently praised Gujarat's chief minister Narender Modi for his handling of the crisis and has turned down opposition parties call seeking Modi's ouster.
Opposition parties are seeking an independent probe into the riots.
Other European countries like Netherlands and Germany too have indicted the state government for its complicity in violence. The EU has issued a demarche to India in Madrid.
India has however described the reports as" interference in India's internal matters."
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who is under tremendous pressure to sack Modi, asked western nations not to issue " sermons" to India on how to maintain its secularism.
However, opposition lawmaker and a leading lawyer, R.K. Anand said that there was nothing wrong with the international community evoking concern over the communal violence in Gujarat and asserted that "all the countries are well within their rights to condemn such acts."
"If the government can build up world opinion against Pakistan by highlighting the violence that happens on the border, then what right do they have to stop other countries from pointing out that they have violated the law," he wondered.
The state Chief Minister Narender Modi could be punished for violating the provisions of international law if proved guilty of masterminding the communal violence in Gujarat, Anand said.
"The International Court of Justice at the Hague or the International Human Rights Commission in Geneva has the authority to take suo motu action against perpetrators of crimes," Press trust of India quoted Anand as saying.
Meanwhile, curfew was once again imposed in several parts of Ahmedabad city after overnight violence left two people dead.
Thought the riots erupted two months ago when a suspected Muslim mob torched a train killing 58 Hindus, there has been daily reports of communal violence, and a steadily rising death toll.
Intelligence reports suggest that Muslim youths living in refugee camps are planning to launch a militant outfit to avenge the riots.
"There is a planned guerilla agenda.... because they believe fight can be given to the majority community only by a sustained guerrilla system," the Press trust of India quoted the intelligence report as saying.
"Lashkar-e-Khaladeen" is being headed by a self-styled commander-in-chief and has circulated a "theme paper" with a charter of 12 priorities under the caption "Give call for open terrorism to fight coward terrorism."
Hindus comprise nearly 82 percent of India's more than 1 billion people, but its Muslim population is the second largest in the world after Indonesia.
