Skip to main content

Gujarat riot victims are told they're not true Muslims, hence they suffer: It's conspiracy to displace us again, they allege

Mir Khan
By Our Representative
Mir Khan, who lives in the Hussainabad resettlement colony off North Gujarat town Himmatnagar, feels like a Muhajir, the term "derogatorily" used for those Muslims in Pakistan who left India soon after partition in 1947. "We started living in the colony after we were forced to leave our residence following the communal violence that erupted 16 years ago, on February 28, 2002, little knowing that we too would treated like Muhajirs, outsiders", he said.
Speaking at a conference called by the minority rights body, Alpasankhyak Adhikar Manch, at Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad, Khan was one of the dozen persons who gave their testimony on how, on being "resettled" 16 years ago, there is little change in their sub-human conditions they were forced to accept. Worse, they insisted, they are now sought to be treated as aliens, and threats are coming from the very same people who gave them land to build shanties on after 2002 riots.
Majidbhai of Naroda Patiya
"Religious people come and tell us that we do not behave like Muslims, one reason why we suffered during the riots and it's aftermath", Khan said, even as a stunned Jignesh Mevani, MLA and Gujarat's Dalit face, sitting next to well-known human rights activist Gagan Sethi, listened to his emotional outburst. "We are told we have been participating in non-Muslim festivals, such as Navratri, the main reason for our suffering."
Suspecting that all this is part of the conspiracy to unsettle the displaced riot victims from their colonies, Shamshad Pathan, a Gujarat High Court advocate who has been fighting their cases, said, "One resettlement colony, constructed about 16 kilometres from Himmatnagar, was set up on a two acre land whose price in 2002 was Rs 2 lakh per acre. It's price today is Rs 4 crore. Houses were constructed with NGO money. Now the landowner wants the land back."
Gagan Sethi
Nearly all testimonies were on similar lines. While Idrisbhai from Bharuch said, those who had helped them initially with land want it, Anjumben from Nadiad added, since the houses are still not in their names, and all their efforts to bring no-objection certificate (NOC) from the landowners have failed, "We are unable to get any loan and the government refuses to provide us any basic amenities. Even the emergency medical van cannot reach our colony, as there are no approach  roads."
Majidbhai, who lost seven persons from his family in the worst communal carnage of Naroda Patiya in Ahmedabad, and currently lives in a resettlement colony, said, he is "totally frustrated" in his effort to legalize the 45 houses of their colony, as there is "no response from the officialdom". He added, "I not only lost my family members, even my earnings were razed to ashes. I do not want to live any longer."
Those who gave testimonies reported how even the application for cremation ground was not forwarded by the landowner for 10 years starting 2007, and they must go seven kilometres to bury the dead; how people are asked to go out of the colony in case they desired to celebrate a festival, even sing songs, as all this is dubbed "anti-Muslim"; and how the land pieces bought for setting up the colonies were "never regularized."
Jignesh Mevani
They also reported how threats are issued to bulldoze the shanties constructed after 2002; and how a person who had wanted to bring to light the racket of the owner of a colony was mysteriously murdered.
In all, out of 83 colonies, in which the riot victims live, 62 have "not been regularized at all", while the rest have been only partially regularized, the conference was told.
In one colony, in Anand district, the 165 residents got together and paid impact fee to regularize their houses. While houses are, thankfully, their name, landownership isn't.
Human rights activist Sethi told the conference that there was a need to bring about a fundamental change in the way the riot victims are seen. "In UN terminology, they are internally displaced persons (IDPs), something the previous and present and past governments have refused to admit in order to return to them all the benefits they previously enjoyed", he said.
Dalit leader Mevani exhorted to riot victims to reach streets for their rights, without which nobody would care. "I will not attend the meeting called by any of the Muslim bodies who organized colonies for riot victims colonies till they do not move to address ownership issues", he threatened.

Comments

TRENDING

'Draconian' Kerala health law follows WHO diktat: Govt readies to take harsh measures

By Dr Maya Valecha*  The Governor of Kerala has signed the Kerala Public Health Bill, which essentially reverses the people’s campaign in healthcare services in Kerala for decentralisation. The campaign had led to relinquishing of state powers in 1996, resulting in improvement of health parameters in Kerala. Instead, now, enforcement of law through the exercise of power, fines, etc., and the implementation of protocol during the pandemic, are considered of prime importance.

Reject WHO's 'draconian' amendments on pandemic: Citizens to Union Health Minister

By Our Representative  Several concerned Indian citizens have written to the Union Health Minister to reject amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) of the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted during the 75th World Health Assembly (WHA75) in May 2022, apprehending this will make the signatories surrender their autonomy to the “unelected, unaccountable and the whimsical WHO in case of any future ‘pandemics’.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Bihar rural women entrepreneurs witness 50% surge in awareness about renewal energy

By Mignonne Dsouza*  An endline survey conducted under the Bolega Bihar initiative revealed a significant increase in awareness of renewable energy among women, rising from 25% to 76% in Nalanda and Gaya. Renu Kumari, a 34-year-old entrepreneur from Nalanda, Bihar, operates a village eatery that serves as the primary source of income for her family, including her husband and five children. However, a significant portion of her profits was being directed toward covering monthly electricity expenses that usually reach Rs 2,000. 

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Work with Rajasthan's camel herders: German scientist wins World Cookbook Award 2023

By Rosamma Thomas*  Gourmand World Cookbook Awards are the only awards for international food culture. This year, German scientist  Ilse Kohler Rollefson , founder of Camel Charisma, the first of India’s camel dairies, in Pali district of Rajasthan, won the award for her work with camel herders in Rajasthan, and for preparing for the UN International Year of Camelids, 2024. 

Why is electricity tariff going up in India? Who is the beneficiary? A random reflection

By Thomas Franco*  Union Ministry of Power has used its power under Section 11 of the Electricity Act, 2003 to force States to import coal which has led to an increase in the cost of electricity production and every consumer is paying a higher tariff. In India, almost everybody from farmers to MSMEs are consumers of electricity.

'Very low rung in quality ladder': Critique of ICMR study on 'sudden deaths' post-2021

By Bhaskaran Raman*  Since about mid-2021, a new phenomenon of extreme concern has been observed throughout the world, including India : unexplained sudden deaths of seemingly healthy and active people, especially youngsters. In the recently concluded Navratri garba celebrations, an unprecedented number of young persons succumbed to heart attack deaths. After a long delay, ICMR (Indian Council for Medical Research) has finally has published a case-control study on sudden deaths among Indians of age 18-45.

'Pro-corporate agenda': Odisha crackdown on tribal slum dwellers fighting for land rights

By Our Representative  The civil rights network Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), even as condemning what it calls “brutal repression” on the Adivasi slum dwellers of Salia Sahi in Bhubaneshwar by the Odisha police, has said that the crackdown was against the tribals struggling for land rights in order to “stop the attempts at land-grab by the government.”

Deplorable, influential sections 'still believe' burning coal is essential indefinitely

By Shankar Sharma*  Some of the recent developments in the power sector, as some  recent news items show, should be of massive relevance/ interest to our policy makers in India. Assuming that our authorities are officially mandated/ committed to maintain a holistic approach to the overall welfare of all sections of our society, including the flora, fauna and general environment, these developments/ experiences from different parts of the globe should be clear pointers to the sustainable energy pathways for our people.