It is not enough that India’s Muslims were delivered an unnecessary and brutal period of violence and killings during the Gujarat riots and subsequent genocide in early 2002. On Thursday – the day before Eid al-Fitr was celebrated by many across the world – an Indian court acquitted scores of Hindus accused of the heinous murders of eleven Muslims in February 2002. [1]
Following the court ruling, campaigners have condemned the deeply prejudiced process that has not permitted countless Muslim families to experience much-needed closure.
The lawyer, human rights activist, and advocate, Shamshad Pathan, who represented the victims, said he would be mounting a legal challenge at a higher court. [2]
Pathan described the ruling in the following words,
“Justice has eluded the victims once again. We will study the grounds on which the court has acquitted the accused persons.” [2]
What was the Gujarat genocide of 2002?
On 27 February 2002, a devastating train fire in the municipality of Godhra caused the deaths of 59 Hindu pilgrims.
Immediately jumping on baseless accusations of Muslims being responsible for the incident, Gujarat politicians affiliated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the state’s police department did nothing of substance to prevent Hindu mobs from causing widespread destruction upon Muslim communities.
In fact, witness statements from countless Muslims have painted a picture of ethnoreligious discrimination that saw mass rape, torching of homes, and the torture and murders of hundreds of Muslims in the days and weeks following the Godhra inferno.
Moreover, a damning BBC documentary that aired earlier this year shed light on a previously secret British Foreign Office assessment, which held Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi “directly responsible” for the violence. [3]
In addition, a British diplomat interviewed by the BBC revealed that of the roughly 2,000 dead, the violence was “well organised”. [3]
The diplomat told interviewers,
“The findings of our investigation still stand. 2,000 people were murdered in Gujarat in 2002, in a campaign of violence that was clearly well organised – that remains a fact.
“Now Mr. Modi is in power, it seems to me that history is being rewritten.” [3]
We need justice now
As we mark the 21st anniversary of the ethnic cleansing exercise, Narendra Modi – the Chief Minister of Gujarat during the genocide – is now Prime Minister.
Maya Kodnani, a former BJP minister who served as Minister of State for Women and Child Development in the Gujarat government, has been cleared of her alleged complicity in the murders of countless Muslims. [1]
And at the helm of the BJP, with roots in the fascistic Nazism-inspired Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (better known by its initials, the RSS), the Indian leader Modi is in prime position to initiate and continue attacks against Indian Muslims in Gujarat, Indian-administered Kashmir, and other states including Assam and Uttar Pradesh.
Also read
- The case for BDS against the BJP
- Modi, Kashmir, and Pakistan’s Dilemma
- Has the Hindutva malady fatally infected the UK?
- India: The becoming of a fascist and Islamophobic state
- Hindu nationalist Modi marches toward Muslim genocide
- BBC series renews focus on bigot Modi’s rise to political peak
- Gujarat 2002 – revisiting India’s state-sponsored Muslim massacre
Watch this explainer for more
Source: Islam21c
Notes
[2] https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/20/asia/india-gujarat-riots-acquittal-murder-inl-hnk/index.html
https://thewire.in/world/full-text-karan-thapar-jack-straw-2002-riots
Jack Straws comment interesting
It is absolute naivety to expect even a scintilla of justice from your oppressor.
I agree with your comment, I think it’s most important to call upon Allah to grant justice as He is al-Muqsit.