[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 125 (Monday, September 30, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1708-E1709]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      GUJARAT VIOLENCE A POGROM AGAINST MUSLIMS, NEWS REPORT SAYS

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                       HON. CYNTHIA A. McKINNEY.

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 30, 2002

  Ms. McKINNEY. Mr. Speaker, on June 4, an interesting article appeared 
at Islam Online, an Internet news site. It said that the People's Union 
for Democratic Rights (PUDR) had found that the recent violence in 
Gujarat in which, according to The Hindu newspaper, over 5,000 people 
were killed, was a planned pogrom designed to reduce Muslims to second-
class citizens. Unfortunately, Muslim and other minorities such as 
Christians, Sikhs, and others are already second-class citizens in 
India.
  The article says that the violence was well organized and planned 
long before the train attack in Godhra. It reports, that ``the 
organizers of the carnage tapped on a seam of hatred, based on anti-
Muslim propaganda which had been carefully cultivated over many 
years.'' It clearly points the finger at the Vishwa Hindu Parishad 
(VHP) and the Bajrang Dal, militant Hindu fundamentalists organizations 
inclined to violence which are under the umbrella of the militant, 
Hindu nationalist, pro-Fascist Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), whose 
political wing is the BJP, the party that leads India's government. It 
was the RSS that published a booklet last year on how to implicate 
Christians and other religious minorities in fake criminal cases. It 
was the VHP that murdered missionary Graham Staines, yet has not been 
punished for it. In New York a couple of years ago, Prime Minister Atal 
Bihari Vajpayee told an audience proudly, ``I will always be a 
Swayamsewak''.
  This reveals the reality of so-called democracy in India. It is a 
democracy for the Brahmins, but it is a tyranny for the minorities. We 
should stop our aid to India until they allow human rights and we 
should declare our support for self-determination for all the people 
living within its borders. Otherwise, I am afraid, violence will be 
even more a way of life in South Asia than it already is, and that 
would be a tragedy for all the people there. If we can do anything to 
prevent that, we should do so.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to add the Islam Online article to the 
Record at this time to give more detail on the pogrom in Gujarat.

   Gujarat Pogrom Aimed at Reducing Muslims to Second Class Citizens

       New Delhi, June 3 (IslamOnline).--The People's Union for 
     Democratic Rights (PUDR), one of India's premiere human 
     rights organizations, said in its report on the violence in 
     Gujarat, ``The whole intent of the pogrom has been to reduce 
     Muslims to second class citizens in their own country.''
       The PUDR is a well-known independent human rights 
     organization in India monitoring human rights violations 
     against minorities and weaker sections of society.
       The PUDR report ``Maaro, Kaapo, Baaro: State, Society and 
     Communalism in Gujarat'' said that the organizers of the 
     carnage tapped on a seam of hatred, based on anti-Muslim 
     propaganda which had been carefully cultivated over many 
     years.
       The report said that the anti-Muslim carnage was planned 
     well before the Godhra train tragedy. It says that the hate 
     propaganda increased in the six months prior to February 
     2002.
       The PUDR report says that the VHP (World Hindu Council) and 
     its youth wing, the Bajrang Dal, organized trishul (tridents) 
     distribution ceremonies in villages with Muslim populations. 
     Speeches were made abusing and threatening Muslims during 
     these ceremonies.
       The report gives the instance of Pandarwada village where 
     one of the worst massacres and sexual abuse cases took place. 
     A meeting was held in this village about a fortnight before 
     the attack.
       The PUDR report provides detailed lists of people named as 
     organizers and attackers.
       Many of these are functionaries of the ruling party, BJP, 
     the VHP and the Bajrang Dal.

[[Page E1709]]

       The report gives a list of victims in some of the mass 
     killings, which establishes that their numbers were higher 
     than the ones the government admits.
       The PUDR has accused the state government of abetting the 
     anti-Muslim pogrom. ``The fact that the Gujarat government 
     supported the bandh (general strike) of February 28 and March 
     1 despite its experience of large-scale violence against 
     Muslims after a similar bandh in 2000, is evidence of its 
     complicity in the violence right from the start,'' it said.
       The report also accuses the judiciary of not performing its 
     duty. It illustrates as to how the criminal justice system in 
     the state is complicit in the denial of justice to the riot 
     victims. It corroborates the widely-reported fact that the 
     police make a mockery of the investigative process. And that 
     even courts have shown reluctance to do their duty.
       The PUDR team visited 21 relief camps and 75 villages and 
     towns where it spoke to government officials, members of 
     traders' associations, the VHP, the Jamait-e-Ulema-e Hind and 
     NGOs.
       It has demanded the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat be 
     dismissed and asked for an independent probe by the Central 
     Bureau of Investigation into major incidents of communal 
     violence, and expressed doubts over the Modi government's 
     intentions to take action against the perpetrators of riots.

     

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