Massacres recede into history. But their memory haunts us. A strain of music, a candle light in the wilderness or a sad face re-enacts the tragedies once again. If concrete evidence emerges, it leaves us forlorn and helpless.
Two instances this week have brought back before me the killings in Gujarat and Delhi. Nadeem Saiyed, a key witness, was murdered in a street at Ahmedabad. Some thousands held a candle light vigil at India Gate to commemorate the memory of the 3,000 Sikhs killed in Delhi alone. Both are disconnected, but in a way they are not because both tell a sordid story of government’s hand in the killings of Muslims in Gujarat and the Sikhs in Delhi.
Not only that, every trace of official involvement has been erased. Records have been destroyed, FIRs burnt and till today the government continues to support the perpetrators of loot, murder and rape. On the other hand, the government has been hard on whistleblowers. Nadeem was killed because he refused to fall in line. He feared his murder and asked for more security but did not get it.
Another witness, Sanjeev Rajendra Bhatt, a senior police officer, also wants more security for his family and himself but there is no response. Bhatt had the courage to say in the open that he was present at the official meeting where Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi said to let the Hindus “vent out their anger” during the clashes and that he wanted Muslims to be “taught a lesson.” Hats off to Gujarat IPS Association for standing by Bhatt.
The question that has been posed again and again is that even after the intervention by the SC, the guilty have remained unpunished since 2002 when the pogrom was completed. The irony is that LK Advani’s rath was in Gujarat when Nadeem was murdered.
When I was at the candle light vigil, I came face to face with Nirpreet Kaur. She was 16 years on November 2, 1984, when the mob came for her father, Nirmal Singh. The gurdwara next to their house in Delhi’s Raj Nagar had been set ablaze and a mob of about 450 was looking for more Sikhs to butcher. The Sikhs of Raj Nagar decided to confront the mob.
An hour later, Nirpreet recalled, a Youth Congress leader came to her father requesting him to “settle the matter.” A day earlier, when violence against Sikhs broke out following the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her two Sikhs bodyguards, the youth leader had sworn to the Sikhs that they would be protected from violence. The youth leader handed Nirmal Singh over.
Nirpreet unthinkingly joined the Khalistan movement to avenge the brutal killing of her father. Nirpreet married a militant in November 1985. Twelve days after her wedding, the Delhi Police picked up her husband. He was never heard of again. Nirpreet then pregnant with her son was declared an absconder. She went into hiding. In December 1986, Nirpreet’s mother, Sampooran Kaur, was sentenced to three years in Delhi’s high-security Tihar jail for “sheltering a terrorist.” She didn’t even have an inkling of what her daughter was up to when they arrested her.
Nirpreet’s tale of woes is not different from what has happened to Mrs Zakia Jafri whose husband was cut into pieces at their residence in Ahmedabad and burnt in a bonfire. He was a former Congress MP. Even his contacts and calls to New Delhi when a Hindu mob was surrounding his residence brought him no help. Many people from the area had taken refuge at Jafri’s house. They too were burnt alive.
The SChas sent her case to the trial court for disposal. This is not fair. The court could have said something on the role of the chief minister. At least, Bhatt’s affidavit against Modi required some comment because he remains suspended from service. The SIT had given some report and so had amicus curie. The SC should have taken notice of them because both were its creatures. And then there are numerous cases which remain without being pursued even though they are many years old.
The story of Malegaon blasts is tragic. It once again shows the bias of authorities against Muslims whenever a bomb blast takes place. None of the suspects were released after they were wrongly jailed. A special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act last week granted bail to all the nine accused. It was only after the former RSS activist Swami Aseemanand’s confession about the alleged involvement of Hindu fundamentalists in the blast was leaked did the line of investigation change. Justice demands that all the nine are compensated for illegal detention. After all, a wrong case was framed against them and they carried a tag of terrorism.
Indeed, India is a pluralistic society. But it has a long way to go before it can be considered “secular”, a word written within the preamble of the constitution. At present the government seems to be faltering.
The writer is a senior Indian journalist.
Kuldip is good at stoking emotions (at a time when things are trying to come to a balance). I imagine he either gets paid well or enjoys a pervert satisfaction doing what he does.
He is speaking the truth Anon,
India is the most racist country in the world which has killed more minorities than any other country in modern times.
Hindu community in Pak is being slowly liquidated. They were 10% or so population in 1947 and today are not even 1%. Either convert or face execution is the "non-state actor" chorus – the facade of non-state actor comes in handy to cover up state ineptitude. On the other hand in India the muslim community has grown form under 10% population to over 15% population since independence. So has the christian population. In Pak you don't need minority indulgence for genocide. In India, whenever some communal incident has happened it is because of minority provocation. And that accounts for only a small miniscule no. of provocation. A lot of them are just tolerated by the hindus (the earliest practitioners of secularism – sanatana dharma is the way of life for them since centuries nay ages)!
Look at this love jihad! In India it has only provoked disgust. No backlash. What if some active hindu boys were to do that in Pak? Murder mayhem! How dare! Look at the illegal migration of muslim population from B'desh to India. What if a similar thing were to happen to Pak from India to enable a demographic shift? Murder mayhem genocide! On an average 500 people are converted to christianity along coastal Tamil Nadu by christian missionaries through luring by spurious means. What if similar things were to happen in Pak? Murder mayhem! Or for that matter if hindus went and did the same in a catholic country? Censure, repatriation! Minorities provoke in India everyday. Yet only the major major provocation gets the ire of the tolerant hindus. And the state is mature enough to curb and put down such move by the majority hindus in India. In Pak mere rhetoric is enough for its claim to secularism!
Syed Mohammad Some hindus did that Mayhem in Pakistan are you forgetting the incident with the sri lankan team those were Hindus
There is bigger conspiracy you forgetting, even your father was Hindu.
Section of muslim feudal lords in Pak are imposing their own Jaziya tax on minorities. Isn't India's secularism real and thriving despite grave provocation by the minorities. India is secular not because the muslims and christians want it but because the hindus are traditionally secular and they want secularism. If India had genocidal tendencies, then the minorities in India wouldn't survive. Look at how the Pandits have been driven out of kashmir. Isn't that genocide? Genocide against hindus in India! Why doesn't Kuldeep Nayyar quote that? Surely he's being paid either by the ISI or by a Saudi sheikh for talking crap about India and hindusim. The larger game plan is the unfinished business of converting whole of Indian hindus to islam by the Pan Islamic combine of Saudi + Pak + others. There is a pact between Pak and Saudi Arabia here. Pak is the mujahideen (frontline) of the islamic world with nuclear weapons. Saudi is the spiritual guru of the pan islamic world.
. In the aftermath of Mumbai 26/11 the ISI chief Pasha went to Saudi Arabia and had secret talks with the prince there. Why? To discuss the fall out of the attack and also the strategy for future. The strategy to finished the unfinished business since medieval times! The British came and thwarted the design of the muslim rulers in those days. Or the muslim rulers just got a taste of real secularism mixing around with hindus and left the agenda then! What ever be the reason….the unfinished business is what rankles the Pan Islamic combine.
Pakistani Peer who's also read the Vedas and Upanishad and is convinced that the Quran is nothing but a derivate of Hindu scriptures….Ismail Syed Mohammad
Hats of to Syed Mohammad for a straight talk. What you have said, even Hindus don't say in public in India. Whereas in Pakistan, day in day out anyone can abuse any other religion without any qualms. On top of that Pakistanis including the government have perfected the art of lying through teeth. Thank you Syed for calling spade a spade and exposing the hidden agenda.
Kuldip Nayar you are telling LIE. am i right Indian Patriots 😀 😀 😀 i think this is the post where there is very few comments from indians. bolti band ho gai ho g
its very easy to criticise but very tough to face reality
You should have committed suicide by now if you had to accept reality of Pakistan as a country., which has swallowed all its Non-muslims minorities, and now targetting sects of Islam like Ahmidyas .. and after all that still need the Blasphemy law to protect whom ??????????? Do not measure India against perfection when you Pakistanis hardly qualify to be called civilized society and a credible state.
IN this blog it has become a practice that muslims write with a hindu pen name and hindus vice versa! Not surprising. Either of them have such divergent spiritual focus and inclination!!! The hindus are essentially peace loving naturally peace loving, tolerant and nebulous with a broad view of spirituality. The muslims have a narrow view of spirituality and restrict to the injunctions in the Quran and hadith. Well there are injunctions that clearly state that killing of kafirs is alright. So the muslims have taken those injunctions seriously. Damn seriously. And though a muslim has compassion for his own ilk and his heart bleeds for his own people, he has zero compassion for other beings. Look at the manner cattle, sheep are killed and the event is celebrated as Bakri Id by muslims. Ghastly!! Blood is cheap in a muslim's eyes. Hindus are far more modest, discerning and analytical of the microcosm as well as the macrocosm. Nothing ever will compare with the Vedas. They are immortal and are akin to the creation. Quran is but a poor imitation of the Vedas meant may be as the muslims claim for the current age of FEAR AND DECEIT
Minorities next door meaning in India? Minorities rule the roost in India! Anything goes wrong they blame their being minority in India. The government then pampers them. They are so well placed. They have their exclusive institutions for education. They are thriving what with their conversiion activities (as done by christians) on a massive scale and their disgusting Love Jihad kind of attempts at changing the demography of India. Can any minority survive anywhere in the world if they try to change the religous demography of the country in which they live? No Never. Only in India they shall be pampered despite their serious and disgusting attempts at changing the demography of the nation in which they live as minorities. The minorities in India particularly the muslims and christians are having a ball. They are having the cake and eating it too!!!
Bablu aka Babu Lal Morea
C'mon Babu Lal, don't worry! Christians are fake and their religion is a fraud. Muslims will inherit christian lands very soon. As for muslims, they worship Lord Shiva as their Allah. All roads lead only to the Vedas and nothing but the Vedas. The Vedas are supreme – forget about hinduism or any other ism! It is the Vedas that are the absolute and humanity is anchored on the Vedas since ages and till eternity, infinity…..
Comments are closed.