NEW DELHI/AHMEDABAD, 28 April — Muslim and Christian organizations yesterday slammed the central government for terming as an “internal affair” what they called “genocide” in Gujarat.
They said “the gang-rapes of hundreds of women and murder of thousands of innocent children and adults” in Gujarat could not go unchallenged. Stating that the UN system was on “test” in Gujarat, the organisations said in a joint statement: “Neither India nor the United Nations members can run away from their responsibilities in this case.”
“India’s record shows its interventions in many different countries which faced similar situations of racial and religious violence of such magnitude,” said the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, the All India Catholic Union and the All India Christian Council.
“The motives of the Indian government have been exposed in the ministry of external affairs statement alleging that the European Union and others are ‘interfering and taking sides in the ongoing highly politically charged internal debate.’
“The killings and rape are not an issue of debate — they are a bitter and shameful reality. By turning the killings into a political debate, the government mocks not just the dead but also insults Indian democracy and the rule of law,” it said.
It demanded an “international investigation” into the Hindu hard-line groups allegedly behind the violence, saying their actions not just threaten the minorities of India and civil society but also endanger international peace. It said the Gujarat government had “rubbed salt” in the wounds of victims by its “cynical, callous and coercive” claims in newspaper advertisements that it had brought the situation under control.
“The daily killings and the travails of victims are proof that the state government is trying to fool international opinion,” it said.
Meanwhile, two people were killed and at least 10 injured in renewed fighting between Hindus and Muslims in western Gujarat state, police said, as sectarian violence that has killed over 900 people entered its third month yesterday.
One person was stabbed in the city of Baroda after two groups clashed in the Wadi neighborhood yesterday morning, a police official said. The violence spread to more areas of the city later yesterday and large-scale arson took place in Wadi, the official said. Police fired tear gas shells to disperse armed mobs that went on the rampage in the Fatehpura and Bavamanpura neighborhoods of Baroda, 100 km southeast of Ahmedabad.
When the crowds persisted in torching vehicles and shops, police fired bullets, the official said. At least six injured people, including two with stab wounds, were admitted to the government hospital at Baroda, a doctor said. It was not clear what injuries the other four had.
He also reported that one man was killed by police bullets in Baroda on Friday night, when officers opened fire to disperse crowds burning shops and houses. Another 10 people were taken to hospital, some with bullet wounds.
Soldiers and paramilitary troops were deployed after the violence, marching through the streets late Friday. It was not immediately known if the latest deaths were of Hindus or Muslims, but most of the 900 people who have been killed since Feb. 27 were Muslims.
