AHMEDABAD/ NEW DELHI, 27 April — Two people were killed yesterday and 30 others injured when mobs went on the rampage in the riot-hit state of Gujarat, as an international human rights group slammed the state government and police for failing to prevent the violence.
A Muslim man was shot dead during early morning rioting in the Juhapura area of Ahmedabad, a police spokesman said. Six other people received bullet injuries in the attack and were admitted to hospital, he added.
Another man who was stabbed in violence on Sunday died of his injuries yesterday, police said. Two policemen were injured when petrol bombs exploded in the Jamaalpur area of the city.
“Policemen are increasingly being attacked by mobs,” said M.K. Tandon, joint commissioner of police in Ahmedabad. Around 20 other people were injured in disturbances in other parts of the city, with gunfire, arson and stone-throwing all reported, the police spokesman said.
Gujarat has been the scene of Hindu-Muslim violence since February when an alleged Muslim mob torched a train carrying Hindu activists, killing 58 people.
Police said yesterday the death toll from the ensuing violence had now crossed over 900.
A number of Western diplomats and international human rights groups have said the death toll is much higher, putting it at between 2,000 to 3,000 people.
The Hindu extremist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state, which has been accused of turning a blind eye to violence against Muslims, came under renewed attack yesterday.
The Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), which had sent a mission to Ahmedabad, said police had “completely failed” to protect the mainly Muslim victims of the unrest.
“The selective targeting of Muslim houses and shops, the storage and availability of weapons ... are some of the elements pointing toward an organized elaboration of the crimes,” the FIDH said in a statement.
“... the responsibility of the Gujarat government is inescapable. The complete failure of the Gujarat police to provide adequate protection to victims of brutality is the most glaring illustration of this responsibility,” the human rights federation said. It said “numerous cases of active police collusion with attackers” had been reported to the group and some police officers had said they were subject to political pressure not to arrest certain offenders.
The FIDH said it was concerned that officials of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s BJP party and its affiliates, who were suspected of taking an active part in the violence, were “being shielded from prosecution through political intervention.”
Vajpayee, however, has lashed out against the growing international criticism over official handling of the sectarian riots.
“India is being advised on pluralism and secularism. We need not learn about secularism from anybody,” Vajpayee said Thursday after comments from Western diplomats carried by newspapers.
Yesterday main opposition Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi said foreign investors would be “very wary” of investing in India following the riots.
Sonia told a conference of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), that the “colossal tragedy and communal polarization” in Gujarat would send a negative message to foreign investors.
