Fwd: BRILLIANT ARTICLE: "Gujarat Riots: The Top 5 Myths and Facts"

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                 GUJARAT RIOTS: TOP 5 MYTHS and FACTS 
============================================================================
By Shalini Gera and Girish Agrawal


                        ======================
                        SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS:
                        ======================

1. These 'riots' were a pre-planned, cold-blooded, calculated, willfully 
executed massacre of the Muslim community. 

2. The state government is the instigator as well as the facilitator of 
these riots.

3. The Sangh Parivar propagates a narrow, distorted version of Hinduism, 
and at its core, is profoundly anti-Hindu. Nor do these groups care for the 
country or its citizens. 

4. The post-Godhra violence was highly organized with a distinct aim of 
spreading terror amongst the minorities, and is most definitely terrorism-
worse yet, state-sponsored terrorism.

5. Hindus and Muslims for the most part live together peacefully. Communal 
tensions have been actively stoked by some groups leading to riots. 
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                            Background:
                            -----------
On the morning of February 27th, the Sabarmati Express, with Hindu kar 
sevaks returning from Ayodhya, was stopped near Godhra and several 
compartments were torched leading to the deaths of 58 passengers. While 
conflicting stories exist about the exact sequence of events, it is clear 
that there was a confrontation between the kar sevaks and the mainly Muslim 
residents of Godhra which escalated, and at some point the train was 
deliberately set on fire by a mob. 

The VHP announced a nation-wide bandh on February 28th, which was supported 
by the BJP (which forms the government in Gujarat and is the leading member 
of the ruling coalition at the center). On February 28th, organized mobs 
of 'Hindus' started butchering and burning Muslims and Muslim-owned 
property in Gujarat. The police and other law-enforcement agencies were 
prominent only in their absence and inefficacy. The violence spread to all 
the major cities in Gujarat including Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Vadodara, Bharuch 
and even Gandhinagar. The cities now maintain an uneasy calm in the 
presence of the army, but the violence continues in rural areas. The 
official dead so far exceed 700, nearly all Muslims, and estimates of the 
number of Muslims displaced from their homes and forced into relief camps 
range from 50,000 to 100,000. The conditions in the relief camps continue 
to be miserable, with the government providing little or no support.

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MYTH 1: The riots in Gujarat are a spontaneous expression of Hindu anger.
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Origin of this myth: This sentiment has been expressed widely by several 
people at the helm of affairs in the state of Gujarat, as well as those 
leading some 'Hindu' organizations. They claim that Hindus were enraged 
about the incident in Godhra where over 50 kar sevaks had been burnt alive, 
and the riots were 'merely' an expression of their anger.

Facts:
-----
These 'riots' were a pre-planned, cold-blooded, calculated, willfully 
executed massacre of the Muslim community.

In other contexts such occurrences have been referred to as 'genocide' 
or 'ethnic cleansing.' They were carried out with the connivance of civic, 
administrative and political bodies.

Consider the following:

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(i)People and homes of the Muslim community were targeted using voter lists 
and other official documentation:
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Business establishments and hotels of the minority community were 
identified and destroyed using license and other relevant information 
generally available only from the civic administration. (Misuse of voters 
list in Gujarat riots alleged). This shows a macabre level of planning, 
organization and attention to detail, not a spontaneous outburst of anger. 
Outlook magazine reports that in recent months there have been concerted 
efforts by the VHP to get the names of Muslim businesses from the Ahmedabad 
Municipal Corporation, names and addresses of Muslim students from 
universities and professional institutions, and also to draw up a list 
of 'undesirables' working for government agencies such as the Food 
Corporation of India (Thy Hand, Great Anarch). Any guess on how these lists 
were used on February 28th? 

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(ii)In commercial districts where businesses and shops of Hindus and 
Muslims co-exist, the mobs burnt only the Muslim-owned shops.
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Shops that were Hindu-owned but rented by Muslims were left intact while 
the material inside was dragged out and burnt or looted. Rampaging, angry 
mobs who pay such close attention to ownership records? This shows 
calculation and planning, not mob 'frenzy'. As the NDTV journalist Barkha 
Dutt notes, "What's so spontaneous about an attack that is planned so 
meticulously that only the seventh shop in a crowded lane gets razed to the 
ground but everything around it is untouched and undamaged?" (Covert Riots 
And Media) 

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(iii)If 'Hindu outrage' is enough to explain these riots, then why did 
these riots occur overwhelmingly in Gujarat only?
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The murder of the kar sevaks in Godhra had outraged Hindus all over India--
but nowhere else did Hindus go out in rampaging mobs, burning Muslims and 
looting shops-not even in Ayodhya where over 15000 outraged kar sevaks had 
aggregated. This is because riots do not simply 'happen' in India, they 
have to be created, and the Gujarat BJP government actively contributed to 
the creation of these riots. (When Guardians of Gujarat Gave 24-hour 
Licence for Punitive Action) 

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MYTH 2: The government is doing its best to maintain peace and harmony in 
Gujarat, provide relief to the riot victims and apprehend those involved in 
rioting.
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Origin of this myth: The Gujarat Chief Minister has stated that the police 
did a commendable job of maintaining peace, and the Union Home Minister, L 
K Advani praised the Gujarat government for 'exemplary' handling of the 
situation. 

Facts:
-----
The state government is the instigator as well as the facilitator of these 
riots.

Not only did the government deliberately delay all attempts to control the 
situation during the riots but is still failing in its responsibility to 
provide relief to the victims or ensure justice for them.

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(i)The deployment of army was deliberately delayed by the state and central 
governments.
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Even as mobs were rampaging in Gujarat on the 28th of February, and the 
police commissioner of Ahmedabad himself had urgently requested more troops 
in the city, the governments neglected to put in a formal request for army 
deployments. This despite the fact that the Southern Command in Pune had 
already prepared its contingency plan by early afternoon expecting to be 
called upon by the government. Even when the army troopers eventually 
landed in the riot-torn cities of Gujarat on March 1st, the administration 
did not provide them with equipment or assistance in handling the solution. 
This led to costly delays of several hours, which could have saved more 
than a hundred lives. (Where Had All the Soldiers Gone?) 

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(ii)The media has extensively documented the inaction of the state police 
when rioters were butchering people and looting shops in their presence.
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As reported in Outlook, the rioters in Vadi, Vadodara were actually 
shouting the slogans, "Andar ki baat hai, police hamare saath hai. (It is 
an inside deal, the police supports us)." In several cases, the police 
themselves handed over Muslims (who had come to the police for protection) 
to crowds thirsty for their blood. In another case, a policeman extracted 
diesel from his vehicle and offered it to the crazed mob to set fire to a 
slum. For the most part, the police failed to turn up to protect the 
minorities even when the victims managed to get through to them and ask for 
help. And even when the police did show up, they would often arrest the 
victims for inciting violence. The Home Minister, Mr. LK Advani assures us 
that "So far, more than 77 deaths due to police firing have been reported 
in the state. So one cannot say the police played a passive role," but 
fails to mention that almost half of those killed by police belong to the 
Muslim community-the victims of the riots, not their perpetrators. ( 
Soldiers 'held back to allow Hindus revenge', Police took part in 
slaughter, Horrendous Killings in Hindutva Lab, Burned in bed as Indian 
violence spirals) 

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(iii)The relief camps set up to help the riot victims have received minimal 
help from the state government.
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Although the official body-count stands at just over 700, NGOs working in 
Gujarat estimate that more than 1000 people were killed in the riots, and 
around 100,000 have been displaced. Though people started coming to the 
relief camps from March 1st onwards, the government only started providing 
aid to these camps from March 6th. Even now, the situation in these relief 
camps is miserable, and the people there live in virtual internment. The 
sanitation and hygiene conditions are terrible, as illustrated by the Shah 
Alam relief camp in Ahmedabad where 10 toilet facilities serve a population 
of 8000 refugees. (Thousands homeless in Gujarat, Gujarat government evades 
relief, rehab responsibility) 

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(iv)The government has show little inclination to investigate the riots.
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When the government first announced a judicial probe to investigate the 
violence in Gujarat, it only limited the scope of the judicial commission 
to the massacre on the Sabarmati Express in Godhra, and NOT the riots in 
the rest of Gujarat. After this decision caused widespread outrage, the 
government agreed to extend the scope of this inquiry to cover the post-
Godhra violence as well. However, the judge appointed to head this 
commission, Justice KG Shah, is a retired Gujarat High Court Judge with 
close ties to the ruling government and a history of anti-minority 
judgements. One of his judgements was overturned by the Supreme Court of 
India with the comment that "the finding of the judge... is not based on 
appreciation of evidence but on imagination." (Riots probe panel faces 
credibility crisis) In such a situation, where the State is directly 
implicated in contributing to violence, it is necessary that a judge not 
beholden to the Gujarat government be assigned to the commission to ensure 
impartiality and judicial independence. 

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(v)In an ironic twist, police chiefs of cities in Gujarat who were 
successful in maintaining peace are being transferred, while those who were 
not are being allowed to go scot-free.
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According to an analysis done by The Telegraph, India (Minority Hole in 
Gujarat Police Force), there has been a concerted effort in Gujarat since 
the advent of the BJP government to move all police officers from the 
minority community away from field positions to less effective 'support 
positions.' Also, senior police officers such as Rahul Sharma (Bhavnagar), 
Vivek Srivastava (Kutch), Anupam Singh Gehlot (Mehsana), Himanshu Bhatt 
(Banaskantha)--all of who earned praise for maintaining peace in their 
cities have been transferred (Gujarat transfers: govt hits the panic 
button, Bhavnagar SP: Advani praised, Modi disposed), while police chiefs 
such as P.C. Pande (Ahmedabad) who not only failed to contain the violence, 
but actually justified the police inaction (Saffron Terror), and Upendra 
Singh (Rajkot) who went 'missing' when the riots started (Police chief 
vanishes as Rajkot burns) have had no action taken against them. The 
Divisional Commissioner of Ayodhya (Faizabad district), who did a 
commendable job in maintaining peace in this volatile town at the center of 
the storm has also earned the ire of the Hindu Nationalists, and is now on 
an extended leave (VHP mounts pressure on govt to transfer Faizabad 
officials). 

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MYTH 3: The RSS-VHP-Bajrang Dal-BJP (the Sangh Parivar) are pro-Hindus and 
Patriots.
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Facts:
-----
The Sangh Parivar propagates a narrow, distorted version of Hinduism, and 
at its core, is profoundly anti-Hindu. Nor do these groups care for the 
country or its citizens. 

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(i)The Sangh Parivaar has demolished Hindu temples: 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

In their zeal to destroy the Babri Masjid, they have even destroyed temples 
that Hindus held dear, such as Sita Ki Rasoi and Ram Ka Chabutra in Ayodhya 
(Ramchandra Gandhi in Hinduism Today). In their zeal to destroy and 
desecrate Muslim places of worship, they have often destroyed Dargaahs 
where people of all faiths worshipped (Thy Hand, Great Anarch) 

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(ii)Many Hindu religious leaders oppose the VHP and Bajrang Dal: 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Five of the seven akhadas, or religious orders (of Hinduism), in Ayodhya 
are now against the VHP. Two of them, Nirmohi and Nirvani, have openly 
denounced the VHP, saying they did not want "blood to stain our 
hands": "Unko khoon se ranga hua mandir chahiye. Hume dhoodh se dhoola hua 
mandir chahiye (They [the VHP] want a temple stained with blood. We want a 
temple that is bathed in milk)," said Gyan Das, Mahant (head) of the 
Nirvani group. Gyan Das also had this to say about the VHP's 
ceremonies: "Yeh Ram ka yagna nahin, kal ka tandav hai (This is not a 
prayer to Ram but the dance of death)."( Sadhu vs Sadhu in Temple Tangle, 
After The Ride, The Blowout) 

The Shankaracharya of Goverdhanpuri, Jagadguru Aadhokshajanand Teerth, also 
condemned the ongoing mob violence in Gujarat as "state terrorism" and 
demanded a ban on the VHP and the arrest of its leaders and activists under 
the National Security Act. (Shankaracharya demands ban on VHP). The 
Shankaracharyas of all the four main peeths, Dwarka, Puri, Joshimath and 
Sringeri, are bitterly opposed to the VHP's temple movement ( It's Four 
Sides To A Triangle) 

The VHP-Bajrang Dal have insulted revered religious leaders and purohits 
who disagreed with the VHP's narrow vision of Hinduism. For instance, the 
Hindu priest in charge of the idols at the Ram Janmabhoomi site, Pujari 
Laldas, categorically asserted that the demolition of the mosque was not in 
the interest of Hindus but was being advocated for political and financial 
gain. In the documentary In the Name of God, he says 
"[Riots] were caused for financial and political gain. It has nothing to do 
with Lord Ram's birthplace. I am the priest of the Ram Janmabhoomi temple. 
I can honestly say that until today VHP members never made a single 
offering nor even prayed in this temple... They don't care if people are 
killed, all they care about is money and power. Those who speak of a Hindu 
Nation and create violence in the name of Ram are upper caste, they all 
love the good life, there's not an iota of renunciation or sacrifice or 
public concern in them. They merely exploit religious feeling to maintain 
their lifestyles..."

When the BJP came to power in Uttar Pradesh in 1992 , Pujari Laldas was 
removed from his post as head priest of the Ram temple. A year later Pujari 
Laldas was murdered. ( It's Four Sides To A Triangle)

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(iii)Ordinary Hindus are also fed up with these groups:
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The majority of Hindus have always voted against the BJP, even when it has 
formed the government at the center. Recent election results show that even 
in states (such as U.P.) and municipalities (such as Delhi) where BJP has 
help power for long, the electorate has rejected them. 
"The VHP is the main villain [in these disturbances]," said Abhishek 
Sharma, who runs a grocery shop in Ayodhya (quoted in The Telegraph). 
Rajinder Singh, a 35-year-old cement plant worker summarised, "Ram mandir 
ke naam par desh ki barbaadi ho rahi hai (the country is being ruined by 
this Ram mandir issue). It is only going to weaken the country."(A 
Reporter's Notebook) 
''Aadmi khoon ka pyaasa hogaya hai (Man is killing man). All this is 
against the Hindu sanskriti (tradition) … There should be both a mandir and 
a masjid at Ayodhya,'' says Sunita Yadav, a sweetshop owner's wife from 
Mathura (A Reporter's Notebook). 

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(iv)The Sangh Parivaar is anti-India:
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They do not believe in the Indian Constitution, and instead of using 
democratic means to put forth their views, they resort to violence (VHP 
activists storm Orissa Assembly), openly flout the orders of the Supreme 
Court (Verdict will not hinder our plan: Singhal), oppose the very 
fundamental principle of equality and liberty upon which the Indian State 
is based, and demonize an entire community based on the actions of a few 
people who happen to claim the same religion (It had to be done, VHP leader 
says of riots). Does this mean that any Hindu anywhere should be called to 
task for heinous acts committed by any other Hindu? Would the VHP-RSS 
leaders be willing to stand trial for the murders committed by the mobs in 
Ahmedabad? 

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(v)The Sangh Parivaar's philosophy is anti-democratic at its core:
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as evidenced by the writings of Hedgewar, Golwalkar and every other of 
their founders. The Sangh Parivaar does not believe in democracy, despite 
participating in electoral politics. This is what Hedgewar, the founder of 
RSS, had to say: 
"I have thought out a scheme based on Hindu Dharm Shastra, which provides 
for standardization of Hinduism throughout India... But the point is that 
this ideal cannot be brought to effect unless we have our own Swaraj with a 
Hindu as Dictator like Shivaji of old, or Mussolini or Hitler of the 
present day in Italy and Germany. But this does not mean that we have to 
sit with folded hands until some such dictator arises in India. We should 
formulate a scientific scheme and carry on propaganda for it." (Hindutva's 
foreign tie-up in the 1930s: archival evidence)

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(vi)The VHP, Bajrang Dal, RSS have all the hallmarks of fundamentalist-
terrorist groups, and their behavior is indistinguishable from the Taliban:
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In 1999, Sumir Lal wrote an article in The Hindustan Times titled The Hindu 
Rashtra is Here in which he said: 
It is not often that one gets to preview a nightmare, but India has that 
dubious fortune right now.

Picture a country in which a civilised society's most fundamental choices 
are denied to its people - what kind of school they can send their children 
to, which books and plays and cultural events they can read, watch or 
participate in, what religious faith they may like or not like to profess, 
the products of which business houses they can consume. Imagine too, that 
these decisions are made for them by a bunch of unaccountable, self-
appointed guardians of morality, and imposed - on pain of physical 
intimidation and destruction of property - by roving gangs of ruffians with 
whom the entire apparatus of the state connives. 

A nightmare, but this is not Afghanistan. It is present day Gujarat, where 
the ordinary citizen cannot conduct the essential business of daily life 
without first fearfully looking over his shoulder… Welcome to the Hindu 
Rashtra. The dream of the RSS-led Sangh Parivar flourishes untrammelled in 
Gujarat.

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(vii)Ancient monuments of historical relevance are being destroyed, much 
like the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas by the Taliban.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

In addition to the 16th century mosque Babri Masjid that was destroyed by 
these militant Hindu organizations in 1992, several dozen mosques were 
destroyed in the recent riots in Gujarat, including the 16th century mosque 
near the Jethabai stepwells which had been classified as a protected site 
by the Archaelogical Survey of India (Indian Express). VHP has a stated 
goal of destroying India's heritage by targeting heritage monuments such as 
the Taj Mahal and Qutub Minar. 

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(viii)Gyan Das, the Hindu leader (Mahant) of the Nirvani Akhada in Ayodhya 
also compares the VHP to the Taliban. 
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"How has this man [Ashok Singhal, Working President of the VHP], who is 
responsible for fanning hatred and bloodshed in the entire country, been 
allowed to step into Ayodhya?" fumes Gyan Das. "Singhal is the head of the 
country's Taliban and, like in Afghanistan, this group here will destroy 
the nation." [Quoted in The Telegraph] 

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(viii)The VHP, Bajrang Dal, RSS organize and train private, armed militias 
for the express purpose of creating terror.
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A trained saffron militia at work?



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MYTH 4:Sabarmati Express massacre is terrorism while the post-Godhra 
carnage in Gujarat is 'mere' communal riots.
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Origin of this Myth: Home Minister L.K. Advani and Chief Minister of 
Gujarat Narendra Modi have leveled the as-yet-unproven charge that the 
train incident was rooted in 'cross-border' terrorism sponsored by the 
Pakistani intelligence group ISI. The Gujarat government used this 
difference in categorization to allocate a compensation of Rs 200,000 to 
the families of the victims of the Sabarmati Express incident and only Rs 
100,000 to those of the victims of the post-Godhra carnage.

Facts:
-----
The post-Godhra violence was highly organized with a distinct aim of 
spreading terror amongst the minorities, and is most definitely terrorism-
worse yet, state-sponsored terrorism.

A terrorist act, as per the Indian Government's definition, is one with 
an ''intent to threaten the unity, integrity, security or sovereignty of 
India or to strike terror in the people or any section of the 
people...using inflammable substances or fire-arms or other lethal 
weapons...in such a manner as to cause, or likely to cause, death of, or 
injuries to any person or persons or loss of, or damage to, or destruction 
of, property...'' 

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(i)Was the Sabarmati Express massacre in Godhra an act of terrorism?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is not quite clear whether the heinous massacre in Godhra fits the 
government's own definition of terrorism. While several newsstories have 
said that there is little evidence of the massacre being pre-planned 
(Provocation Helped Set India Train Fire, 'Just Like Hindustan-Pakistan', 
The Hate Train, Godhra attack not planned ), a detailed analysis by 
Frontline magazine (Godhra Questions) indicates that the sequence of events 
leading to the incident seems too well-planned to be spontaneous. 
Preplanned or not, there is as yet, no evidence that points to an ISI 
involvement. By claiming a foreign hand, the Government is deflecting 
attention from its own failure to provide sufficient security to the kar 
sevaks, knowing that the train would pass through communally sensitive 
areas. The BJP led government seems to have as little regard for Hindu 
lives as it has demonstrated for Muslim lives. 

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(ii)Is post-Godhra violence in Gujarat terrorism?
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Going by the yardstick of preplanning and organization, it is clear that 
the post-Godhra violence was most definitely terrorism. The attacks on 
Mulsims were well-planned, they were incited and carried out by 
identifiable groups (the VHP and Bajrang Dal), and encouraged by the state 
machinery controlled by the BJP - Violence as a product of deliberate 
strategy; the attacks were carried out in a dramatic way to attract 
publicity and create an atmosphere of alarm among Muslims far beyond the 
actual victims - Violence as theater. The very definitions of terrorism. 
The deliberate inaction on the part of the state, and in some instances, 
active connivance with the rioters, also makes it an instance of state-
sponsored terrorism. 

However provocative the Godhra massacre might have been, we must 
distinguish between state-sponsored terrorism and extra-state actors. If 
terrorists attack, you turn to the state, but if the state turns terrorist, 
then where do you look for help?

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MYTH 5: Hindus and Muslims cannot live together in peace. Riots are the 
natural outcome of simmering tensions.
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Facts:
-----
Hindus and Muslims for the most part live together peacefully. Communal 
tensions have been actively stoked by some groups leading to riots. 

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(i)Villages which account for 2/3rd of Indian population have had less than 
4% communal riot related deaths.
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According to Prof Ashutosh Varshney, 50% of riot deaths since 1960 have 
happened in eight cities which hold only 6% of India's population. Another 
45% of riot -related deaths have occurred in other urban centers. (Ethnic 
Conflict and Civic Life: Hindus and Muslims in India) 

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(ii)Communal forces use terror and threats to actively divide the 
communities.
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When Hindus tried to support their Muslim neighbours during the killings in 
Gujarat, the VHP & Bajrang Dal goons targeted them also. The case of 
Professor Bandookwala, a well known academician from Vadodara is well-
documented. An organized mob attacked him in his house in a predominantly 
Hindu locality, and his car was set on fire. He and his daughter were 
sheltered by their Hindu neighbors, who in turn were attacked on the second 
day for protecting him. (NDTV Interview) 



-- 
Saima Alvi
Research Assistant
Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS)
Opposite Sector U, DHA, Lahore-54792
Tel.: 5722670-79; Ext.: 2165