Witnesses to barbarism

This special issue includes a number of short stories and poems, each a moving elegy on the Gujarat tragedy. Along these poems and short stories we find an abridged version of a report compiled by a social worker, Pernika Kakodkar. It is a heart-rending account of those young boys and children who fleeing from their burning houses, escaped from the bloodthirsty rioters and somehow reached relief camps. In the camps at Ahmadabad alone, they number more than 30,000. They are terrorized little souls not yet able to forget what they had seen. They have harrowing tales to tell of their kith and kin burnt alive. So many of them were fated to witness their sisters raped and then thrown into the fire. A 14-year-old boy, Javaid Husain, narrated how the rioters ripped the belly of his pregnant cousin and threw the child in the fire. “This horrible scene,” he said, “is fixed in my memory. I can’t sleep.”

Yasmeen Sikander Khan is 12 years old. She said: “At times I feel that my mother is calling me. I see the burnt house and I am reminded that it is the house where my mother was burnt. They did not spare my mother. Along with others they burnt her, too. This camp has also been attacked several times by them. Almost every day there is a bomb blast outside the camp. Also, the police fire at the camp.”

Raishma Bano is an 11-year-old girl now living in the Shah Alam Relief Camp. She says that her mohalla was first raided by the police, who arrested all the male members of the locality. Next morning, the rioters, armed with swords and knives came on trucks. Then she narrated how a 16-year-old girl was raped by 10 rioters. “We saved ourselves by fleeing. Even now I feel terrified. I am afraid that they will attack this camp, too. I don’t talk to any man here. Perhaps they are here in the guise of guards. Who knows?”

Shahid Khan, who is 14 years old, is staying in the Darya Khan Relief Camp. He claims to be an eyewitness to the murder of distinguished Muslim leader, an ex-MLA, Ahsan Jafri. “We lived next to him. He was a well-known leader. A large number of people had taken refuge in his house, considering it as safe. I was peeping from a window of my house. “Kill me,” he was saying to the crowd, “but let these people go.” The crowd asked him to chant Jai Siya Ram. But he did not respond to it. Thereupon, they took a burning tyre and put it around his neck. One rioter drove his sword into his belly. I shuddered and dared not see more.” Then he added. “I just can’t sleep.” Then he felt angry. “They have looted our house. Now, I feel that I should go there and kill them all.”

The magazine includes an article by Majid Husain, who is the son-in-law of Mr Jafri. He tells us that the police commissioner, Mr Panday, had assured Jafri that a guard would be provided to him for safety. But he did not keep his promise. Even Sonia Gandhi’s phone call to him went unheeded. The police did reach there, but only after Jafri and 150 others, mostly women and children who had taken refuge in his house, had been killed.

Lalita Panikar has, in her article, expressed her concern and grief at the active participation of Hindu women in the Gujarat bloodshed. She has traced this female activity to the times of the Babri Masjid’s demolition when Uma Bharati had gone there in the guise of a man. Lalita says that on the basis of this action, the lady won for her a place in Sangh Parivar.

Lalita has expressed her horror on the assertion of a female Karya Sewak, Chandrawati, who declared on the occasion of her arrival in Ayodhya: “We have come her to shed blood. By erecting the temple, we mean that the mullahs will be hanged.”

Syed Mohammad Mehdi, writing on Wali Deccani, has referred to the declaration made by the standard-bearers of the Ram Mandir that there will be a final round between the Hindus and Muslims. He has quoted a doha from Tulsi Das, saying that every thug, thakur and thief chants Ram Ram. But the favour of Ram can only be won by those who believe in love. And Mehdi retorts: “Of course, there will be a final round, but not between Hindus and Muslims. It will be between two other forces. On the one side will be thugs, thakurs and thieves chanting Ram Ram. On the other side will be those believing in love and enjoying the favour of Ram. And that will be the day when the mazar of Wali will be rebuilt.

Shamim Hanafi has talked of a big gathering of writers in Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi and other languages, including Ashok Bajpai, Rajaendra Singh Yadav, Geetanjali and Sudhir Chandra, along with a number of journalists, intellectuals and social workers. They gathered in the Ghalib Academy to protest against Muslims’ killings in Gujarat. Nukkar Natak staged a protest play on the occasion. Then, with candles in their hands, they went to Ghalib’s mazar and paid homage to the poet.

It was all very good. But, asks Shamim Hanafi, which mazar is the next target of Sangh Pariwar? Ghalib’s or Amir Khusrau’s.

And then we see George Fernandes delivering his infamous speech in the parliament: “Why are they referring repeatedly to the ripping of the bellies of pregnant women? Is it something new?” he asks and says, “it has happened so many times in the past.” And Syed Shahnawaz Husain, a minister sitting by him, is smiling.

One more glimpse was presented by Shamim Gopal Menon’s documentary, Genocide in the Land of Gandhi, sub-titled, Hai Ram.

A correspondent from the BBC asks a viewer, “What is your reaction?”

“It was a free play of death. Who can give his reaction to his own death?”

The viewers with ashen faces stand up and get out silently one by one.