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| Tuesday, 11 November 2003 |
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One killed in Gujarat religious clashes AHMEDABAD, India, Monday (Reuters) One Hindu was burned to death and at least two others were injured in fresh Hindu-Muslim clashes which erupted in Gujarat state, a senior police official said on Monday. The violence broke out on Sunday in the city of Ahmedabad, which bore the brunt of India's worst religious riots in a decade last year, after false rumours that Hindu militants had killed a Muslim builder, he said. Police used tear gas to break up rival mobs and imposed an indefinite curfew in parts of the old quarter of Ahmedabad. "A motorcyclist was attacked and set on fire along with his vehicle late on Sunday. His killing led to more clashes," P.S. Chaudhary, the police official, told Reuters. "It was just a rumour that sparked the clashes. The Muslim builder was killed by miscreants from his own community. "The city is now peaceful. Riot police are patrolling the affected areas," Chaudhary said. Meanwhile Amnesty International has called for immediate action to end illegal detentions and torture, particularly of Muslims, in the riot-scarred western Indian state of Gujarat. The report - Abuse of the law in Gujarat: Muslims detained illegally in Ahmedabad - chronicles the alleged persecution of Muslims in the commercial capital of the state during and after the bloody riots which killed some 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, according to rights groups. The violence was triggered after 59 Hindus were burnt to death in a train compartment at Godhra, allegedly by a Muslim mob, on February 27, 2002. The state government was accused by national and international rights groups of turning a blind-eye to the violence. "Information contained in this report points to a systematic pattern of human rights violations being carried out in Ahmedabad with the support of the state government and institutions of the criminal justice system with little or no chance of redress for its victims," Amnesty said in the report released last week. "It also reinforces concerns about discrimination against Muslims within the criminal justice system in the state." A majority of those arrested for the riots have been Muslims, many of whom have pleaded their cases be heard outside of Gujarat as they felt they were being denied justice. Meanwhile in an interview to Financial Times of London on Friday, Vajpayee pledged to to punish the perpetrators of riots. "Our public, media and judiciary are following it closely. Justice will not only seen to be done; it will be done," he said. But Amnesty said the law in Gujarat was being "blatantly used against the Muslim community". "...Ahmedabad police from Gayakwad Haveli Police station have routinely resorted to arbitrary and illegal and incommunicado detention," the report said. It added that those arrested were denied access to lawyers and relatives or medical attention and were tortured or ill-treated to induce confessions. |
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