Dear Friends,
In the aftermath of the savage violence in the Indian state of Gujarat, many of the survivors and families of the victims are in a desperate situation. Most of them are suffering from not only a lack of basic commodities but also from mental trauma and fear of an epidemic breaking out. We also have learned that the survivors and family members of the victims who are staying in relief camps are being treated like prisoners by the government and administration. They are not allowed to leave the camp or move about freely.
We offer below an updated report on the current situation in Gujarat and an appeal to the president of India issued by the Citizens¡¯ Initiative for Justice and Peace, a group of ad hoc individuals and a coalition of NGOs that has been formed to document information on these tragic incidents and to distribute humanitarian aid. They are urging us to contribute material support for humanitarian relief and to keep our attention on these incidents and the aftermath of the violence.
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission
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CARNAGE IN GUJARAT – CITZENS’ INITIATIVE FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE
Update: March 5, 2002
Riot victims being treated like prisoners
Six days after brutal violence rocked Gujarat state, especially Ahmedabad city, the sheer scale and dimension of the tragedy and its lasting impact is being callously rejected by the ruling state government. The total loss of life has been put at 500, but our estimate is that the casualties may be closer to a staggering figure of 2,000.
While Rs. 2 lakh (US,107) as compensation to the surviving relatives of the victims of the Godhra tragedy was immediately announced, the Gujarat government is revealing its sectarian approach by simply not declaring the payment of compensation to the victims of violence in post-Godhra. We are demanding that identical compensation be announced for families of the other victims and that areas that are today housing thousands of internally displaced people be declared as relief camps.
Fifteen makeshift camps located in different parts of Ahmedabad, all within Muslim bastis, house at least 35,000 internally displaced people. It is feared that this figure may reach 50,000 once a complete survey of the city is carried out. These figures do not reflect the figures of displaced people from other towns and villages, however.
The condition in the relief camps is pathetic. Every resident is suffering from mental trauma, and the government and administration are treating them like prisoners in concentration camps: the survivors are not allowed to go out or move about freely, even for basic commodities. The immediate need is for milk, oil, grains, rice, tea and temporary building materials, like mandaps, etc., since the survivors at the moment are housed in makeshift accommodation in extremely unsanitary conditions.
Many of the survivors suffer from burns and other serious injuries; medicine and medical attention and health care is the need of the hour. There is also the genuine fear of an epidemic breaking out. Individuals and groups who can arrange for such commodities to be sent to Gujarat are urged to do so. We can provide details about collection and distribution centres.
However, if you prefer to send cash from which material can be bought, we are also enclosing details about the agency to which this financial support may be urgently dispatched.
Individuals and citizens’forums in Ahmedabad have formed a citizen’s initiative for the collection and distribution of humanitarian relief in a coordinated manner.
The People’s Union for Human Rights (PUHR), along with many other organisations, will be engaged in the task of documenting details on the extensive loss of life, missing persons and attacks on people and their properties to assist the proposed People’s Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the violence in Gujarat. To be led by Justices Krishna Iyer, Hosbet Suresh and S. M. Daud, the commission will be initiated soon.
Please demand from the president, the central government and the Gujarat government that:
– Adequate reparations for the loss of life and property for ALL victims of the Gujarat violence be made;
– The camps of the internally displaced people be declared relief camps;
– The State takes complete responsibility for the relief and rehabilitation of the affected people;
– The transparent and speedy rehabilitation of the survivors is quickly initiated.
Meanwhile, please send your contributions by cheque or draft to:
Gujarat Education Society
(Attention Father Cedric Prakash)
c/o Prashant, Post Box 4002
Ahmedabad 380 009
INDIA
DETAILS OF THE RELIEF CAMPS
(Ahmedabad City alone)
Below are the population figures for the relief camps that have been contacted by NGOs working in various areas of Ahmedabad up to today:
Chartoda Kabrasthan (Gomtipur) – 3,000 people
Madhavbai Mill Compound (Gomtipur) – 3,000 people
Nagoripatel Ni Challi (Saraspur) – 1,000 people
Amanchowk – 4,500 people
Sundaram Nagar (Bapunagar):
Gayatri Society (Bapunagar) – 2,500 people
Shah Alam Dargah – 5,000 people
Bibi Talav – 1,500 people
Al-Medina – 1,500 people
Al-Kuba – 1,500 people
Alif Nagar (Around Shah Alam-Vatva Road) – 1,500 people
Shahibaug area – 3,000 people
Shahpur – 3,000 people
Odhav area – 2,000 people
All of these numbers are approximate. However, there are several other camps in the city (all in Muslim bastis) which have not been reached by NGOs as yet. The actual number of Muslim refugees in the camps can safely be put at about 50,000.
APPEAL TO THE PRESIDENT OF INDIA – CARNAGE IN GUJARAT
March 5, 2002
Shri K. R. Narayanan
President of India
Fax: 011-3017290
Fax: 91-11-301 7290
E-mail: pressecy@alpha.nic.in
Dear Sir,
The situation in Gujarat is desperate. It is a tragedy of appalling human proportions. Earlier the State indulged in direct and systematic acts of murder, terror and the targeting of economic properties of the minority community in Gujarat. Now it is actively preventing relief and rehabilitation from reaching the affected areas; indeed, relief camps in the city are being treated like concentration camps.
Six days after brutal violence rocked the state of Gujarat, especially Ahmedabad city, the sheer scale and dimension of the tragedy and its lasting impact is being callously rejected by the state government. Though the loss of life has been officially placed at around 500, our estimate is that it may reach a staggering figure of 2,000.
While Rs. 2 lakh (US,107) as compensation to the surviving relatives of the victims of the Godhra tragedy was immediately announced, the Gujarat government is revealing its sectarian approach by simply not declaring the payment of compensation to the victims of violence in post-Godhra. We are demanding that identical compensation be announced for families of the other victims and that areas that are today housing thousands of internally displaced people be declared as relief camps.
Fifteen makeshift camps located in different parts of Ahmedabad, all within Muslim bastis, house at least 35,000 internally displaced people. It is feared that this figure may reach 50,000 once a complete survey of the city is carried out. These figures do not reflect the figures of displaced people from other towns and villages, however.
The condition in the relief camps is pathetic. Every resident is suffering from mental trauma, and the government and administration are treating them like prisoners in concentration camps: the survivors are not allowed to go out or move about freely, even for basic commodities. The immediate need is for milk, oil, grains, rice, tea and temporary building materials, like mandaps, etc., since the survivors at the moment are housed in makeshift accommodation in extremely unsanitary conditions.
Many of the survivors suffer from burns and other serious injuries; medicine and medical attention and health care is the need of the hour. There is also the genuine fear of an epidemic breaking out. The situation is so desperate that even the bodies of the deceased – brothers, sisters and children killed in the most brutal and inhuman manner – have been denied the right to a dignified departure. Bodies lie in the most dehumanised state, and the State is refusing to look into this problem.
Sir, it would be in order that in your capacity as the president of India, the constitutional head of the Indian State, that you make a generous contribution from the President¡¯s Fund for the Reparation of the Loss of Life, Dignity and Property to the affected citizens – the religious minorities – in Gujarat. What Gujarat, especially the city of Ahmedabad, experienced over the past week was an utter and complete breakdown of constitutional authority. The moral and physical response to the scale of the tragedy needs your active intervention in every way possible and as soon as possible.
