The Indian American Muslim Council on February 28 joined human rights activists, survivors and people of conscience across the world in commemorating the Gujarat pogrom of 2002 on the occasion of its 12th anniversary.
“The commemoration is an expression of resolve to bring the perpetrators to justice and a call for unity against the hateful ideology responsible for the massacres that claimed over 2,000 lives and rendered over 150,000 people homeless. Neither continued obstruction of justice nor the passage of time can diminish the enormity of the horrific crimes against humanity committed in the Indian state of Gujarat in February and March of 2002,” said IAMC.
“The graves of the thousands of victims of Gujarat genocide, and the countless survivors who are living with the trauma of seeing their loved ones raped and burned alive, are calling us to action. They beckon us to stand up and be counted among those who will spare no efforts to save the soul of India,” said Mr. Ahsan Khan, President of IAMC.
“The lessons from Gujarat have not been learned as violence driven by Hindutva supremacists targeted minorities again in Muzaffarnagar in 2013. The world cannot afford to make light of the expression: ‘Never Again!’,” added Mr. Khan.
“Under Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s watch, the killing and mayhem continued for over a month, with the complicity of the state’s administration and law enforcement machinery. Hundreds of women were subjected to the most brutal forms of sexual violence in a macabre show of savagery unleashed by the forces of hate. Mr. Ehsan Jaffery, a former Member of India’s Parliament and a lifelong proponent of pluralism, was dismembered and burnt alive. While human rights activists and whistle-blowers within the police and administration have called for accountability at the highest levels, there have been very few convictions, from the thousands of cases related to the Gujarat pogrom,” IAMC statement further said.
“With the exception of Maya Kodnani, the major political figures that orchestrated the massacres remain free despite overwhelming evidence of state complicity. The conviction of Maya Kodnani, a sitting BJP legislator and later a minister in Modi’s cabinet, for leading a murderous mob, is indicative of the fact that the pogrom was planned and executed at the highest levels of the state government. Not surprisingly, Chief Minister Narendra Modi was described by Katrina Lantos-Swett, Vice-Chair of the US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) as the “poster child for India’s failure to punish the violent.” Mr. Modi’s complicity and active connivance in the pogrom are evidenced by the testimonies given by top ranking law enforcement officials such as ex-DGP R.B. Sreekumar and IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt,” it added.
Babu Bajrangi, a convicted mass-killer of the Gujarat pogrom, acknowledged on camera during a media sting operation, that the pogrom would not have been possible without the support of Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
“The world’s resolve to bring the perpetrators of the holocaust that happened almost 70 years ago remains as strong as ever. So too should our resolve be, to not rest until there is full accountability for the crimes against humanity in Gujarat in 2002,” Ahsan Khan further added.