gelatik
02.03.02, 19:23
AHMADABAD, India (AP) - Vengeful Hindus torched Muslim homes, killing scores,
and rioting spread through the western state of Gujarat on Saturday as the
death toll in India's worst religious strife in a decade reached 415, officials
said.The violence continued unchecked for a fourth day despite army troops
being deployed with orders to shoot rioters on sight. A curfew was imposed in
37 towns. In a national television broadcast, Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee appealed for peace and restraint, saying the violence was a "blot" on
the nation's reputation.
Bodies blackened by fire lay in the streets along with burned-out furnishings
and vehicles, shredded clothes and other personal belongings in Ahmadabad, the
city worst hit by violence. Muslims streamed into hospitals for treatment of
stab wounds and burns, but also for refuge.
Though the bloodshed was spreading, it seemed confined to Gujarat state, where
police reported fresh rioting and arson in Surat, Bhavnagar, Vadodra and
Ahmadabad. Roaming groups set fire to shops in at least three Ahmadabad
neighborhoods Saturday and prevented fire trucks from approaching, fire
officials said.
In the town of Vadodra, at least seven Muslims working at a bakery were burned
alive Saturday, police said, speaking on condition of anonymity. On Friday, at
least 122 Muslims, trapped inside their homes, were burned to death by Hindus
in three separate attacks in Ahmadabad and two villages, police said.
The bloodshed began Wednesday when Muslims torched a train carrying Hindus
returning from the northern town of Ayodhya, where a temple is planned on the
site of a 16th-century mosque that was razed by Hindus in 1992. The planned
construction of the temple has long been a cause of Hindu-Muslim tension.
Fifty-eight people died in the train fire in the town of Godhra, south of
Ahmadabad, sparking a retaliatory rampage by right-wing Hindus. Muslims have
accused police and soldiers of standing by and doing nothing as residents —
including women and children — have been slaughtered, often with swords and
sticks.
Lying in pain under the same roof at Ahmadabad's Civil Hospital, Hindu and
Muslim victims said they were stunned by the explosion of religious anger.
Hussain Mullah Baksh, a 74-year-old Muslim, said Hindus pulled him from his
motorbike, doused him with gasoline and set him on fire Thursday. He was being
treated Saturday for burns over half of his body.
"I was attacked by my Hindu neighbors whom I know, though we were not friends,"
Baksh said.
Ramji Bhai, a 25-year-old Hindu auto-rickshaw driver, lying on a bed nearby,
said a gasoline bomb was thrown at him from the roof of a mosque, burning the
lower half of his body.
"I tore my burning clothes and ran to a house completely naked," Bhai said.
State government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the death
toll in four days of carnage was 415 including those killed in the train and 47
killed by police. The state police control room put the toll at 383, but the
government has a history of underreporting death tolls in calamities.
It is the worst religious violence in India since 1993, when 800 people were
killed during Hindu-Muslim riots in Bombay.
A small crowd of Hindu residents gathered at a dairy kiosk in the Amdupura
neighborhood of Ahmadabad said Muslims were to blame for the events of the last
few days. "It's the Muslims' fault! It's the Muslims' fault!" they shouted.
In Ahmadabad's predominantly Muslim neighborhood of Shapur, where some 150
families have lived peacefully surrounded by Hindus for decades, residents said
Saturday that police stood by as some 7,000 Hindu nationalists rampaged through
their streets setting fire to homes on Friday.
"Instead of protecting us, they were supporting the mob," said Rafi Ahmad, an
insurance officer for the state, his voice trembling. Government officials deny
such accusations.
Gujarat is the home state of Mohandas Gandhi, an icon of nonviolence who
struggled for reconciliation between India's Hindu majority and Muslim minority
during the post-independence religious riots of 1947. About 12 percent of
India's 1 billion people are Muslims, while Hindus comprise 82 percent.
The origin of the violence lies in the World Hindu Council's campaign to build
a temple at the site of the demolished mosque in Ayodhya. The 1992 razing of
the mosque by Hindus sparked nationwide riots that killed 2,000 people. Hindus
claim the site is the birthplace of their most-revered god, Rama.
Council spokesman Veereshwar Dwivedi said Friday the council will go ahead with
its plan to start the temple construction on March 15. About 7,000 Hindu
activists are already gathered in Ayodhya, which has been sealed off by
security forces to prevent more activists from coming in. About 10,000 security
forces are deployed in the town.
