Riots hold Ahmedabad to ransom

AHMEDABAD, JULY 27: Tuesday began like any normal day in the walled city of Ahmedabad. The shops and offices were open, the bazaars bustl...

AHMEDABAD, JULY 27: Tuesday began like any normal day in the walled city of Ahmedabad. The shops and offices were open, the bazaars bustled with life, and the streets were full with traffic. Then, suddenly, the word spread –“somebody has been stabbed”. People ran helter-skelter, shops closed down, schools declared holiday and, within minutes, the streets were deserted.

There was no stabbing. But those holding the city to ransom had invented another gruesome novelty: They had poured kerosene and burnt a young man in Gheekanta locality; he is struggling for life in a hospital. Another man had his head smashed with a stone at Pankornaka and is critical. A third was stabbed to death in Ratanpole. A fourth was stabbed to death in Teen Darwaja area. A body, with stab wounds, was found in Khanpur. Angry youths came out on the roads and exchanged brickbats in Gheekanta, Patwasheri, Raikhad and Gaekwad Haveli.

This has become a daily ritual. A group quietly stabs a man, setting off a chain of more stabbings,throwing of acid bulbs, group clashes, and exchange of brickbats. So far, six men have died, three of them today. Many more are nursing their injuries. A number of shops, houses and vehicles have been burnt.

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According to a police officer, the pattern is reminiscent of the one that preceded the 1992 riots, which went on for months. But former DGP M M Singh says that there was no need to panic. The situation can be controlled if “the political bosses and the people develop sanity”, he says.

At present, however, an air of scare and uncertainty has gripped the city and the government is groping in the dark. Some people have been arrested, but only for stone-pelting. No one knows who is behind the rash of stabbings. Says Minister of State for Home Haren Pandya, “This violence is unnatural. It looks planned. We have sought the help of the Intelligence Bureau”.

Says Mustafa Sheikh, owner of the famous Italian Bakery, “In the past, you always got some idea who was behind the trouble. This time, we are at aloss. Every morning, we open the bakery, hoping that the day would pass peacefully. But everyday something happens”.

Rameshbhai Patel, a shopkeeper in Khadia, says that he keeps calling his home at regular intervals to inform the family that he is safe; “Otherwise, they ring me up”. Vipul Bhatt, who works in a private company, says he had stopped going to office. “It means loss of salary, but why take the risk? Only the innocent are dying”.

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Naturally, the police is under criticism. A harried Hira Lal, Additional Director General of Police, says they have deployed whatever force they have and are getting more. “We are taking all necessary measures. We will control the situation ”, he tries to assure. But M M Singh says that while the police could control riots, it is difficult to deal with “stabbings, done silently”.

Many believe that the violence is being engineered by politicians. Predictably, the Congress and the BJP are blaming each other. BJP spokesman Bharat Pandya says the Congress wascreating trouble because it “has no issue for the elections”. The BJP government had brought the Muslims into the mainstream, he said. “In the past, Muslims used to celebrate India’s defeat in cricket. Now, for the first time, both Hindus and Muslims burnt the effigies of Nawaz Sharif”, he said.

Congress president C D Patel, in turn, alleges that the BJP was engineering trouble because its efforts to capitalise on Kargil and Lahore bus diplomacy had backfired. He demands a judicial inquiry into the incidents. Independent corporator Usmangani Devdiwala blames both Congress and the BJP, saying they want to divide people with an eye on the Lok Sabha elections.

A police officer pointed out that tension had been simmering since late May when the cricket World Cup was on and the fighting had begun in Kargil. In certain mixed localities, anti-Muslim slogans were raised along with anti-Pakistan slogans as youths held noisy celebrations after India defeated Pakistan in a World Cup match.

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After the World Cupended, there was a spate of burning of Nawaz Sharif’s effigies. Again, anti-Muslim slogans were combined with anti-Pakistan slogans. At Dudheshwar, Astodia and Manekchowk, such incidents led to stone-pelting between Hindu and Muslim youths. The police then ordered that no effigies would be burnt without their permission.

Later, an attempt to create trouble during the Rathyatra festival on July 14 was foiled. But, after a brief lull, the trouble began again on July 20 when some people objected to harassment of a mentally unsound man in Dariapur. A clash ensued between two groups and, in no time, rioting broke out in nearby areas of Kalupur and Saraspur, leading to imposition of curfew.

Shoot-at-sight ordered

At least four persons were killed in fresh outbreak of communal violence here forcing the authorities to order shoot-at-sight and clamp indefinite curfew in Shahpur and Karanj localities.

A 32-year-old man was stabbed to death by some unidentified persons at Ratanpol and two persons werekilled in Shahpur and Maninagar localities of the city. A youth, who was stabbed and injured at Karanj area, succumbed to his injuries at a hospital. Another youth was stabbed at Raikhad, police said. The latest killings push up the death toll since communal violence broke out on Sunday to seven. Police said 20 people were injured in stabbing and stone-pelting incidents since then.