Gujarat Report Clears Modi, Shocks Muslims By:- Shuriah Niazi

DELHI – In the final act of a 12-year drama, Justice GT Nanavati Commission has submitted its report probing the 2002 Gujarat massacre, shocking the majority of India Muslims who saw it as complete hog-wash which erased their final hope of demanding justice for those killed in the riots.

“The report outlandishly favors the Gujarat government,” Sharique Khan, an executive in a private firm, told OnIslam.net.

“They have not only given clean chit to Narendra Modi, but have also concluded that Gujarat government did its best to stop riots. It’s a one-sided report,” he added.

The Gujarat riots were triggered by an incident of train burning in Godhra on February 27, 2002, in which Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya were killed.

More than 2,000 Muslims were hacked and burnt to death in Gujarat in 2002 by Hindu mobs after Hindu pilgrims died in a train fire, which was first blamed on Muslims but turned accidental due to a later inquiry.

Several investigations at the state and federal levels accused police of failing to protect Muslims under orders from Modi and his aides, fanning one of the worst instances of sectarian violence in India.

Twelve years ago, the Gujarat government formed a panel to probe the burning of Sabarmati Express in Godhra and the subsequent violence across the state.

The commission was granted 24 extensions by the Gujarat government. The commission comprised retired judges GT Nanavati and Akshay Mehta.

The Justice Nanavati Commission’s final report was submitted to Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel on November 18.

The panel found no proof of erstwhile Gujarat government’s involvement in the post-Godhra carnage. The panel is reported to have given clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was the Chief Minister of Gujarat at the time of the incident.

The report says there was no credible evidence to prove Modi government’s involvement in the communal riots.

But for majority of Muslims in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is someone who was involved in massacre of hundreds of Muslims in February-March 2002 in different parts of the state in the aftermath of Godhra train burning incident.

Shock

Clearing Modi from his role in the Gujarat carnage of 2002, the commission’s report was a shock to many Muslims.

“Hundreds of Muslims lost their lives but the commission could not find any proof of the role played by the Gujarat government,” Muslim scholar Mufti Ahsan told OnIslam.net.

“It is ironical that the biggest democracy of the world couldn’t ensure justice for the hundreds of its innocent citizens who were cold-bloodedly murdered,” he added.

The commission submitted its report after twelve years of the Godhra riots. Earlier in 2008, the commission submitted first part of its report on train burning in Godhra. It said that the burning of train was a planned conspiracy. The part dealing with subsequent riots was submitted on November 18, 2014.

However, a central government employee Aamir Habib said that the report hasn’t come as a surprise to him.

“They (the commission members) don’t have the power to summon the Prime Minister of India. How can they ask him to appear in front of them? After all it is a Hindu majority country and we have to accept the fact,” he told OnIslam.net.

“The commission was nothing but a monumental exercise to hoodwink the people. They have been successful in saving the Gujarat government.”

The commission’s report is 2,000 pages long and divided into several volumes in which the commission refers to more than 50,000 affidavits.

“The inquiry dragged for 12 long years. It was a futile exercise. They wasted so much money and time. And finally their outcome is that the government had done everything to stop riots in Gujarat which killed more than 1000 people,” said Faraz Sayyed, a journalist.

However, many Muslims now feel that the community should move forward and forget about Gujarat riots.

“We knew the outcome. They can’t take action against the Prime Minister. We expect Muslim community to forget about it and work for the development,” said Azim Ansari, a local leader.

Another Muslim cleric Mufti Shees told OnIslam.net, “Let’s not go back to 2002. Let’s move forward. We have suffered enough and should focus on our own development instead of going for blame game.

“I think we should wait for justice from the Almighty instead of wasting our energy on these reports,” he added.

Source : http://www.onislam.net