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Frantic search for British sons lost in Gujarat riots Fears that 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, have died since unrest began Luke Harding in New Delhi Wednesday April 24, 2002 The Guardian The mothers of British Muslim cousins who disappeared when they were caught up in the communal riots in Gujarat nearly two months ago said last night that they had no intention of leaving India until they knew what had happened to them. Shakheel and Sayed Dawood, who were on holiday in India, were dragged from their Jeep by a Hindu mob 45 miles from the state's main city, Ahmedabad. Their nephew, Imran, escaped but a family friend and the driver were killed. Ayesha and Rabia Dawood, from Batley, West Yorkshire, are camping out in their ancestral village, Lajpore. They have distributed pamphlets and contacted relief camps where those left homeless by the riots are sheltering, but have found no trace of the two men. Shakheel's father, Abdulhai, who has lived in England since 1959, told the Indian Express: "My son even showed the rioters his passport, telling them he wasn't an Indian national but they wouldn't listen. Their names on the passport damned them." Their disappearance is a further embarrassment to the Indian government, already much criticised for letting the riots continue. A report by the British high commission in New Delhi, leaked last week, blamed the continuing violence in the state on its chief minister, Narender Modi, and his government, and suggested that the official death toll of 855 was a gross underestimate. A truer figure was 2,000, mainly Muslims, it suggested. The Dawood families are awaiting the result of DNA tests on human remains found at the scene. If the men are confirmed dead, the relatives may sue the Indian government in the British courts. Gujarat continued to smoulder yesterday. Another 17 people were killed at the weekend, and 100 injured. The dead included 10 Muslims shot in the head at point-blank range by police officers, apparently killed in revenge for one of their colleagues who was dragged into an alley and stabbed to death. Three more people died in Ahmedabad yesterday. The Indian prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has so far refused to give in to persistent opposition demands to sack Mr Modi, who belongs to the same Hindu nationalist party, the BJP. While secular Indians have been appalled by the destruction, Mr Modi has become a hero to hardliners in the BJP and its Hindu revivalist allies. The Gujarat state government promised yesterday that the latest police shootings would be investigated. The home secretary, K Nityanandam, said the inquiry would begin once he had learned more. "I need to take down full details from the officers of the concerned place," he said. "But preliminary reports definitely reveal that most of these victims were shot by the police on their heads." Few outside the BJP have much confidence in his findings. Since the rioting broke out after 59 Hindus were burned to death when a Muslim mob set fire to a train, Mr Modi's government has been accused of deliberately failing to stop Hindu gangs burning, stabbing and raping their Muslim neighbours. About 100,000 Muslims whose homes have been destroyed are living in relief camps and have received little or no help. Mr Modi has accused his critics of spreading "malicious propaganda". The row about the violence has paralysed the Indian parliament for more than a week. It has also dented India's reputation internationally. While Britain has maintained a diplomatic silence on the affair, and expressed only concern, other countries have been more damning. The Indian foreign ministry has responded by telling them to mind their own business. Since the September 11 attacks, New Delhi has argued that extremism is an Islamic problem which afflicts only its neighbour and rival, Pakistan: a claim that seems increasingly hollow given the rise of Hindu fundamentalism. But with the BJP in deep electoral trouble, many of its members believe that continuing Hindu-Muslim unrest is the best way to win back wobbling Hindu voters before the next general election in 2004. The leaked British report said that extremist Hindu groups were already planning to attack Gujarat's Muslim community well before the fatal assault on the train at Godhra on February 27. Guardian Unlimited � Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
