| Kerala stunned by revelations on Marad massacre | |||
|
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| The
commission's unambiguous indications on the involvement of some Muslim
League leaders and the role of the radical Islamist organisation, NDF,
have given rise to fears of their presence in the Kerala political
set-up. |
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| Justice
Thomas P Joseph Commission has categorically stated that NDF's local
leadership had planned and executed the May 3, 2003 carnage in which
nine fishermen were hacked to death. |
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| Home
Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan - after tabling the report in the
Assembly - said the Government had recommended a CBI enquiry to the
Marad massacre on the basis of the report. |
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| Observers
have been surprised by the report's finding which has mentioned that
the then UDF government under AK Antony had mysteriously failed to
recommend a CBI probe into the incident. |
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| They
also express shock at the commission's revelation that then industries
minister PK Kunhalikutty was not in favour of such a probe. |
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| The
report has criticised the then Kozhikode district administration for
its inaction and was hard on then district collector TO Sooraj, former
city police commissioner Sanjeev Padjoshi, assistant commissioner of
police, south, Abdul Rahim and then Crime Branch IG Mahesh Kumar
Singla. |
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| The
commission has also recommended probe into the conduct of Singla who
had headed the Crime Branch enquiry into the incident. The commission
states in its report that the Crime Branch had not conducted a proper
enquiry into the presence of huge cache of arms and ammunition on the
site of the incident as also the source of funds for conducting such a
massive operation. |
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| "All
these revelations are indicative of the damaging levels our democratic
and secular process has reached. There is no reason to disbelieve a
judicial panel and so we have to face it," said a cultural leader. |
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| Observers
are of the opinion that the commission report has clearly indicted the
Antony Government for not conducting a proper and impartial enquiry
into the massacre which had ramifications on the social psyche of the
State. |
|||
| "This
incident can be considered one of the major communal massacres the
State had ever seen. The Government sat on it without conducting a
detailed and thorough probe by a Central agency. Such a probe could
have given a clearer picture of the conspiracy. It seems that there was
a deliberate attempt on the part of the then UDF government to conceal
something," he said. |
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| In
the first Marad communal killings on January 2 and 3, 2002 there were
five deaths. Among the dead, three were Muslims and two Hindus. If what
the commission says in its report is true, despite trying to cool the
atmosphere, the political parties had tried to foment trouble and this
resulted in the carnage of 2003 in which the Hindu community was
pointedly targeted, said an observer. |
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| The
Kozhikode district administration and the government in power in the
State then failed miserably as there were intelligence reports of an
imminent danger and the Antony government either ignored the
Intelligence warnings or was not serious on such report. |
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| "There
is no point in Anotnoy's argument that the government under him
succeeded in containing the situation. After a gruesome massacre in
which nine people were chopped and hacked to death, how can a
politician say that he could contain violence?" asked a former Congress
functionary. |
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"Ours is a battle not for wealth or for power.
It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of human personality."
- Dr BR Ambedkar
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