Tag: muzaffarnagar riots

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Where we reward those who must be punished

Honest voices trying to shed light on atrocities are muted in our country, while blatant criminals are given Z Security.
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

This sure is a strange phenomenon. What is the logic that prompts successive Governments to reward criminals with immunity and protection?

Take the case of Sangeet Som (in picture above), one of the main accused in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots. The newspapers say he is due to get Z Security by the establishment. It seems to me that today, all one requires to be protected is to belong to a Right Wing organisation.

Does this mean that our laws are to be used only for commoners such as you and I? If you’re a politician in India, you could commit abominable acts of criminality and not just be left untouched, but also subsequently garlanded!

And then there is the story of Shubradeep Chakravorty.

Shubradeep (in pic on right) was a New Delhi-based journalist who later became a documentary filmmaker. He passed away here on Monday this week.Shubradeep Chakravorty I had met him and his wife Meera soon after he had made the controversial documentary After The Storm. The documentary focussed on seven young Muslim men who had been jailed on terror charges, only to be proven innocent and later acquitted from various courts. However, by then, they had been ruined on every possible front.

The documentary also highlighted how the men did not receive any compensation from the Government. I remember a comment that Shubradeep made on the sidelines of the film, “These seven (in the film) are a small number. At one 1,000 innocent young Muslim men could be jailed in India, implicated with terror charges on their heads…”

Last autumn, soon after the Muzaffarnagar riots, he and Meera had travelled extensively in the area, making another startling documentary, In Dino Muzaffarnagar, on the ‘political truths’ behind the incident. As was to be expected, the documentary ran into trouble from the start – it was banned after an initial screening at Mumbai’s Prithvi Theatre, then refused clearance for screening by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). He applied to the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) against the CBFC decision, but that was also turned down.

Shubradeep was not one to give up, and he was determined to fight the “gagging order on the film by the Modi establishment.” However, the stresses of the case caused him to suffer a brain haemorrhage and he slipped into a coma, finally dying at a young 42 years of age this week.

I hope his widow, Meera, carries on his legacy and tries her best to show his documentaries to a larger audience.

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Pictures courtesy www.thehindu.com, www.flickr.com)

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Back to Muzaffarnagar

How is a pogrom planned and executed? The riots of Muzaffarnagar and other subsequent developments are a recent, ongoing example.
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

Several people tell me I focus too much on Muzaffarnagar, but I’m in no apologetic mood. I’m trying to focus on and bring attention to what seems to be a genocide.

Yes, that’s blunt. Equally blunt is my belief that today’s politicians are using the age-old strategy of killing in a systematic way. First, riots are made to occur – no riot can start and spread without the knowledge of the police and the State machinery. Provocations are used to ignite an already charged atmosphere. The pogrom is allowed to go on, not stopped. And as research shows, the police play a partisan role.

If recruitment at the police constable level takes place on the basis of caste and community, then it should come as no shock to anyone that the police join the rioters when the riot goes against their own caste. The hapless victims are either killed or made to flee. 

At this stage, the land and political mafia grab the (forcibly) vacated lands and homes and fields. Meanwhile, nobody cares a damn if the affected riot victims die or live like third class citizens. If they dare to point fingers or accuse the wrongdoers, other strategies are used – encounter killings or terror charges are heaped on the victims’ heads and they sit languishing in jails.

In Muzaffarnagar, though, Akhilesh and Mulayam Yadav have gone a step ahead. The riots went uncontrolled, were allowed to spread to the rural belt, and survivors were not allowed to survive. Even those tattered tents sheltering the victims were pulled off, killing most of them in these freezing temperatures.

The father-son duo is now playing a bigger game – first it was rioting, then  the hounding of the survivors, then an overnight removal of relief tents, then the bulldozing of the very muzaffarnagar riotsstretch where the survivors would sit and where the dead lay in fresh graves. Now, relief workers and activists and the media are being kept at a ‘safe distance’, by introducing a new ‘terror angle’! And to complete this picture of apathy and sheer insensitivity, thick-skinned bureaucrats of the Uttar Pradesh sarkar quip, “Nobody dies of cold…people survive in Siberia”!

Can we ask these politicians and bureaucrats to step outside their heated offices, and head to these places in this biting cold, not wearing their sweaters and jackets and mufflers, amidst the fog and the mist and the intermittent drizzles? Will they do it? Can they?

It is with a sense of rage that I say: Shame these politicians! After terrorising a hapless population, they are pushing these people towards death – all out there in the open!

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Pictures courtesy www.indianexpress.com)

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As the book launch season approaches…

The winter comes and brings with it the usual book launch season. Meanwhile, political developments continue to cast a spell.
by Humra Quraishi

Instead of launching into a record of negatives in the country – corruption, sickness, escalating crimes, to name a few – let me start this column on a positive note. Though more and more amongst us are taking to writing both long and short stories, I am still amazed at the number of books being released all over the country. Come autumn and the season of book launches takes off.

New Urdu writingsI have just returned from a great little book launch, by Westland-Tranquebar. Titled New Urdu Writings: From India and Pakistan, this anthology carries 30 short stories by Indian and Pakistani Urdu writers. It has been edited by Delhi-based writer Rakshanda Jalil.

This book launch was different from the usual ones. The three speakers at the event – Sudha Sadanand, Managing Editor of Westland-Tranquebar, lyricist Javed Akhtar (who launched the anthology) and Rakshanda Jalil – spoke from the heart. Rakshanda (in pic below), particularly, stressed that she was Rakshanda Jalilfocussing on contemporary writings from India and Pakistan.

Naturally, focus shifted to the fate and future of the Urdu language and the misconceptions around it, as also the roles of translators. In fact, now that I think about it, we wouldn’t have read so much Urdu writing if it hadn’t been translated from Urdu to English.

But bringing me back to the present with a thump was the shocker that the BJP was planning to felicitate two of their party men – Sangeet Som and Suresh Rana, both MLAs – both of whom have been named as the prime accused in the recent Muzaffarnager riots. And then emerged the sordid ‘Sahib, biwi aur ghulam’ saga involving Amit Shah and his sahib, on whose orders the former used State machinery to stalk a young woman.

Amit ShahAnd while a purported BJP worker throws ink on Arvind Kejriwal’s face, the dynamics between the AAP and Anna Hazare’s supporters continue to confuse us all. Why are Anna’s supporters trying their best to sabotage Arvind Kejriwal’s election campaign?

Hard questions, with no answers in sight.

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

 (Pictures courtesy www.westlandbooks.in, www.thingsontop.com, zeenews.india.com, www.thehindu.com)

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When scenes of strife sicken

Images of riots make us yearn for human suffering to stop. But what about those who actively manufacture that suffering?
Humra QuraishiHumra  Quraishi

I realise that I am talking about the Muzzaffarnagar riots for the third consecutive week through this column. And I also realise that it is futile to keep harping on the patterns of riot and how similar they were to those witnessed during the Partition.

In this connection, I remember interviewing Sunil Dutt soon after the Mumbai riots of the 90s. I asked him if there was any solution to the civil strife and the rioting. And he’d nodded and said, “Yes, there can be a solution. Last night I was going through the latest issue of Time magazine, and the horrifying photographs of war-ridden Somalia shocked me so much that I couldn’t eat. It was dinner time but I couldn’t touch a morsel. Those pictures of people dying, injured and ill, rendered so helpless that most couldn’t even walk.

“And now I am going to suggest that those pictures and others be displayed all over our towns and cities, at all public places and sunil_dutteducational institutions of our country. They should be displayed with this caption, ‘See what war can do to you, your country, your fellow human beings.’”

I had probed him on allegations that he was working only for the minorities during the Hindu-Muslim riots. Looking suitably pained, he’d said, “These are filthy allegations. These are things I can’t even dream of – like people calling me a Pakistani agent or a desh drohi married to a Muslim! Why this propaganda that I’ve worked only for Muslims? When I undertook a padyatra from Mumbai to Amritsar, it was for no Muslim cause, it was for Hindus and Sikhs!

“Even during the Bombay riots, I helped whoever was affected. Obviously I couldn’t first ask them their religion and then help them. Though I have been a victim of the Partition myself, I have suffered tremendously, but my mother taught us never to hate another human being. I have passed this on to my children. It’s important to spread this message because once there is anarchy, it ruins everything.”

And while the tension abates somewhat over Muzaffarnagar (or that is what we believe, safe in our homes elsewhere), I am wondering about former army chief General VK Singh’s recent revelations. Sitting on his safe perch, assured of a strong political career with Narendra Modi as his chief, with an adequate monthly pension to boot, the General has only now spoken about money being given to certain politicians in the Kashmir Valley.

VK singhTwo things: one, if General VK Singh was aware of this, why didn’t he speak out earlier? Why now? Also, if what he is saying is true, is it really as shocking as all that? Don’t we all know that it is an ongoing trend to have money pumped from one location to another – to silence many voices and to keep one’s rule intact?

Little wonder, then, that in each and every conflict zone of this country, a certain section of society thrives. It’s this section – comprising politicians, informers, suppliers, sometimes even the police – that gets rich and flourishes. No wonder, also, that so many conflicts take place in the country fairly regularly.

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Pictures courtesy www.the-south-asian.com, www.firstpost.com, www.topnews.in)

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Why the silence on ‘those’ rapes?

Several women were reportedly raped and molested during the recent Muzaffarnagar riots in UP. Why is nobody talking about them?
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

Last week saw two crucial announcements taking place – one, death for the four Delhi rapists of Nirbhaya, and two, the official appointment of Narendra Modi as the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate for the General Elections next year.

Both these announcements put to mind a certain fact – hundreds of women were raped in the 2002 Gujarat pogrom, and more recently, there were reports of rape and sexual harassment of women from the ‘weaker sections’ during the Muzaffarnagar riots.

I cannot fathom the silence about these atrocities. Why were these victims not allowed to lodge formal complaints? Who are these rapists? Why are there no arrests? Why were no death sentences passed against them? Why are the criminals allowed to go untouched, or even allowed to escape?

What is the establishment saying: that rapes taking place during a pogrom or a communal riot can be forgotten or bypassed? That they are modi not important enough to merit investigation? Except for certain sections of the national media, not one political party in the country has spoken about this extremely disturbing news; that women were harassed and raped and molested during the recent rioting in West Uttar Pradesh. And that they and their families have not dared to file a formal complaint, perhaps out of fear of the aftermath.

So many women sit bruised and broken…

It is this acceptance of such grave injustice that worries me the most. And it has been happening right from the 2002 pogrom. I have been meeting Muslims affected in Gujarat on and off since 2002, and they have been saying over and over that they have learnt to live like second class citizens, with third class living conditions. They dare not speak out against the powers that be, for that could mean doom. If they have to survive, they have no choice but be silent spectators to their own pain and humiliation.

Some of them, I fear, could even be lured towards Modi’s political party, a party that wears a multitude of masks! The BJP is a party that believes in multiplying through an array of shrewd strategies amidst a conspiracy of silence and clever attacks.

Even more worrying is the feeling of doom in the air…much before the elections of 2014 come about, there have been very worrying developments in the country. A very militant sort of communalism is rearing its ugly head bit by bit. Are we to sit and quietly await developments, even as injustices are meted out every day?

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Pictures courtesy daily.bhaskar.com, www.sandeepweb.com)

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In memory of Muzaffarnagar

A peaceful town in its earlier years is currently the battleground for communal hatred. What caused this change and why?
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

I was born in Uttar Pradesh and I spent my childhood and my carefree teenage years in that State. I travelled to several remote villages and locales there because my father was particular about his family – my amma and his children – tagging along in our open jeep or in our Baby Hindustan car.

We had travelled through Western UP’s Muzaffarnagar and the adjoining belt on several occasions. I can still recall the sights: sprawling sugarcane fields, dozens of workers on the fields, several zamindars and farmers walking about. There was never a bit of tension among communities and never any question raised about caste or creed, and certainly no communal hatred. We’d spent hours initially roaming about, even travelled late at night and it seemed so perfect. Not once did we hear any mention of so-and-so being a Yadav or a Jat or a Musalmaan or a Brahmin.

All of those idyllic images from my childhood were rudely shattered from the early 90s onwards, with worsening communal tensions over the years. The hatred spread all over, furious and uncontrolled. In 2007 or 2008, at a SAARC writers meet in Agra, I’d asked the New Delhi-based historian Rifaqat Ali details about the ground situation in and around that belt. His observations were particularly relevant because he hails from rural Aligarh.

He said, “The fact is this: only a Jat or a Yadav can have the confidence to write his name atop his vehicle. For a Musalmaan it will spell death or doom. He dare not flaunt his name, Muzaffarnagar picks up gunsespecially in an unknown area.” On another occasion, an academic who belongs to Western Uttar Pradesh told me that though his wife wears a burqa or a hijab, he finds the practice unsafe when they travel homewards. “It is prudent not to ‘look’ like a Musalmaan, for your vehicle could be stopped and damaged, and you could be attacked…anything could happen.”

If you ask about the cops and what they do to save or salvage the mounting tensions, the answers you receive reveal a complexity beyond the expected corruption in the ranks. Apparently, at the constable level, they are recruited as per their caste and creed, so when a situation arises, they act or attack based on whether their community is involved. A Yadav minister or Chief Minister would be more than tempted to enroll as many Yadavs in the force as possible. A Jat minister would do likewise, and this pattern continues across several castes. It would be interesting to know the exact percentage of cops vis-a-vis the community ruling at that moment.

And this communal hatred has spread to the nearby villages and qasbas and towns of Western Uttar Pradesh. Right-wing goons have turned the area into a cesspool. Till date, the BJP MLA from that particular area, Sangeet Som, has not been arrested and thrown into prison, despite uploading the fake video that started the recent mess and which will affect generations of people forever. Nor have other politicians involved in the issue.

Ironical, isn’t it, that the same belt of Western Uttar Pradesh, which had seen the start of the ouster of the British from our land with the Mutiny of 1857 is today embroiled in anarchy? But what happens next? Obviously, a thick-skinned politician or an absolute fool might appear on TV and say, “All is coming back to normal! Only 37 are dead and another 100 are injured, and several others have fled. But the situation is under control!”

What about the four BJP men accused on inciting violence and who have gone underground? What was the police doing? Where were the inputs from IB? What about the role of the Akhilesh Yadav Government? Even if the father-son duo of Mulayam and Akhilesh cry themselves hoarse with the “It’s a Right-wing conspiracy!” refrain, the question they are still not answering is: Why didn’t their police force act?

Humra Quraishi is a senior journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Pictures courtesy www.thehindu.com, www.hindustantimes.com)

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