Author:
Publication: South Asia Analysis
Group
Date: January 12, 2004
URL: http://www.saag.org/papers9/paper891.html
Executive Summary:
After the Godhra incident of February
2002, Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a widely publicized report titled, "We
Have No Orders to Save You: State Complicity and Communal Violence in Gujarat,"
published in April 30, 2002, claimed that the post-Godhra violence was
planned even before the Godhra incident occurred and the attacks on Muslims
in Gujarat were "state sponsored." HRW has authored many reports on communal
violence and human rights in India such as a 1999 report on anti-Christian
violence and two reports on the Mumbai riots of 1992-1993 in addition to
its annual reports on human rights practices worldwide.
Upon closer examination, it is seen
that extensive and systematic bias exists in these reports. Their most
glaring defect is the lack of concern for the rights and lives of the majority
community- the Hindus. Incidents of communal violence in which both the
Hindu majority and a particular minority community were involved in and
share the blame for are portrayed as one-sided attacks by Hindus against
"innocent minorities." Human rights abuses against Hindus are either ignored
or downplayed as compared to abuses suffered by minority groups.
In the 1995 report on the Mumbai
riots, HRW sought to place the blame for the violent events exclusively
on the Hindu community and completely ignored the role of Muslim communalism
in the riots. This should be compared with a more objective report on the
occurrences by the Srikrishna Commission. There was not a single eyewitness
account of attacks on Hindus in the HRW report even though Hindus had also
suffered many casualties!
Again, the 1999 HRW report on attacks
on Christians in India blamed Hindu nationalists for all the violence,
totally ignoring news reports and individual testimonies which go against
such generalizations. Even more disturbing, this report demonstrated hostility
towards the Hindu religion itself. It also attributed the 1984 anti-Sikh
riots following the assassination of Indira Gandhi to the right-wing Hindu
groups, while it is common knowledge that the riots were instigated by
Congress Party goons!
HRW's most extensive publication
on India was its 2002 report on the Gujarat violence. The report claimed
that the attacks on Muslims were all state sponsored and planned in advance
of the Godhra incident. Virtually all the blame for the violence is placed
on the Sangh Parivar and BJP government. A detailed examination of the
events shows that elements of both planning by Hindu extremists and a spontaneous
uprising of the populace at the outrage of Godhra were present in the Gujarat
violence. HRW, however, did not provide one iota of evidence in the report
to back up its assertion of the state having planned the violence in advance.
It also dramatically distorted the role of the police in the Gujarat violence.
The bias is further confirmed when
the report titled the chapter on attacks on Hindus as "Retaliatory Attacks
on Hindus" while the chapter on attacks on Muslims was titled, "Overview
of the Attacks Against Muslims." While the Hindu mobs were said to have
chanted "Jai Sri Ram" when attacking Muslims, the report conveniently avoided
incidents where the Muslim mobs shouted "Kill Hindus. Allah is with us"
when attacking Hindus.
The purpose of this paper is not
to ignore the role played by Hindu extremist groups in promoting communal
conflicts. Hindu extremists were unquestionably involved in the attacks
against Muslims in Gujarat. Furthermore, the Modi government willfully
neglected its duty to protect the rights and lives of its citizens and
promoted further communal polarization in a state with already tense communal
relations. Rather, this paper is an attempt to objectively analyze the
complexity of communal conflict in India and avoid the generalizations
associated with HRW reports.
