mahussain3
Son of Aa'ishah(R.A)
NEW DELHI (AFP) - A private television news network broadcast footage of men accused of taking part in deadly Gujarat riots in 2002 apparently admitting that the Hindu-ruled local government supported violence against Muslims.
The Headlines Today network Thursday showed secretly recorded interviews by a news magazine with several people it identified as right-wing Hindus.
The video interviews show several men reportedly boasting about their role in the widespread killings and referring to the involvement of police and tacit support of politicians.
The news investigation was carried out by magazine Tehelka (Hindi for sensation), which has previously done several hard-hitting secret investigations.
"In Tehelka's ground-breaking investigation, for the first time hear the truth of the genocidal killings from the men who actually did it," Tehelka said on its website.
The footage shows a man reportedly admitting to slitting a pregnant woman's stomach and bringing out the foetus with a sword -- an incident that has been widely reported in the media.
The news network did not get a later comment from the men whose interviews were secretly taped.
The western Gujarat state is ruled by India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and is headed by hawkish Hindu leader Narendra Modi.
Several of those shown on television were said to be Hindu militants from groups affiliated to the BJP.
Rights groups have accused Modi, who faces polls in December, of encouraging the violence.
Last week, Modi walked out of a television interview when persistently quizzed over his role in the riots.
Attacks on Muslims
In Naroda, according to Human Rights Watch, at least 65 Muslims were killed, many of them women who were sexually assaulted by violent mobs. One of the witnesses stated before the Nanavati commission that that BJP leader Maya Kodnani, Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi and others had allegedly led mobs on February 28,2002 in the Naroda-Patia area.
A high profile case involved an Ex-Congress MP who was surrounded by Hindu Mobs (including Congress workers) while many other Muslim residents in the area took shelter in his compound. Ehsaan was believed to have contacted the local police stations, MPs of the area as well as the Chief Minister Modi to save the people from the ever increasing mob. However, no police reinforcement had reached his place and few policemen present were ineffective and unwilling to control the violent mob." Eventually he was burnt to death, along with fifty others.
According to HRW in its widely-quoted report, mobs of "thousands" (including people from "secular" parties), dressed in "saffron scarves and khaki shorts" - the signature uniform of the RSS - and "armed with swords, sophisticated explosives, and gas cylinders", were guided by voter lists and printouts of addresses of Muslim-owned properties, information obtained from the local municipal administration. The report further charged that in some cases members of the state police force "led" the mobs, "aiming and firing at every Muslim who got in the way", or instead of offering assistance "led the victims directly into the hands of their killers". Calls for assistance to the police, fire brigades, and even ambulance services generally proved futile.
Qutubuddin Ansari is a Gujarati Muslim tailor who made headlines India-wide after being photographed pleading a Hindu mob for his life during the riots. He later left Gujarat and settled in Calcutta, at the behest of West Bengal's ruling CPI(M) government
The Headlines Today network Thursday showed secretly recorded interviews by a news magazine with several people it identified as right-wing Hindus.
The video interviews show several men reportedly boasting about their role in the widespread killings and referring to the involvement of police and tacit support of politicians.
The news investigation was carried out by magazine Tehelka (Hindi for sensation), which has previously done several hard-hitting secret investigations.
"In Tehelka's ground-breaking investigation, for the first time hear the truth of the genocidal killings from the men who actually did it," Tehelka said on its website.
The footage shows a man reportedly admitting to slitting a pregnant woman's stomach and bringing out the foetus with a sword -- an incident that has been widely reported in the media.
The news network did not get a later comment from the men whose interviews were secretly taped.
The western Gujarat state is ruled by India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and is headed by hawkish Hindu leader Narendra Modi.
Several of those shown on television were said to be Hindu militants from groups affiliated to the BJP.
Rights groups have accused Modi, who faces polls in December, of encouraging the violence.
Last week, Modi walked out of a television interview when persistently quizzed over his role in the riots.
Attacks on Muslims
In Naroda, according to Human Rights Watch, at least 65 Muslims were killed, many of them women who were sexually assaulted by violent mobs. One of the witnesses stated before the Nanavati commission that that BJP leader Maya Kodnani, Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi and others had allegedly led mobs on February 28,2002 in the Naroda-Patia area.
A high profile case involved an Ex-Congress MP who was surrounded by Hindu Mobs (including Congress workers) while many other Muslim residents in the area took shelter in his compound. Ehsaan was believed to have contacted the local police stations, MPs of the area as well as the Chief Minister Modi to save the people from the ever increasing mob. However, no police reinforcement had reached his place and few policemen present were ineffective and unwilling to control the violent mob." Eventually he was burnt to death, along with fifty others.
According to HRW in its widely-quoted report, mobs of "thousands" (including people from "secular" parties), dressed in "saffron scarves and khaki shorts" - the signature uniform of the RSS - and "armed with swords, sophisticated explosives, and gas cylinders", were guided by voter lists and printouts of addresses of Muslim-owned properties, information obtained from the local municipal administration. The report further charged that in some cases members of the state police force "led" the mobs, "aiming and firing at every Muslim who got in the way", or instead of offering assistance "led the victims directly into the hands of their killers". Calls for assistance to the police, fire brigades, and even ambulance services generally proved futile.
Qutubuddin Ansari is a Gujarati Muslim tailor who made headlines India-wide after being photographed pleading a Hindu mob for his life during the riots. He later left Gujarat and settled in Calcutta, at the behest of West Bengal's ruling CPI(M) government