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Labour MPs want report on Gujarat violence published

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON MAY 20. A number of Labour MPs want the British Government's report on the Gujarat violence to be published and want it to exert pressure on New Delhi to ensure that the Sangh Parivar activists — alleged to have been involved in the killings — were brought to justice. A cross-party political consensus is being sought to be built up to back the legal battle, which British victims of the Gujarat riots plan to launch.

There is also pressure on the Government to curb the activities of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in Britain, following allegations that funds raised by it were being used to run anti-minorities' campaigns. Gujarati Muslims, who have demanded a ban on the organisation, are reported to have been assured that a "watch" would be kept on its activities. The "assurance" came as Gujarati Muslims, some of whom lost relatives and friends in the violence in the State, stepped up their campaign for British support to prosecute the Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, the Home Minister, Gordhan Zadaphiya, and a number of Sangh Parivar activists. On Sunday, two large public meetings, attended by Labour MPs, were held to press the British Government to act on the High Commission's report, which has pointed an accusing finger at the Gujarat administration.

At a meeting in Bolton, two local Labour MPs, Brian Iddon and David Crosby, assured their agitated constituents that they were mobilising a political consensus on the issue and that they intended to pursue the report's findings. "We want the report to be published," Dr. Iddon said. A Labour member of the European Parliament, Gary Tetley, who was also present, said the E.U. would continue to watch the situation in Gujarat and, if necessary, "take appropriate steps". He said the "tacit involvement of the State Government was very clear and the E.U. had taken a serious note of it", Hanif Master, a local leader, quoted him as saying.

At both meetings, the United Nations was urged to send a fact-finding mission, but some opposed it saying that enough documentation already existed to bring charges against those named in various reports.At another meeting, organised by the Indian Muslim Federation (U.K.) in Leytonstone, it was decided to take the Gujarat issue to the Minorities' Rights Group, a wing of the International Human Rights Commission. The demand for a ban on VHP's fund-raising activities was raised, and supported, by some non-Muslim groups.

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