Sunday, May 19, 2002
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By Batuk Gathani
It adopted a resolution on Thursday "strongly condemning" all sectarian violence in India, which "followed the burning to death of 58 Hindus on a train" in February. It called on the Central and State Governments to continue to "investigate the killings" and resolved to support efforts for the rehabilitation of the refugees. It noted, "Most of the dead are Muslims and the escalation of violence was a direct consequence of reprisals against the Muslims following the attack on the train. The Parliament had expressed its concern over the violence in the State following its "general affairs council" meeting in mid-April. The Parliamentarians debated the issue mindful that Article 25 of the Indian Constitution guarantees freedom of religion and said successive Governments had committed themselves to protecting minority ethnic and religious groups. They appreciated the fact that the incidents had been condemned by the political leadership. The Parliament said the trouble in Gujarat had not affected other parts of the country, which testified to the underlying strength of India's democratic and tolerant society. A prominent British member of the European Parliament, Charles Tannock, said, "No system of government is perfect, but since the (Indian) Army was called in, already some 30,000 arrests have been made with 80 per cent of those arrested being Hindus. It is also significant that the violence did not spread to other parts of India, while large areas of Gujarat remain calm." "We should not forget that India is currently reeling under a series of atrocious terrorist attacks by Islamist `jehadi' extremists, more recently the killing of 30 people, including women and children on the outskirts of Jammu," an attack which made the dangerous threat of war more likely between the nuclear-armed India and Pakistan. "The international community must urgently do everything possible to prevent any further escalation of violence which might threaten global peace," Dr. Tannock said. Similar sentiments were echoed by Maria Carillho, chairperson of European Parliament's South Asia delegation, who was recently in India. Another Parliamentarian, Dupluis, of Italy, stated that India was the biggest democracy in the world and regretted that the EU paid more attention to China and Pakistan. The Green Party parliamentarian was critical of India and stated that the Gujarat violence was "orchestrated" by State Government authorities. India's stand was supported by Thomas Mann, a prominent Christian Democrat of Germany, and Sakellario, a German Parliamentarian, who has been a "warm friend" of India.
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