22 Nov 2002
ADVANI'S HAND BEHIND GUJARAT
CARNAGE?
From Jal Khambata
NEW
DELHI: Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani has been castigated
for "patently partisan" role in Gujarat's communal carnage
as also for "irresponsibly" peddling the theory of a
"foreign hand" behind the Godhra train coach burning in the
report of an independent "Concerned Citizens Tribunal"
comprising three retired judges of the Supreme Court and High Court
and others.
The Tribunal, which held Chief Minister
Narendra Modi and some of his Ministers as "unfit to hold any
public office" has brought out the complicity and hand of Advani
in the post-Godhra carnage, questioning him for dubbing Godhra as an
"act of terrorism" by a "foreign hand" without
any proof and describing the subsequent post-Godhra carnage as
"communal riot."
"What is inexcusable on his
part is the assumption of the role of both a lawyer holding the brief of
Hindu communalists as also of a presiding judge giving his verdict on the
carnage," says the bulky 2-volume report released in Ahmedabad on
Thursday and in Delhi on Friday. (
FULL REPORT )
The Tribunal also debunks him for
instantly rejecting the Forensic Science Laboratory Report on Godhra
train coach burning, wondering "was he doing so on behalf of the
Hindu communalists or the central government." It goes on to
blast him saying "it appears that like Shri Modi, he too keeps
forgetting that he holds constitutional office and is not a Sangh
pracharak."
The 8-member Tribunal points out that Advani
showed reluctance to visit extensively the affected areas of the
post-Godhra carnage immediately despite being a MP from Gandhinagar.
"His statements with regard to the entire carnage make people
wonder whether any impartial investigation is at all possible into
the charges against the accused, with him in charge of the home
affairs of the country." Certainly, it is the most stern
commentary on Advani ever.
Holding the Centre responsible for
not only failing in its constitutional duty and obligation to take
over the law and order administration in Gujarat and send Army that
takes direct orders from it but also having no intention to discharge
it at all, the Tribunal contrasts it with the Centre's prompt action
after the Akshardham Mandir massacre to conclude that "this only
shows that if the central government intended to take action, it
could have done so."
Even Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee has not been spared by the Tribunal pointing out that he had
cancelled a scheduled foreign visit in the wake of the post-Godhra
violence that spread badly on February 28 and late on that day he met
RSS and VHP leaders in the nation's capital, "not to discuss the
quartering and massacre of innocents in Gujarat but to dialogue on
the Ayodhya issue!"
The Tribunal regreted that "the
attitude of both Shri Vajpayee and Shri Advani appeared to aim at
diverting the nation's attention away from Gujarat, and directing it
instead towards Ayodhya and the happenings there." It points out
that "neither did the Prime Minister nor the Home Minister even
issue a stern order to the Chief Minister to crackdown on the lawless
elements." It says "the PM's prevaricating statements,
saying different things at different times at different places, left
everybody in utter confusion."
Retired Supreme Court
Judge P B Sawant, who was one of the members of the Tribunal besides
Justice V R Krishna Iyer and Justice Hosbet Suresh as the two other
judge members, told reporters in Delhi that its report was based on
testimony of 1500 witnesses from 16 of the 25 districts of Gujarat
and 2090 documents. Other Tribunal members were: Prof. Ghanshyam Shah
and Prof. Tanika Sarkar of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Retired
Tripura Director General of Police Dr K S Subramanian, PUCL President
Advocate K G Kannabiran and activist Aruna Roy.
The Tribunal's
findings, which holds Chief Minister Narendra Modi and some of his
Ministers as "all guilty of carnage" ought to be prosecuted
and "unfit to hold any public life", were first forwarded
to both the Centre and the State Government on August 20 for comments
and finalised only after they did not respond, Justice Sawant pointed
out.
He said the Tribunal has recommended enactment of a law
to deal with genocide and crimes against humanity as per the UN
convention on genocide since the present legal system was incapable
of handling such crimes. The Tribunal also suggested a standing
national tribunal for mass killings, be they related to communalism
or any other reason. END