Focus

The Muslim community voiced its anguish at the “betrayal” by the Congress-NCP government and the lack of political will to implement the Srikrishna Commission’s report on the Mumbai riots of 1992-93.


The National Commission for Minorities headed by former Union Minister Mohammed Shafi Qureshi was hearing public representatives and NGOs on various issues concerning the minorities recently. Though important issues such as education, lack of jobs and overall discrimination were raised, the most vital point was the complete lack of justice after the riots. People expressed their feelings of insecurity 14 years after the communal carnage in Mumbai. The hearing at the State government guest house took a noisy turn when people’s representatives tried to speak and articulate issues concerning the community.


Arif Naseem Khan, Congress MLA, bore the brunt of the anger and his speech was shouted down with cries of “down with the Maharashtra government.” “The purpose of the protest is to pressurise the government to fulfill its commitments made to the riot victims. It is important for people to raise their voices,” said Sarfaraz Arzu, editor of Urdu daily Hindustan and a social activist.


Yusuf Muchala, one of the lawyers who fought the case against all odds, accused the two parties ruling Maharashtra in coalition, as “covertly communal.” At least, the Shiv Sena and the BJP were forthright in rejecting the report, he said.


Farid Batatawala, who has been campaigning for riot victims for 14 years, said that in the two major incidents during the riots, Suleiman Usman Bakery and Hari Masjid incidents, the government must punish the guilty policemen.  Habib Fakir, educationist, said the government lacked the political will to implement the Srikrishna Commission’s report. The Commission also heard depositions from the riot victims. Tariq Wagle narrated how his son Shahnawaz, who was 16 in 1993, was shot dead by the police in front of him. Till now, the policemen involved had not been punished, Wagle said.


On January 10, 1993, Taher Hasan Wagle’s 16-year-old son Shahnawaz was allegedly picked up by police during a combing operation from his Dockyard Road residence in a predominantly Muslim building. “My son was shot at from point-blank range, the rifle butt jabbed into his back and then he was taken away. The next morning, he died,” said Wagle. Farooq Mapkar (41), who was injured in the Hari Masjid firing, said that he was a victim, but the police had charged him with murder. Till today, no case had been filed against the policemen but he was facing trial.


“Because I dared to be a witness against the atrocities of the law enforcers during the riots, the police is now charging me with murder,” said Farooq Mapkar, who was present in Wadala’s Hari Masjid when six men offering prayers were killed in police firing. While the police claimed they were firing to stop a frenzied mob, the Srikrishna Commission report stated that the police action had been entirely “unprovoked”.


Dr. Zeenat Shaukat Ali, Professor of Islamic studies, said that, “as an Indian, it is a big shame that I have to come here and ask for justice when the Indian Constitution does not discriminate.”


Saumya Uma from Women’s Research and Action Group said “If justice is not met, it is not only the concern of Muslims but a concern for all of us.” Shakeel Ahmed, an activist of the Nirbhay Bano Andolan, who was accompanied by his band of sloganeering supporters, held a placard with names of the police officers that Justice Srikrishna had indicted and whom the state government had promoted.


Ahmed, also a petitioner in a Supreme Court case seeking action against the policemen indicted by Justice B N Srikrishna in his report, repeated his primary demands: “Action against the policemen who perpetrated injustice. There is tremendous lack of faith among people in the police force. This can be rectified by taking strong and immediate action against policemen who participated in violence against the minorities.”


Journalist Dileep Padgaonkar, an NCM member, says, “Let me clarify that the NCM is just a statutory body. We have no executive powers”. Set up immediately after the massacres of Muslims in the post-Babri demolition riots, the NCM is an advisory body to monitor and safeguard the rights of the minorities.