Under curfew exists feeling of insecurity, a spark can give the situation another direction, says a fact-finding team of law students from AMU
By TCN News,
Mathura: At present there exists an uncertain peace under the shadow of PAC rifles but situation is tense. Various rounds of negotiations have proved futile. Markets are still closed. Both communities are blaming each other for the impasse and trying to take revenge, say two law students of Aligarh Muslim University after visiting the riot-hit Kosi Kalan town of Mathura district.
The riot erupted over a petty issue. A Hindu boy, after urinating, had taken water from a drum kept for Namazis near the local mosque on Friday (1st June 2012). There were some exchanges of filthy words from both sides. Muslims went to offer Juma prayer, meanwhile Jat community with the help of VHP and MLC and a former agriculture minister unleashed the fury on the homes and shops of Muslims. The incident ended with the death of four persons and twenty five others from both sides were wounded.
A clear sense of inferiority can be traced out in the Muslim community and the caste based politics has contributed a lot in increasing distress resulting in clashes, riots and so on. The very fabric of the society, the trust and cooperation are on the brink of the collapse, say law students Shahab Ahmed and Mohd Basel in their fact-finding report. They visited Kosi Kalan on 17th June.
Kosi Kalan on June 4, 2012.
Text of the fact-finding report
Caste-ism is the reality of India but communalism has been an important thing in Indian Politics, the caste identity has interacted with the communal identity in India to produce a portent mixture. Now conducing for political balance India has been defined and divided not only social, economic, class and profession lines but also on the religious line. Whatever the reason it is always the minority who has suffered more.
Muslims of India are fighting for their survival and for their recognition as an equal citizen across the all the strata of the society.
Nevertheless certain draconian laws and increasing prejudice against them of the socio political structure of contemporary India has continuously added more problems than any solution.
The so called appeasement of Muslims added more fuel to the communal propaganda of the right wing force and gave a new dimension of radicalization of the majority population.
What I found through my personal experiences is a continuous fight to prove my patriotism, a stigma of being a Muslim, we have been hated all around the world. I don’t know the reason even I don’t share views of fundamentalist forces of Muslims.
But the question which strikes my mind always is: why can’t we walk independently, why always have we to prove that we are nationalist not anti establishment, why can’t we work like our fellow Gupta ji, Sharma ji, Misra ji, Saraswat ji or any Kumar, why?
I have always taken in exploring and understanding of society. Last time I visited Gopalgarh post riot in October 2011, and the endless story of police prejudice, administrative failure and biased political instructions, so again now I am in Kosi Kalan, an area at distance of 40km from Mathura.
Kosi Kalan has rich history of cultural values and perhaps its initial name has been derived from the Kush (son of Lord Ram).
I reached Mathura at 1 PM on 17/06/2012 after 16 days of actual riot took place as a fact finding team.
I met a Jat boy of about my age in a three wheeler when I was about to reach Kosi Kalan. He boasted about the clash and admitted that he himself took part in that. I asked why and he answered that because he sees every Muslim as his enemy. I asked even me, he was speechless. Apart from any arguments later he guided to his area. I met some of the Jat middle aged and old aged persons sitting under a banyan tree. Before we could start any interaction the Jat boy Manish (name changed) introduced loudly that these fellows are Muslim and came to see the situation of our area. Abruptly an elder person pointed at our bag asking whether our bag has any explosive. I was completely speechless but smiling and I answered that you are similar to my father’s age and how could you say like that. I asked for the water they gave us. I started some basic questions like why this happened. They blamed Muslims for all sorts of problems. Some prominent arguments were put forwarded by them were like this; child ratio per Muslim family, all Muslim residing in Kosi Kalan area traitor, slaughter of buffaloes, dirty and violent life style of Muslims, uneducated people and madarsa education. They said that they have cooperated with Muslims always but they have betrayed them. The language used was so filthy that even any ordinary person would have been provoked. They took my I.D. card and used some slang on it but alas! We have no option but to have some more discussion.
There exists a sense of insecurity, a spark can give this tense situation another direction.
I met with a local journalist from local newspaper Kalpatru Express but Alas! His caste inclination reaffirmed his biasness. He put the same argument which I early had listened. He added that administration is with Muslims, then I asked why 4 Muslims have been killed.
All these clashes started over a petty issue of water which Muslims had kept for Namazis to drink after the Juma prayer at the local mosque. A person namely Dev Mehrauli (belonging to Vaishya community) cleaned his hand after taking water from that drum after urinating at some distance. It triggered Muslim sentiments and an exchange of foul words took place. Anyhow Muslims went to offer namaz inside the Mosque. The duration of gap was well utilized by the Jats with the help of VHP leader, RN Bhardwaj and Depak Jaiswal and had whole-hearted support of Lekhraj Chaudhary (M.L.C) and Chaudhray Laxmi Narayan, former BSP Agriculture minister. It is interesting to note that the municipal election is at hand in U.P. It is well known that why such thing occurs and the political leaders try to fulfill their lust of power.
This incident killed four person, 3 Muslim, Kallu, Bhura (both twins) and Salahuddin Shaikh and one Hindu Sonu Saini and around 25 persons injured. This clash gave opportunity to spread rumours against Muslims that they are misbehaving, molesting and even raping Jat female members. This intensified the riot, at least 150 shops were burned down and many houses were looted. The perpetrators had enough time to take valuable things with them safely, at least four mosques and one hospital of Muslims were also targeted.
At 10:30 PM of first day of riot, it was IG Javed who rescued from Mosque about 50 Muslims who could not come out due to fear of clash. The state officials had worked half heartedly. If the necessary steps had been taken earlier then the damage would have been minimized. Family of every dead victim has got Rs 5 lakh in compensation and every injured Rs. 50,000 but property claims are yet to be fulfilled.
Now, the area is under curfew but there exists a sense of insecurity, a spark can give this tense situation another direction.
Unfortunately no civil society group, no human rights group and no intellectual interference have been made so far.