Refugee Review Tribunal AUSTRALIA

RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE

Research Response Number: IND32812 Country: Date: 7 February 2008

Keywords: India – – Political overview – Elections – Muslims – Religious violence – Caste violence

This response was prepared by the Research & Information Services Section of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. This research response may not, under any circumstance, be cited in a decision or any other document. Anyone wishing to use this information may only cite the primary source material contained herein.

Questions

1. What is the political scene in Gujarat? 2. What is the state of religious conflict (if any) in Gujarat? 3. Please outline the caste conflicts (if any) in Gujarat.

RESPONSE

1. What is the political scene in Gujarat?

The state of Gujarat has re-elected [of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya - BJP] Chief Minister for a third term:

Mr Modi's BJP won 117 of 182 seats in the state assembly. Its main rival, the Congress party, won 59 seats. The chief minister is set to begin a third term after Sunday's win. ... It is the fourth consecutive BJP election victory in Gujarat. The Congress party acknowledged its defeat in the state, but reminded voters of religious riots in 2002. (‘BJP to announce fresh Modi term’ 2007, BBC News, 24 December – Accessed 29 January 2008 – Attachment 1)

Narendra Modi is also blamed for colluding in the anti-Muslim riots of 2002:

As a cheerleader for the emerging India, a giant democracy with—at last—an economy to match, Narendra Modi is a disgrace. His six-year leadership of Gujarat, a booming western state, is widely cited as a paragon of economic management. But double-digit growth is not all that Mr Modi—who is seeking re-election in a poll due to begin on December 11th—is alleged to have orchestrated. There is also the small matter of 2,000 murdered Muslims, victims of a 2002 pogrom carried out by his Hindu-nationalist followers with the collusion of Gujarat's bureaucracy and police. This week the widow of a Muslim politician called Ahsan Jafri, whose limbs and genitals were hacked off and the rest of him burned alive, was due to file a petition in the Supreme Court, accusing Mr Modi of mass murder. There is little justice for Muslims in Gujarat. Only eight people have been convicted over the pogrom, mostly in neighbouring states. In Gujarat, some 2,000 cases remain pending. A small matter, however, is just how the pogrom is viewed in Gujarat, the birth-place of , and a bastion of prohibition, vegetarianism and gnat-respecting Jains. Its last election, later in 2002, gave Mr Modi a thumping majority, biggest in those districts where the bloodshed was worst. Mr Modi's campaign that year exploited anti-Muslim sentiment. He foamed and raved against 's leader, Pervez Musharraf—meaning, his audiences knew, scheming Muslims in their midst. Many considered—and consider—the pogrom to be a legitimate act of revenge against a poor minority making up 9% of Gujarat's population. It was organised by supporters of Mr Modi's (BJP) after 58 Hindu activists were killed in a fire on a train for which, on scant evidence, Muslims were blamed. ... Leaders of two powerful castes, the Patels and Kolis, which usually vote BJP, have rebelled against Mr Modi. ... After all, last month, in a brave investigation into the pogrom, an Indian magazine, , published transcripts of Gujarati Hindu-nationalists confessing to hideous murders and rapes. One alleged that Mr Modi had granted them three days to do this work unimpeded by the police—which is in fact what happened. No action has been taken against them. (‘Don’t mention the massacre’2007, The Economist, 6 December http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10251282 – Accessed 29 January 2007 – Attachment 2)

2. What is the state of religious conflict (if any) in Gujarat?

A 2006 Research Response provides background information on the riots in Gujarat and notes:

The Indian state of Gujarat is well known for communal violence between and Muslims. According to Christophe Jaffrelot, between 1970 and 2002, Gujarat experienced 443 Hindu – Muslim riots. “The riot in in 1969, which left 630 dead, remained the most serious riot” (Jaffrelot, J. 2003, ‘Communal Riots in Gujarat: The State at Risk?’, Heidelberg Papers in South Asian and Comparative Politics, Working paper No. 17, July http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/volltexte/2003/4127/pdf/hpsacp17.pdf – Accessed 8 November 2006 – Attachment 1) (Research Country Research 2006, Research Response IND30931, 16 November. Attachment 3)

The latest US State Department Report reports extensively on past and current year problems and violence in Gujarat:

Hundreds of court cases remained in connection with the 2002 Gujarat violence. … Section II. Status of Religious Freedom Legal/Policy Framework

The Ministry for Minority Affairs, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) are governmental bodies created to investigate allegations of discrimination and make recommendations for redress to the relevant local or national government authorities. Although NHRC recommendations do not have the force of law, central and local authorities generally follow them. The NCM and NHRC intervened in several high profile cases, including the 2002 anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat and other instances of communal tension, the enactment of anti-conversion legislation in several states, and incidents of harassment and violence against minorities. … Restrictions on Religious Freedom In February 2007 cinema owners and distributors in Gujarat refused to screen the film "," depicting the sufferings of a Parsi family during the 2002 violence, out of fear of rekindling communal tensions and retaliation by the Hindu right, especially leader of Ahmedabad. groups in Gujarat, where the 2002 violence took place, had threatened to attack theaters that showed the film. The Indian Censor Board had already approved the film for countrywide distribution and the film was shown elsewhere in the country. … Abuses of Religious Freedom In August 2006 in Radhanpur, Gujarat, police firing killed three people (two Muslims and one Hindu) during protests by Muslims of the local administration's action to breach the wall of a Muslim cemetery to let flooding waters subside. … According to religious media, on September 21, 2006, a day after the Gujarat State Assembly passed an amendment to the 2003 "anti-conversion law," a group of extremists attacked eight Christians belonging to the Indian Missionary Society. The Christians filed a complaint against nine attackers and the police sub-inspector for physical abuse. Subsequently, authorities arrested the attacked on charges of engaging in forced conversions and carrying weapons. … In May 2006 despite Muslim community protests, the City Government demolished a 300-year-old shrine in Gujarat. While dispersing a mob of Muslim protestors, the Gujarat police killed two Muslims. The mob set four shops on fire in retaliation. Three Hindus were also stabbed to death in the mob violence and a group of Hindus set one Muslim man on fire. The Home Ministry deployed paramilitary forces and the army to assist local security personnel. The media reported that 6 persons were killed and 42 injured, 16 as a result of police fire. The NCM urged the State Government to ascertain if police firing was unavoidable and if the decision to destroy the shrine was justified. During the reporting period, the Gujarat Government did not take any steps to restore the shrine. … There was continued concern about the failure of the Gujarat Government to arrest and convict those responsible for the widespread communal violence in 2002. Home Ministry figures released in May 2005 indicated that 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed, and 2,500 others injured. Some NGOs maintained the number of Muslims killed was higher, with figures ranging anywhere from 1,000 to 2,500. There were also reports of rape, gang rape, and molestation of Muslim women. According to an October 2005 survey by the NHRC monitoring committee, approximately 4,300 Muslim families (between 25,000 - 30,000 individuals) were still internally displaced and living in makeshift camps with inadequate infrastructure facilities. People told the committee that they feared retaliation by their Hindu neighbors if they returned to their native villages. They also feared that Hindu neighbors would pressure them to withdraw their complaints filed in connection with the 2002 violence. In March 2006 the government-established commission headed by Justice Banerjee issued a report stating that the train fire was an accident and ruled out a Muslim conspiracy. The commission also accused the then-railway-Minister and the Railway Safety Commission of failing to adequately investigate the accident. The Gujarat High Court initially prevented the release of the report to Parliament; however, Indian Railways petitioned the Indian Supreme Court for its release, an appeal that was ongoing at the end of the reporting period. During the reporting period, the Nanavati-Shah commission, established in April 2002, continued its hearings into the Gujarat 2002 violence. It has received six month extensions on a regular basis and its current term is scheduled to end December 2007. In its February 2006 response to the Supreme Court, the Gujarat police said that it would reexamine 1,600 of the 2,108 cases that were closed after the riots. However, during the reporting period, the Gujarat police had closed as many as 1,600 cases, citing the unavailability of witnesses. During the previous reporting period, the Gujarat police registered 13 new riot-related cases and arrested 640 accused between August 2004 and February 2006. However, accused individuals were acquitted in several other cases because of lack of evidence or changes in testimony. During the reporting period, several fresh FIRs were registered on the basis of sworn affidavits of victims. On the basis of these affidavits, two prominent accused persons were arrested-- Mahant Parshottamgiri Goswami, a high priest of a Hindu sub-sect in Vadodara, and Rajesh Katara, the son of Dahod BJP MP Babubhai Katara. According to a report submitted by the Government to a UN agency in October 2006, 6 cases relating to 2002 violence resulted in convictions, whereas 182 cases resulted in acquittals. Human rights groups contend that, barring the few high-profile cases the Indian Supreme Court is directly supervising, the majority of the accused would not be convicted. In October 2005 "fast track" courts in Gujarat sentenced 5 persons to life imprisonment for the murder of 12 Muslims during the riot period. The courts sentenced others to three years' imprisonment and ordered them to pay a fine of $11 (500 INR) each, which they had not paid by the end of the reporting period. Local courts acquitted 107 of 113 persons arrested for killing 2 Muslims, and indicted 39 police officers for riot-related conduct. The Bilkis Bano case continued its hearings in a court during the reporting period. In February 2006 a special court in Mumbai convicted 9 persons of the murder of 14 Muslims in the and sentenced them to life in prison. The court acquitted another eight. Many human rights groups continue to argue that, despite the Best Bakery verdict, those responsible for the 2002 Gujarat violence will go unpunished. Primary witness Zahira Shaikh was sentenced to one year imprisonment and fined an estimated $1,200 (48,000 INR) for perjury. She served her prison sentence; the Supreme Court waived the fine. In June 2005 the Central Prevention Of Terrorism Act (POTA) Review Committee recommended that POTA charges be dropped against many Muslims in connection with the Gujarat violence due to insufficient evidence; however, at the end of the reporting period the charges were still in effect. Approximately, 150 Muslim youth remain in detention under POTA in Gujarat (the majority of them accused in the train burning case). In March 2005 Gujarat police detained at least 400 persons to prevent Hindu-Muslim clashes during the Shi'a Muslim day of mourning (Muharram); the same month, Muslims called off a Muharram procession in Vadodara to prevent potential clashes with Hindus. Throughout the reporting period, Muharram processions took place peacefully in Gujarat. Since an organized insurgency erupted in Jammu and Kashmir in 1989, there have been numerous reports of human rights abuses by security forces, local officials, and separatists. It remained difficult to separate religion and politics in Kashmir; Kashmiri separatists were predominantly Muslim, and almost all the higher ranks as well as most of the lower ranks in the Indian military forces stationed there were non-Muslim. The vast majority of the 61,000 member Jammu and Kashmir police force was Muslim. Kashmiri Hindus remained vulnerable to violence. Most lived in refugee camps outside of the valley awaiting safe return. In May 2004 and 2005 and in April 2006 the Jammu and Kashmir Government allowed a procession of separatist groups to mark the anniversary of the Birth of the Prophet Muhammad. (US Department of State 2007, International Religious Freedom Report for 2006– India, 14 September – Attachment 4)

Current Situation At the present time there are no reports of a current religious conflict in Gujarat; however, the recent election campaign run by Mr Modi was carried out on an anti-Muslim platform:

By creating hatred against a particular community, Modi created an atmosphere of bias and fear. Elections were free but people had been brainwashed. The result was that the BJP, led by Modi, secured 117 seats in the 182-member house, five less than the 2002 election held after the Gujarat carnage. Poor second Like the last time, he successfully played the anti-Muslim card and equated terrorism with Muslims. (‘Gujarat wins the battle in hate’ 2007, Gulf News, 29 December – Attachment 5)

Muslims make up 9 per cent of the state’s 50 million population and some who were displaced by the riots are living in insalubrious conditions:

Overlooked by a hillock of garbage near Ahmedabad city's biggest rubbish dump, a group of children play in the early afternoon sun. Small heaps of garbage burn a few metres away and the air smells acrid. This is Citizen Nagar - home to hundreds of Muslim families, displaced by the 2002 religious riots in Gujarat. Five years on from the carnage in which hundreds of Muslims were killed, these people live forgotten by the powers that be. (Elections pass Gujarat Muslims by’2007, BBC News, 14 December - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7143958.stm - Accessed 29 January 2007 – Attachment 6)

On 18 January this year a number of people were convicted of responsibility for rape and other crimes associated with the 2002 riots and on 21 January sentences were passed and as a result 11 people were handed life sentences for their involvement in the civil unrest:

The case was moved out of Gujarat and handed over to federal police by the Supreme Court which said the state had done little to bring justice. It was called the "Bilkis Bano case" after a key witness who had been raped and had a number of relatives killed. More than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, died in the riots. A defence lawyer has said those convicted will appeal against the verdict. Hindu mob A policeman was among those convicted. He was charged with protecting the guilty and sentenced to three years. But he has already spent four in jail and will be released soon.

The riots left at least 1,000 dead - mostly Muslims The convictions had been announced last Friday by the special court in the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) - where the trial was shifted following the Supreme Court order in 2004. Bilkis Bano was the key witness during the trial and it was the evidence she provided that led to the convictions. Ms Bano, who was pregnant at the time, was raped and her three-year-old daughter and several other family members were killed when a Hindu mob attacked a group of Muslims. She witnessed the massacre of 14 Muslims and the gang-rape of three women. She survived because the attackers thought she was dead. A few hours before sentencing, Ms Bano addressed a press conference in . ''Justice may have been done but my family and I are still living in fear,'' she said. The Gujarat government, which is run by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, was heavily criticised for its poor handling of the riot cases. (Life sentences over Gujarat riots’2008, BBC News, 21 January - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7199930.stm - Accessed 6 February 2008 – Attachment 7)

3. Please outline the caste conflicts (if any) in Gujarat.

Among the new cabinet of the Modi government there are seven members of the Patel caste and one member of the caste:

As many as seven Patels, a politically and economically powerful caste in Gujarat, were sworn in today. Incidentally, during the 2007 Assembly elections, the BJP dissident group was dominated by the Patels and prominent Patel leader and former Chief Minister had campaigned against Mr Modi. Although Mr Ashok Bhatt was not sworn in today, he might be considered for the Speaker's post, according to political sources. Despite being unhappy with the performance of Mr Ramanlal Vora, he has still been inducted considering his ''Dalit'' affiliations, the sources added. He was the only ''Dalit'' Minister in the last Ministry. (‘18 Ministers sworn in in Gujarat, new faces find place’2007, UNI (United News of India) – Attachment 8)

Information on mistreatment of lower caste members is contained in the following Research Response:

The BJP and lower caste Hindus in Gujarat No specific information could be located on the relationship between the BJP and the barber caste. Nonetheless, the general relationship between the BJP and lower castes has been addressed in a number of studies and reports. A 2007 study by M. Shahbaz Saeed, of Islamabad’s Institute of Strategic Studies, provides information on the BJP’s relationship to caste based fields of support and political organisations across India; noting that: “While the party [has] aimed at attracting lower-caste voters by co-opting lower-caste leaders, its success was rather limited and it continues to appeal disproportionately to upper-caste voters”. Some pertinent extracts follow.

The BJP perceived the crystallization of a [Dalit] caste-based movement as a threat to an undivided Hindu community and sought to avert this threat by dissolving this identity within a broader movement stamped with the seal of Hinduism. While the party aimed at attracting lower-caste voters by co-opting lower-caste leaders, its success was rather limited and it continues to appeal disproportionately to upper-caste voters. Interestingly, the BJP stood up to protect the upper castes against low caste mobilization, while the lower-caste parties were gaining momentum. Co-opted lower- caste leaders can deliver smaller numbers of supporters, but, as was evident in the 2001 breakaway of , an OBC leader from UP, the BJP cannot fully rely on the mechanisms of co-option.

…During recent years, caste mobilization has become an important factor in shaping Indian politics. The BJP and the Congress have followed different strategies of political mobilization. The BJP followed a path of sectional mobilization. The core of the BJP’s support came from the upper caste, well-off Hindus. The Congress is a party that draws most of its support from the poor and socially disadvantaged groups. But the Congress faces a serious competition for the votes of these groups from regional parties that directly appeal to these communities. The BJP has been more successful in consolidating its smaller catchment area, while the Congress has a larger but more fragmented group of potential voters. At the regional levels, the Congress Party consolidated its social base by endorsing the power of the numerically strong and upwardly mobile dominant – but traditionally of lower status – castes of landowning peasants, i.e., the Marathas in , the Reddys in Andhra, the Patidars in Gujarat, the Jats in UP, and so on. In the process, it has created a patron- client type of relationship in electoral politics, a relationship of unequal but reliable exchanges between political patrons – the upper and dominant (intermediate) castes, and the numerous “client” castes at the bottom of the pile, popularly known as the Congress’ “vote-banks”. Thus, in the initial two decades after independence, the hierarchical caste relations were processed politically through elections.

…The Bharatiya Janata Party has also showcased its Dalit and OBC leaders to prove that it is not an upper-caste party. Bangaru Laxman, the former BJP president (2001- 2002) was a Dalit. Sanyasin Uma Bharati, former Chief Minister of , belongs to an OBC caste and was a former BJP leader (Saeed, M.S. 2007, ‘Caste System in India and its Impact on Politics’, Institute Of Strategic Studies Islamabad website, Strategic Studies, vol.25, no.1, Spring http://www.issi.org.pk/journal/2007_files/no_1/article/a4.htm – Accessed 10 September 2007 – Attachment 10; see also, page 49 of: Harrison, T., et al 2007, A political introduction to India, UK Parliament website, International Affairs and Defence Section – House of Commons Library, 2 May http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2007/rp07-041.pdf – Accessed 11 October 2007 – Attachment 9).

In specific instance of Gujarat, however, it would appear that the BJP has been much more successful in garnering support from lower caste voting communities than it has elsewhere. Sources indicate that this success began in the “mid-1980s”. Prior to this time the BJP had pursued an anti-reservation platform which excluded untouchables and which implicated the BJP in anti-reservation/anti-Dalit violence. However, as a 2002 Frontline report puts it, “by the mid-1980s, the BJP changed its stand towards in a bid to co-opt them”. The report continues:

Realising the largeness of the number of Dalits and Scheduled Tribe and OBC persons in the State, who together account for 75 per cent of the population, the BJP started attempts to unite all castes under the Hindutva plank. It corrected its anti- reservation stand and was able to reap the gains of this move. When riots broke out in 1986 during Ahmedabad’s annual Jagannath rath yatra, the BJP managed to garner the support of the OBCs and Dalits. This marked a shift in its support base.

When riots broke out all over Gujarat in 1990 during L.K. Advani’s rath yatra, Dalits and middle class Hindus were set against Muslims (Bunsha, D. 2002, ‘The Hindutva experiment’, Frontline website, vol.19, no.10, 11-24 May http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1910/19100160.htm – Accessed 25 September 2007 – Attachment 11). (RRT Country Research 2007, Research Response IND32320, 15 October - Attachment 9)

In recent times during the period leading up to the elections several castes combined with others in a bid to achieve political clout:

Various caste combinations in different regions of Gujarat are proving to be antidotes for chief minister Narendra Modi's Hidutva card. Unlike the last elections in 2002 in the backdrop of post-Godhra riots, this time around opposition Congress and the BJP's rebel group have meticulously encouraged formation of caste combinations at the regional level to negate any attempt by Modi to polarise votes on communal line and reduce his strength in the state. If in non-coastal Swarashtra (37seats) the dominant Leuva Patels have combined with OBCs, in the coastal areas of the state (15 seats), Kolis have combined with fishermen (mostly Muslims) and dalits to make sure BJP's defeat. In south Gujarat, (29 seats) also the scene is almost the same, as the BJP rebels in tandem with Congress are driving sizeable tribals while combining them with migrant workers from Swarastra to go against Modi. (‘Caste politics rule the roost in Gujarat’ 2007, Financial Express, 9 December – Attachment 10)

This is corroborated by a previous article that highlights the importance of caste identity in Gujarat:

Caste, and not communal issues, will dominate the coming assembly elections in Gujarat in contrast to what happened five years ago, says social scientist and social activist Achyut Yagnik. ... "Caste has acquired a new meaning as compared to the earlier times. This has led to identity politics acquiring a different form," Yagnik told IANS in an interview. To substantiate his view, he gave examples of several caste specific events that have been organised in the last few months in the state in which more political representation was sought on the basis of caste. He said that it was perhaps for the first time in Gujarat that more than 100,000 Brahmins came together in Rajkot in September. "Political leaders across the party lines shared the platform. Attending the meeting were Suresh Mehta, the dissident BJP leader from Kutch, and also Nalin Bhatt, now the face of the BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) in the state. The Brahmins aired the demand for 30 seats for their community in the assembly," said Yagnik. ... Yagnik said that a couple of months ago the Prajapatis, a caste mainly into the vocation of pottery, had also organised a meet on similar lines in Surat and had turned up in strength to seek more political representation. "There was a Patel meet in Rajkot. Earlier, only Patels were known to have organised such meets. Now even the tribal events are being organised on similar lines. For example, the Gamits and Choudharies have held events on caste or group lines." This, Yagnik said, had led to a contradiction when seen from the viewpoint of the votaries of Hindutva. (‘Caste, not communal, card will dominate Gujarat’2007, Indo-Asian News Service, 4 November – Attachment 11)

Information on discrimination against Dalits in Gujarat is also referred to the attached report:

In what was perhaps a controversial but telling comparison, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on December 27, 2006, likened discrimination against Dalits in India to the apartheid system in South Africa. … It is well known that caste discrimination against Dalits is rampant in India. In an overt form, it is both a political reality and social fact. Dalits are subjected to violence, especially in rural areas, their women raped, and their land stolen. Dalits perform the most dangerous and odious forms of labour in Indian society including that of manual scavenging (removing human or animal waste) or performing low-end ‘dirty’ wage labour in tanneries. For the past two years, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) team has been working with Navsarjan, a leading Dalit rights NGO (non-governmental organisation) in Gujarat, documenting the socio-economic and health consequences of manual scavenging in Gujarat, and has designed new technological and planning solutions to the problem that go beyond the simple adoption of more anti-discrimination or sector-specific laws and policies. In Gujarat, the legal route has been pursued as much as possible, through public interest litigation and government orders. Nevertheless, the data reveal that the number of manual scavengers has kept increasing and is likely to be between 50,000 and 60,000 in Gujarat alone. Research indicates that social and economic discrimination against Dalits persists to an alarming degree despite all the laws in the books. For example, in the village of Paliyad in Gujarat, where the MIT-Navsarjan team has been working, data indicate that more than 40 per cent of manual scavengers are frequently or always denied access to the marketplace, thus preventing normal economic activity or labour mobility. (‘The caste system – India’s apartheid?’ 2007, The Hindu, 18 August – Attachment 12)

List of Sources Consulted Internet Sources: Government Information & Reports UK Home Office website http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk US Department of State website http://www.state.gov Immigration and Refugee Board Canada http://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/ Non-Government Organisations Amnesty International website http://www.amnesty.org/ Human Rights Watch (HRW) website http://www.hrw.org/ International News & Politics BBC News website http://news.bbc.co.uk/ The Economist http://www.economist.com/countries/ Search Engines Google search engine http://www.google.com.au/ Yahoo search engine http://search.yahoo.com Copernic search engine Online Subscription Services Jane’s Intelligence Review website http://jir.janes.com/ Databases: FACTIVA (news database) BACIS (DIAC Country Information database) REFINFO (IRBDC (Canada) Country Information database) ISYS (RRT Country Research database, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, US Department of State Reports) MRT-RRT Library Catalogue

List of Attachments

1. ‘BJP to announce fresh Modi term’ 2007, BBC News, 24 December – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7158756.stm - Accessed 29 January 2008.

2. ‘Don’t mention the massacre’2007, The Economist, 6 December http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10251282 – Accessed 29 January 2007.

3. RRT Country Research 2006, Research Response IND30931, 16 November.

4. US Department of State 2007, International Religious Freedom Report for 2006– India, 14 September.

5. ‘Gujarat wins the battle in hate’ 2007, Gulf News, 29 December. (FACTIVA)

6. Elections pass Gujarat Muslims by’2007, BBC News, 14 December - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7143958.stm - Accessed 29 January 2007.

7. Life sentences over Gujarat riots’2008, BBC News, 21 January - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7199930.stm - Accessed 6 February 2008.

8. ‘18 Ministers sworn in Gujarat, new faces find place’2007, UNI (United News of India). (FACTIVA)

9. RRT Country Research 2007, Research Response IND32320, 15 October.

10. ‘Caste politics rule the roost in Gujarat’ 2007, Financial Express, 9 December. (FACTIVA)

11. ‘Caste, not communal, card will dominate Gujarat’2007, Indo-Asian News Service, 4 November. (FACTIVA)

12. ‘The caste system – India’s apartheid?’ 2007, The Hindu, 18 August. (FACTIVA)