Country Advice India – IND37692 – – Muslims –

Hindus – Communal violence – 2002 Riots – Vasalan – Anand – Employment 8 November 2010

1. Please provide some background information on the demographics of Vasalan and Anand and Gujarat generally, in terms of Muslim and Hindu populations. Vasalan is a village located near the city of Anand1. Anand is a district of Gujarat and its main city is called Anand.

No information was located on the demographics of Vasalan. According to Census data of India of 20012, figures indicate that Muslims are a minority of the population numbering approximately four and half million people:

Gujarat All Religious Communities 50,671,017

Gujarat Hindu 45,143,074

Gujarat Muslim 4,592,854

Data from the Census of India of 20013 indicates that in Muslims are a minority:

Anand District Persons 1,856,872

1 ‗Valasan – a village in the mandal of Anand, Anand, Gujarat‘ www.gloriousindia.com website, 1 January http://www.gloriousindia.com/unleashed/place.php?id=53707 – Accessed 5 November 2010 – Attachment 1 2 ‗Census of India 2001. Population by religious communities‘, Website of the Office of Registrar General & Census Commissioner India, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/Census_data_finder/C_Series/Population_by_religious_communiti es.htm - Accessed 5 November 2010 – Attachment 2

3 ‗Census of India 2001. Basic data Sheet. District Anand. Gujarat.‘ Website of the Office of Registrar General & Census Commissioner India, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Dist_File/datasheet-2415.pdf - Accessed 5 November 2010 – Attachment 3 Anand District 1,616,127

Anand District Muslims 199,263

2. Please provide information on whether there were riots between Hindus and Muslims in Gujarat in 2002 to 2004 and if so, the reasons for the riots? Racial disturbance is commonplace in Gujarat. The following excerpt from Research Response IND30931of 16 November 2006 (Question 2)4 gives a chronological account of the racial riots which flared up after a train was allegedly set on fire by Muslim extremists. Hindu nationalists subsequently attacked Muslims in what appeared to be coordinated incidents without the authorities making significant attempts to stop them.

The Indian state of Gujarat is well known for communal violence between Hindus 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‖.

On 27 February 2002, the Sabarmati Express carrying Hindu pilgrims from Ayodhya was allegedly attacked by Muslims at Godhra in Gujarat and set alight, killing fifty seven Hindu devotees. According to Tanika Sarkar of the Economic and Political Weekly, rumour started to spread that some eighty Hindu women on the train were raped by Muslim men and had their breasts cut off. Immediately, the Hindu militant organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) called on Hindus in Gujarat to avenge the attack at Godhra. Mira Kamdar writing in the World Policy Journal describes the bloodbath unleashed by Hindus in Gujarat.

For about 24 hours, there was calm. And then, almost simultaneously, in different localities, in both urban and rural areas across Gujarat, a systematic wave of terror against the Muslim population began. Truckloads of Hindus, mostly young men— many sporting headbands in saffron, the Hindu sacred color—headed for Muslim neighborhoods. They were armed not only with homemade gasoline bombs, trishurs (the trident-shaped weapon associated with the god Shiva), and knives but also, in some cases, with printouts from government computer databases listing the names and addresses of Muslims and Muslim-owned businesses. Some of the young Hindus even had cell phones—the better to keep in touch with their handlers—and bottles of water. They embarked on a rampage of looting, arson, rape, torture, and murder that left thousands dead and many more thousands homeless.

Muslim homes and businesses were looted, and then the buildings and often the dismembered bodies of the former occupants were set on fire. Neighboring Hindu homes and businesses were spared. In many localities, the police, when they didn‘t simply turn a blind eye to the attacks, were seen helping the attackers identify their targets. With few exceptions, no protection was offered to those terrified Muslims who, in desperation, begged the police for help. According to Human Rights Watch, the general response of the police was: "We have no orders to save you." The savagery of the attacks— which routinely included dismemberment, gang rape,

4 RRT Country Advice 2010, Research Response IND30931, (Question 2)16 November - Attachment 4

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beheadings, dousing bodies with petrol and burning them so as to render them unrecognizable, liquidating entire families, including women, children, babies, and fetuses ripped from the womb— was all the more shocking for their well-organized and premeditated execution. It was evident that state and local authorities not only did nothing to stop the violence but were actually complicit in orchestrating the attacks.

An independent reporters‘ group claimed that some ―5,000 Muslims were killed, 50,000 made homeless, hundreds of mosques, and dozens of hotels, shops, and villages destroyed during riots in the Indian province of Gujarat‖. Information contained in Research Response IND30931of 16 November 2006 (Question 2) indicated that communal clashes continued in 2003. 5

The UK Home Office Country of Origin Information Report: India of 21 September 2010 states that to date hundreds of court cases stemming from the 2002 Gujarat violence remain unsettled.6

3. Please provide information on whether there is discrimination or violence against Muslims in Gujarat?

According to the UK Home Office Country of Origin Information Report: India of 21 September 2010, Muslims are poorly represented in the employment market across all the states of India. In particular they have difficulty accessing employment in the Government and organised sector, as well as in the police and judiciary.7 The Minority Rights Directory8 also provides data which indicates that Muslims are underrepresented in the civil service, military and institutions of higher education. This information is corroborated by the following article ‗Muslims of Gujarat: The Real Picture‘ of 28 June 2010 which indicates that Muslims are concerned about the security situation and their employment opportunities.9

4. Deleted.

Attachments

1. ‗Valasan – a village in the mandal of Anand, Anand, Gujarat‘ www.gloriousindia.com website, 1 January. (http://www.gloriousindia.com/unleashed/place.php?id=53707 – Accessed 5 November 2010)

5 RRT Country Advice 2010, Research Response IND30931, (Question 2) (16 November - Attachment 4 6 UK Home Office 2010, Country of origin information report: India, 21 September. Paragraph 20.17 Gujarat Riots in 2002 (update) – Attachment 5 7 7 UK Home Office 2010, Country of origin information report: India, 21 September. Paragraph 20.17 Gujarat Riots in 2002 (update) – Attachment 5 8 Minority Rights Group International 2005, World Directory of Minorities. Muslims. Profile. http://www.minorityrights.org/5653/india/muslims.html - Accessed 8 November 2010 – Attachment 6 9 Kashif, ‗Muslims Of Gujarat: The Real Picture‘ 2010, Indian Muslim website, 28 June. (http://indianmuslims.in/muslims-of-gujarat-the-real-picture/ – Accessed 8 November 2010 – Attachment 7

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2. ‗Census of India 2001. Population by religious communities‘, Website of the Office of Registrar General & Census Commissioner India, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. (http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/Census_data_finder/C_Series/Population_b y_religious_communities.htm - Accessed 5 November 2010)

3. ‗Census of India 2001. Basic data Sheet. District Anand. Gujarat.‘ Website of the Office of Registrar General & Census Commissioner India, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. (http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Dist_File/datasheet-2415.pdf - Accessed 5 November 2010) 4. RRT Country Advice 2010, Research Response IND30931, 16 November.

5. UK Home Office 2010, Country of origin information report: India, 21 September.

6. Minority Rights Group International 2005, World Directory of Minorities. Muslims. Profile. (http://www.minorityrights.org/5653/india/muslims.html - Accessed 8 November 2010)

7. Kashif, ‗Muslims Of Gujarat: The Real Picture‘ 2010, Indian Muslim website, 28 June. (http://indianmuslims.in/muslims-of-gujarat-the-real-picture/ – Accessed 8 November 2010)

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