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Hindutva gangs’ victims say
postpone elections
Priyaleen K
Renuka
NEW DELHI: To
those who are victims of not just communalism and the right-wing
Hindutva politics of hate but also of the deliberate passiveness of
the state power that watches the mayhem but waits because of
political considerations before making an intervention, the
elections do not point to the heralding of democracy but loom more
as portends of more trouble.
Months after
blood-thirsty Hindutva gangs of Bajrang Dal-VHP marauded Christians
in Kandhamal, looting and burning churches and houses and raping
women, those displaced from their homes and forced to live in
refugee camps in their own country have now asked India’s Election
Commission to be merciful and postpone the elections.
They say this
because even the Election Commission cannot tell them how will it
ensure a free and fair poll when 22,000 people are simply missing
since the violence broke out.
In a petition
filed before the Commission last week, indigenous people under the
banner of the Kuidina Forum for Peace and Justice, supported by
Citizens for Justice and Peace, stated that according to the State
government over 23,000 displaced people were living in relief camps
in September 2008, but as per the latest figures there were only a
little more than 3,000 left there. The rest were neither in their
homes nor in any camps.
“This would mean
thousands of voters would be unable to exercise their franchise,”
Teesta Setalvad, human rights activist and secretary of Citizens for
Justice and Peace, told reporters.
Alternatively,
the Commission should take special steps to ensure that the
displaced were able to exercise their franchise, she said.
Over the past
three days, the delegation has met officials of the National Human
Rights Commission, the National Commission of Minorities and the
office of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights. More
meetings with national political parties have also been lined up.
On March 23, a
petition filed by the victims — some of whom were present at the
press conference — came up before the Supreme Court and the Chief
Justice posted it for April 6. The main prayer is to restrain the
Orissa administration from forcibly closing the camps.
The victims said
the conditions were still not conducive for those displaced to
return. Those who had gone back were being threatened by Hindu
fundamentalists to either convert to Hinduism or leave, according to
them.
Ms. Setalvad
said violence against women and children was continuing, and
demanded a proper assessment of the loss in human terms and damage
to property. Children and young people, who were forced to stay out
of school and college, should be compensated.
The master minds
behind the anti-minority violence should be punished. Also, the
criminal justice system should be restored by setting up special
courts under the NHRC’s supervision.
1
April 2009
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