We all unite to unequivocally condemn the dastardly episode at Godhra in which 57 people including the VHP karsevaks were brutally and bestially killed. We also condemn the religio-emotional harassment meted out to Muslim men and the molestation of Muslim women prior to this event by those who ‘appeared’ to be the VHP karsevaks returning from Ayodhya in the Sabarmati Express. Our condemnation for the ruthless killing of some 500 Muslims in the Godhra aftermath (till latest news), is as resolute, unflagging and unwavering as that of the karsevaks.
We are deeply perturbed by the manner in which the political and religious leaders are misleading the whole nation to a bottomless hell. We are taught to be proud of our secular credentials but we are ashamed to witness the ghastly and inhuman carnage first at Godhra and then all over Gujarat. These are crimes against humanity that are to be castigated regardless of caste, class or religion, in terms most vehement and vigorous. We demand immediate and most stern action against those who indulged in this most heinous crime. We mourn with the families of the ones whose near and dear ones fell prey to this communal frenzy and mobocracy. Down with the religion of the likes of the VHP, SIMI, Bajrang Dal etc that have all divided the coherent Indian social set-up in watertight compartments.
We appeal to all sections of society to stop this demoniacal and fiendish game. It is our demand that the Central and Gujarat governments take responsibility for this and on a war footing employ each and every means at their command to stop any further loss of life and property and that the programme for the rehabilitation and redressing the wrongs must begin without ado, be a Hindu, Muslim or Christian or even an atheist. That’s never an issue. Be a humanist. That alone decides whether you are human. How sad it is that India, once so proud of her secular credentials, is burning in communal cauldron perpetrated at the behest of some communally moved politicians.
Last but not the least, the people of India here in these trying circumstances are called upon not to lose sanity, sensibility, sincerity and the thread of restraint. Let us all fail the satanic designs of the opportunist politicians who want to retain power at the cost of piling death toll and unite to retain the communal concord for protecting the unity and integrity of our country.
Khwaja Hasan Sani Nizami, A.R.Antulay, Firoz Bakht Ahmed, Dr Aziz Burney, Sydney Rebiero, Hamid Ansari, M Atyab Siddiqui, Prof Sadiqa Zaki, BB Sawhney.
New Delhi
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