By Syed Shahabuddin

MEERUT is an extreme case of communal polarization which encompasses the elite and the masses alike, pervades the state machinery and distorts the political will. Fascism thrives on falsehood. The campaign of disinformation and misinformation has made us deaf and blind; it has paralyzed our hands and feet; it has brutalized our hearts and frozen our souls, In the face of bestial and inhuman brutalities, women have been demonstrating in favor of the killers; youth have been shouting “PAC Zindabad; the administration has proclaimed its pride in the PAC; the Central Government has been hesitant to order the PAC out; the political parties have by and large taken little or no notice of the atrocities; the conscience has gone to eternal sleep. Does the Nation have a conscience?

THIS IS GENOCIDE

Mass deportation and mass liquidation should remind us of Nazi Germany; they were the strategic objective of German Fascism. When citizens are taken out of their homes at gun point, entire localities are lined up or made to squat with their hands up; when all able bodies males are forced into trucks; when some trucks proceed to secluded areas and their occupants are taken out one by one and systematically shot in cold blood, their bodies flung into a river or a canal, are we far behind Nazi Germany? Yes, the scale varies but the impulse is the same. The Hashimpura youth, the Malliana people all citizens of the Republic of India were sought to be liquidated not because they were criminals or had committed a specific offence but because they professed a particular faith. This is genocide, nothing more, nothing less. This is the negation of the Rule of Law. But the defenders of human brotherhood and rule of law do not open their months!

PAC HAS POLITICAL BACKING

Could the PAC have committed these atrocities, acted so blatantly, threatened to turn Malliana into Jalianwala Bagh, openly professed its objective of massacre, without political support? Where does the chain of command lead us? To the Collect orate in Meerut, to the State Secretariat in Luck now or to the Central Secretariat in New Delhi? Where does the trail of blood end? Let those who, in the darkness of night, oblivious

of their oath of office, ordered the PAC to “teach the bloody rascals a lesson”, have the courage to own their responsibility. Let those in high positions who gave clearance to the Gauleiter of Uttar Pradesh speak out. But these ruthless rulers, these small men, will not speak. They have no courage, they will launch a campaign of disinformation; brow beat the recalcitrant officials; intimidate the victims; destroy evidence and conceal the crime. They may even shed a few tears; parade their benevolence, make some cosmetic changes but behind the facade, this band of killers pats each other on the back and plan yet another holocaust.

One day history will catch up with them and tear off the mask of hypocrisy they habitually wear. When the book of their plots and conspiracies shall be widely read and when all of us will have to answer the question, what were you doing then?

ALIBIS, EXCUSES, LIES

Is there any limit to self-delusion? The Muslims rose in revolt. Well, then why did they choose the last days of Ramazan? To spoil their Id! The Muslims planned simultaneous attack on 19 May morning. Why did the thickly populated Muslim areas of Meerut remain quiet? The Muslims launched a premeditated attack on the Hindus. Why are then four Hindu families in Hashimpura still safe? But one may ask why the police force its way into Imliyan did in the early hours of the morning when, because of Ramazan, the entire mohalla is awake and crush a child under its jeep, kill women, and arrest hundreds?

There is a law to regulate search and detention. Which law sanctions police firing without magisterial order? Which law sanctions beatings and humiliations in police custody? Which law sanctions police dwellings to torch and looting them? Which law sanctions police firing without warning before lathicharge or teargas, to scatter a riotous mob? They speak of snipers. How many policemen were killed or even injured in the “operation’? They speak of communal violence. Yes, but that is a very limited view. There was the Muslim mob on Hapur Road and the Hindu mob in Shastri Nagar. Where else? PAC did not invade Hashiampur or Malliana, did not burn and loot Sadar Bazar and Kutchery Road shops and Mian Mohammad Nagar huts to save

Hindu lives or property. PAC invaded those Muslim localities and laid them desolate to strike terror in the Muslim community. They behaved as if they were in a war zone and dealing with an enemy, The PAC acted with the felt blessing of their masters. It was not a wayward force in mutiny; it was a disciplined force carrying out orders.

SPONTANEOUS MUSLIM REACTION TO PAC RAID

Yes, the unprovoked, inexplicable early morning raid on Imliyan (where no Hindu lives) was followed by the formation of a Muslim mob from neighboring colonies, after they not only heard the SOS call but also the firing. They could do nothing to save the people of Imliyan. In their anger they burnt down vehicles, attacked shops and) showrooms, damaged factories, big and small in Hapur Road and in Pilokhri. They also killed some innocent persons including Prabhat, the son of that great fighter for communal harmony, Prof. Harpal Singh. Within hours, there was a massive Hindu retaliation fuelled by rumours spread by the Administration then about the State Bank Colony being ravaged by Muslim mobs. The raging fire then consumed all decencies, all moral restraint, all Shastri Nagar. The antisocial elements were herded by the police and deployed against Muslim shops and houses in’ a systematic campaign, a helping hand and providing fire cover, as an effective response to any resistance.

I do not justify the acts of the Muslim mob in Hapur Road and: Pilokhri. I consider such acts not only morally unjustifiable, but also stupid and counterproductive but I can see the show and! why of it and I can say that it was a spontaneous reaction. And’ there is no other evidence of depredation by. a Muslim mob thereafter anywhere in Meerut; there might have been sporadic acts of violence. Had the PAC acted promptly in Hapur Road and killed some rioters that dark morning of 19 May, they would have been’ justified. But how does one justify their crimes in Muslim mohallas from the 20th onwards?

STATE VIOLENCE NOT JUST COMMUNAL

Meerut is the only marginally a Case of communal violence; it is a Case of state violence against 4 people. Some sections of the Hindu community may have applauded, some may have been misled’, some may have cooperated, some May have given moral support but few Hindus actually participated in the killing. And many saved their neighbors.

TRUTH: THE ONLY ANTIDOTE

This is the only silver lining in the dark cloud. If only the people assert themselves, if only they know the truth, if only they know that contrary to common belief, 90% of the over 3000 arrested are Muslims, that 90% of the dwelling units or shops burnt and looted are Muslim, they would be forced to change their false impression created by official propaganda. Had Malliana not broken into headlines, had the Ganges Canal floated away the dead bodies, the crime would have gone unnoticed. All visiting dignitaries were shown the devastated Hapur Road where all shops were depicted as Hindu property; they were told of the Muslim attack, without being told of the PAC attack on Imliyan and of a woman killed and of the child crushed under a jeep. They were not told that not one Hindu shrine or place of worship has been touched in Meerut: while at least a dozen Or more mosques and shrines have been destroyed or damaged, that Muslims have been killed by police bullets in Muslim mohallas or beaten to death in police or judicial custody. No Hindu has fallen to police bullets in Muslim mohallas, no Muslim, in a Hindu mohalla. Why?

TERRORISM OR SOCIAL PEACE?

Yes, there is anger, there is bitterness, there is desperation in the Muslim mind; this anger, bitterness—and desperation can easily ignite the fire of a revenge and retaliation. That may be a natural reaction but would that be a wise reaction? Violence must be stopped; the area of violence must not be prolonged. That is fine but what if violence is adopted by the State as a policy? What, if Hashimpura and Malliana are sought to be reenacted all over the country? What, if Hindu fascism descends on our benighted land? What, if racial memories are systematically revived to burst into volcanic fury? In despair and helplessness, does a human being care whether he lives or dies? Terrorism is born out of oppression, when there is no court of appeal, no mechanism of redress. Will the cruel regime rethink its strategy? Does it want war or peace? Does it want a civil war? Does it want the country to be dotted with forts and fortresses in constant conflict with each other? Does it understand the meaning of terrorism on a national scale?

INDIA: A MORAL WILDERNESS

Meerut is not only a test of our secular profession but of our human sensitivity. History will record that in a moment of trial, no Gandhi undertook a fast unto death, no Nehru ran into a mob, no J.P. jumped into the fire, no Gandhian, no liberal, no democrat, no humanist, no leftist, made it a question of conscience or even of political priority. Brutalised and power-hungry, our generation has let down the spirit of India, the land of Mahavira, Buddha and Gandhi, of Chishti, Kabir and Nanak. Our land has turned in to a moral wilderness, the landscape littered with the charred bones of the innocent. Our secular intellectuals are unfortunately looking at the problem through tinted glasses and from the wrong end. Hindu communalism, parading as nationalism is on the offensive; Muslim communalism there is, but on the defensive. To seek social peace through economic or educational development of the Muslim, even if sincere, indicates a wrong and myopic diagnosis. Those who equate the killer and the killed are morally blind and politically motivated. They say that Meerut is a sequel to Muslim protest over conversion of Babari Masjid into a temple. So the Muslim should surrender his mosque to save his life. In free India, is it a fair choice?

MESSAGE OF MEERUT

What should be the message of Meerut, of Malliana and Hashimpura for Indians, for Muslim Indians and for Hindu Indians, for the Government, for the political parties? That it shall not happen again. But I see no sign of repentance, of remose. This is worse than the original sin, more deadly than the crime. Then no power on earth, not all our guns and missiles, our tanks and submarines, can save the country. And who lives if India dies?

To save India, a reaffirmation of the basic values of our Freedom Movement and of our Constitution, is needed: The creation of a truly secular state and the establishment of a nonpartisan administrative machinery, which have the will and the means to curb Hindu Fascism the biggest threat to the integrity of the country today  and protect the minorities and the weaker sections from its constant onslaught. But the ruling elites preoccupied as.

Article extracted from this publication >>  August 14, 1987