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Terror Networks
Gujarat riots were done "by the book"
2002-03-25
  • The Manual of rioting is back in circulation. Even as the government and the Gujarat Police talk about the "spontaneous" nature of the riots that followed Godhra, the pattern of violence can be found in guidelines laid down in a pro-Hindu booklet. The booklet — Save Hindus: Attacks and Laws — first surfaced in Gujarat two years ago after the withdrawal of an order that allowed government employees to participate in RSS programmes.

    The terror manual stated that an organised attack on minorities could be made to look like a 'spontaneous' reaction by the public. The primer illustrated how a crowd had beaten to death a boy and a girl in Halvad town many years ago in full view of court officials, but no one was prosecuted as thousands were involved.

    The same pattern was followed in the post-Godhra violence in which rioters escaped under the cover of anonymity. Aside from guidelines on how to register complaints against minorities for their 'Vidharmi' (non-believer) acts, the 12-page booklet advised the Hindu 'samaj' to implicate senior missionaries in false cases. "They may not be convicted, but they should be made to go up and down the courts for months..."

    A Gujarat Police official said the recent mob attacks had some similarities to the guidelines. "Prosecution can be made difficult by increasing the number of the accused," he said. "Evidence is weakened in such cases." However, the joint general secretary of the state VHP, Kaushik Patel, denied the booklet was issued by them. But he said the guidelines were issued to the "Hindu samaj" at large and the VHP wasn't bothered by it. But naturally.
    They didn't do that good a job of making it look spontaneous, did they?
    • Posted by:Fred Pruitt

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