GHAZALA JAMIL
About 60 people were killed and more than 50,000, predominantly Muslims, were displaced in the wake of riots in India’s Uttar Pradesh state. Unhygienic conditions have led to breakout of epidemic and skin ailments. PHOTO/Showkat Shafi/Al Jazeera
The threats and fear continue for the Muslims affected by the Muzaffarnagar riots in western Uttar Pradesh last year. Added to the pathetic conditions of the camps where they have fled to is the government’s unclear definitions and non-transparent relief measures. Even as Muslims continue to move out of areas where sustained hate-mongering has made their lives miserable and lose their livelihoods in the process, many of those who have filed police cases find they are welcome back only if they take back their complaints.
Since May 2014 I have visited the districts of Muzaffarnagar and Shamli in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and interacted with the victims of communal violence and the activists who have been working with them during the last one year. I stayed in Muzaffarnagar city and Kandhla town in Shamli district, and spoke to people still living in refugee camps and in those places where they have settled (or are in the process of settling) in rented houses or land/houses they bought with the compensation given to them.
The communal mobilisation in September 2013 was spread over and affected at least four districts in western UP, namely, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Baghpat and Meerut. In the mainstream media and public discourse it came to be known as the “Muzaffarnagar riots”. This nomenclature hides two aspects. One, that the mobilisation was well-planned and aimed at pre-poll polarisation of votes and two, that although most overt physical violence occurred in Muzaffarnagar, a large number of people in Shamli were forced to flee their homes and villages out of fear due to intense communal mobilisation in the area. Communal mobilisation and forced migration is a process that still continues in the entire western UP region including Saharanpur and Muradabad, in addition to the four districts mentioned above. This article is aimed at highlighting certain issues and problems that need to be enquired into. There is also need to collect empirical data for purposes of legal and public advocacy.
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(Thanks to Mukul Dube)