Indian quake relief effort under fire for anti-Muslim sentiment
Indian quake relief effort under fire for anti-Muslim sentiment
PADDHAR, India (AFP): The Indian government's stuttering relief effort for the victims of the Gujarat earthquake on Monday came under fire from political rivals and aid workers for discriminating against Muslims.
During a visit to the stricken region India's main opposition leader, Congress Party chief Sonia Gandhi, threw her weight behind complaints by Muslims and lower caste Hindus over their treatment.
And her views were strongly endorsed by Dr. P.V. Unnikrishnan of Oxfam (India), who said the aid agency had repeatedly complained about the problem to the Hindu nationalist government in Gujarat without success.
"There is still a lack of coordination in the relief effort all over," Gandhi told AFP during a visit to the shattered village of Paddhar, some 25 kilometers (16 miles) east of the town of Bhuj.
"I have received complaints that the Muslim and socially- weaker sections of society have been discriminated against. We shall certainly point this out to the prime minister," she said.
Gandhi insisted she was not trying to use the Jan. 26 earthquake, which killed an estimated 30,000 people and left some 1.25 million homeless, to make political capital as she made her second visit to the area.
The Hindu fundamentalist outfits such as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) played a major role in the relief work from the early days, but a steady chorus of complaints has emerged in recent days over their actions.
India's leading Muslim cleric, Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari, last week accused Hindu nationalist organizations of deliberately neglecting Muslim victims of the catastrophe.
"The Muslims are not behind anyone in providing relief to the victims so it is not only shameful to discriminate against Muslims in relief it is also against human values," he said.
On Friday hundreds of angry demonstrators, mainly Muslim, besieged the central administrative office in the town of Bhuj to demand tents be handed out to Muslims and lower-caste Hindus.
Shortly afterwards police told AFP a prominent local member of the ruling BJP government was being investigated over the theft of relief aid.
Local media reports said a group of 30 men broke into a warehouse in the town of Bhuj and loaded up four trucks with tents and other relief before speeding away.
Both the central and state government have strongly denied the reports, but there has been a steady stream of complaints.
Unnikrishnan of Oxfam said the problem was widespread and unchecked.
He said the situation in the village of Lakadiya, which was made up mostly of Muslims and Dalits, the lowest Hindu caste known as "Untouchables", was a classic example of the discrimination taking place across the area.
Unnikrishnan said Lakadiya, about 15 kilometers north of the severely-hit town of Bachao, had been virtually forgotten by the official relief effort.
"Hardly any relief has reached this village. We feel that there is discrimination against the Dalits and Muslims in the distribution of relief.
"These sections are very vulnerable. Disasters such as these magnify their vulnerability and they get pushed to the margins. The government is unwilling to accept that this is happening though we have pointed it out to them," he said.