[Reader-list] Mayhem in Mangalore

[arshad amanullah]

Mayhem in Mangalore

Yoginder Sikand

Early this month, a series of violent incidents rocked Mangalore and
several nearby towns and villages in coastal Karnataka. Two people
were killed, dozens injured and property worth several lakhs was
destroyed. Although a semblance of peace has now been restored,
tension remains, as I discovered after a recent trip to the area along
with some social activists from Bangalore.

For some years now, Hindutva forces have been very active in the
Dakshina Kannada district, where Mangalore is located. The MP from the
area and most of the local MLAs are from the BJP. The road leading to
Mangalore is strewn with saffron banners and flags, indicating the
presence of numerous Hindutva outfits. Economic factors, such as
competition between Muslim and Hindu traders and contradictions
between some sections of the fishermen community and Muslim traders
have been used by Hindutva forces to whip up anti-Muslim sentiments
and consolidate their presence. Consequently, relations between Hindus
and Muslims have been badly affected, an outcome of which were what
many locals believe were the pre-planned riots of early October, in
which BJP and Bajrang Dal leaders, including some occupying top
positions in the present Karnataka government, are said to have played
a leading role.

Madrasat ul-Badariya is a small mosque-cum-madrasa recently
constructed in Bejai, a locality in Mangalore. There are around a
dozen Muslim houses in this largely Christian and Hindu area. On the
evening of the 6th of October, some young men entered the area in a
car, scaled the wall of the Christian locality and barged into the
madrasa. The only person inside the madrasa was Abdul Ghafur, the
imam. They are said to have pelted the imam with stones, plunged
swords into his body while raising slogans hailing the Bajrang Dal and
then fled from the scene. The muezzin, who was in the adjacent
bathroom while this was happening, fled to a nearby house to inform
people of the attack. The imam was rushed to the hospital, where he
died.

Says Noor (name changed), a local youth, 'There has never been any
communal tension in this area. Even in the 1992 and 1998 violence our
locality remained tension-free. This incident was clearly motivated to
terrorise us. But what can we do? We have to live and die here'. The
imam was just 23 years-old an from a very poor family, he tells me. He
is survived by his aged father, who is almost blind, his mother and
three sisters of marriageable age. He was the sole breadwinner of his
family.

In Unity Hospital, Mangalore, a young Muslim man writhes in pain on
his hospital bed as he tells us about how his cousin Ibrahim, who,
while travelling in an ambulance to the airport, was laid upon by a
Hindu mob, and was killed. The young man and six others were also in
the vehicle and, they, too, were attacked with lethal weapons but
escaped. The mob pelted his genitals with large stones, and he does
not know if he can ever fully recover. He is a daily-wage earner and
does not know how or when he can go back to work.

It is clear that the police, too, actively engaged in this campaign of
terror directed against the Muslims. In several Muslim localities in
Mangalore and in nearby BC Road and Ullal that we visited, evidence of
police brutality was amply evident. Rows upon rows of houses were set
upon by the police in the dark of night. They barged into several
dozen houses, breaking down doors and shattering windowpanes. Inside,
they went on a rampage on the pretext of searching for miscreants,
smashing television sets, wrenching open almirahs and abusing and
physically manhandling womenfolk. Scores of Muslim men, most of them
said to be innocent, were arrested and, it is alleged, false cases
slapped on them. Many of them have been sent to jails in far-off
places, some as distant as Bellary, over 400 kilometres from
Mangalore. Their children and womenfolk have had no news of them. We
met numerous Muslims who said they sought to file cases but the police
refused to register them.

Says Fatima (name changed), whose husband and son have been in jail
for the last fifteen days, 'My husband was a poor daily wage earner.
He had nothing to do with the violence. The police forced themselves
into our house, stole my jewellery and took my husband away. For
fifteen days we have had no source of income. We are surviving thanks
to the help of our neighbours'.

Uncontrollably sobbing, Najma (name changed), another Muslim
housewife, says, 'My husband is a heart patient. He is on medication.
He was at home when this happened. The police broke down our door and
grabbed him and dragged him off with them. He is perfectly innocent. I
have no idea when he will come back'.

Looting and destruction of Muslim shops, in many cases said to have
been abetted by the police, has resulted in loss of property running
into several lakhs. In Ullal, some Hindu shops, too, were attacked,
following a rumour, proved later to have been false, that the police
had fired on Muslims in the vicinity of the famous dargah located in
the town.

A rumour of the imminent slaughter of cows by a Muslim butcher is said
to have sparked off the recent violence in Mangalore. Apparently, over
the past four years there have been several incidents of Bajrang Dal
activists manhandling Muslim butchers. Last year the Bajrang Dal even
took over the slaughterhouse in an auction in a bid to keep the
Muslims out. However, they could not run the slaughterhouse for long
and so it was once again taken over by a group of Muslims. Yet, they
managed to get it closed down for several days on the grounds of lack
of hygiene. This time Bajrang Dal leaders decided to use the issue of
animal slaughter to engineer anti-Muslim violence in the town.
According to some reports, this was pre-planned. An so when a Muslim
butcher, was transporting what some say were buffaloes (and not cows)
that he had bought for slaughter from a Hindu, Bajrang Dal activists
pounced on the opportunity to set off a wave of attacks on Muslims in
Mangalore. Some local Kannada newspapers, whose Hindutva connections
are well-known, played a major role in further instigating the
violence by publishing false reports of Muslim attacks on Hindus.

As of now, a semblance of peace prevails, but for the families of the
scores of people killed or injured in the violence, whose houses and
properties were attacked by mobs and the police and whose menfolk
languish in jail, many on trumped up charges—mostly Muslims—things can
never be the same again. Says Mohammad, a Muslim youth from Mangalore,
'Hindutva leaders and some newspapers have made the ridiculous claim
of SIMI or the Laskhar -i Tayyeba being behind the violence. Not even
an idiot will believe this. The Hindu fascist forces started the
violence, and those responsible for it still remain largely scot-free,
while scores of innocent Muslims have been arrested and terrorised.
What sort of democracy and justice is this?'.

'Hindutva forces want to plunge India into the throes of civil war',
says Mohammad's friend Hussain. 'Inter-communal relations have largely
been good here', he adds, 'but the Hindutva fascists want to destroy
that, and are trying to do that all over Karnataka, now that they are
in a coalition government in the state. Only Allah knows what the
future holds for us'.



-- 
arshad amanullah
34,masihgarh,
jamia nagar
new delhi-25.