Sach ki Yadein, Yadon ka Sach
PRESS INVITATION
Kindly find herewith, a backgrounder to a six-day (26th February to 3rd March 2007) event to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Gujarat Carnage of 2002, entitled "Sach ki Yadein, Yadon ka Sach" being organized in Ahmedabad by several organizations.
The programmes will include seminars, a convention with survivors, film-shows, drama, street plays, painting exhibitions, etc. The whole focus of the programme is to serve as platform where all of us stand together for preserving the memory against forgetting.
To introduce the weeklong programmes and to provide their details, we are inviting you to a Press Conference :
On Friday, 23rd February 2007
At 1600 hrs.
At PRASHANT
Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road
Ahmedabad 380 052
Tel: 27455913 / 66522333
We sincerely hope you / your Reporter and Photographer will attend this Press Conference.
We further request you to cover the events of the weeklong programmes that are being organized.
Thanking you in anticipation for the same,
For and on behalf of the Organizing Collective
Fr. Cedric Prakash
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Sach ki Yadein, Yadon ka Sach
(26 February - 3 March 2007)
Gujarat 2002 witnessed an estimated killing of 2000 people, rape of approximately 400 women, property damage worth Rs 3800 crores, around 1100 restaurants destroyed, 563 religious places (302 dargahs, 209 mosques, 30 madrassas, 18 temples and 3 churches) destroyed or damaged. About 2.5 lakh people were directly displaced.
Recent surveys reveal that 5,000-10,000 families are still living in around 80 relief camps, not recognized by the state govt. and without any basic civic amenities! Out of a total 4252 FIRs lodged (minuscule, compared to unofficial figures), 2208 cases were summarily closed and most of the accused were released within one year of the carnage. 214 people are still languishing in jails under POTA, all Muslims barring five!
The legacy continues! The politicians are still reaping benefits; academics are still trying to make sense of it for the long-term future of Indian democracy; media persons are still divided over it; activists are still trying to wrest for the victims whatever minuscule doles they can from an otherwise hostile state and the victims are still struggling to make two ends meet or to come to terms with the nightmare they had to undergo.
Meanwhile the memory of it all is being overwritten! It is being touted instead that all is well with the proverbial Gujarati world and the state continues to march on its way to glory. Those raising doubts are portrayed as conspiring to divide the five crore Gujaratis. The pathetic condition of the minorities does not raise any concern rather becomes a solid example to showcase the state as ruthless and hence very focused. And what is the state‚s track record on other fronts? Gujarat‚s status remains as number five in debt. According to NSSO May 2005, each of the 48 lakh farmers in the state is reeling under a debt of Rs. 15526. Officially, in the three years till 30 June 2006, 100 dalits have been murdered. Gujarat is also number five in the worst sex ratio record. At the same time, small-time thugs are not allowing Fanaa and Parzania to be screened inside Gujarat; are forcibly breaking inter-religious marriages apart and working for intense polarization among the tribals against the minorities.
The happenings of 2002 form the larger backdrop against which the events continue to unfold. How do we then pursue, an honest admission of truth and moral responsibility through a collective and public exercise as well as state‚s responsibility for the acts of its organs or agents and for its own failure to prevent or adequately respond to the commission of gross human rights violations, remains the challenge.
One continues to demand for the right to fair and adequate compensation; the right to restoration of the situation existing prior to the violation; the restoration of dignity and the right to a guarantee, by means of appropriate legislative and/or institutional intervention and reform, that the violation will not be repeated. A crucial aspect in all this is the symbolic reparation, especially in the backdrop of the gravest threat of 'erasure from memory and history', encompassing a process of remembering and commemorating the pain. It aims to restore the dignity of victims and serve as a continuing reminder. As we know, post-holocaust Germany is an example of that.
It is in this spirit that this six-day event is being organised. To serve as a platform where all of us stand together for preserving the 'memory' against 'forgetting'.
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PRASHANT - A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace
Street Address : Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052, Gujarat, India
Postal Address : P B 4050, Navrangpura PO, Ahmedabad - 380 009, Gujarat, India
Phone : 91 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax : 91 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com
www.humanrightsindia.in
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