Thackerays terror - Srikrishna panel report should be implemented by the govt

(Deccan Herald
August 14, 2007)

Editorial

Thackerays terror
Srikrishna panel report should be implemented by the govt.

There are faint signs that the wheels of justice for victims of the December 1992-January 1993 communal riots in Mumbai just might start turning. Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has promised to implement the recommendations of the Srikrishna Commission report. It is 14 years since the communal riots and nine years since the Srikrishna Commission that probed the 1992-93 riots submitted its findings. The Shiv Sena stood clearly indicted in the report. “There is no doubt,” the report said “that the Shiv Sena took the lead in organising attacks on Muslims and their properties under the guidance of several leaders from the Shakha Pramukh to the Shiv Sena Pramukh Bal Thackeray, who, like a veteran general, commanded the loyal Sainiks to retaliate through organised attacks against Muslims.”
Yet no action was taken against them or the many police officers who aided and abetted the violence. The Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Maharashtra simply buried the Srikrishna report. The Congress government too is guilty of failing to implement the report’s recommendations. It promised to do so but did nothing else. Mr Deshmukh’s latest pledge could therefore be just another promise. However, Mr Deshmukh is now under some pressure to deliver on his promises from the courts and the public.

India’s failure to convict those who masterminded one of the bloodiest anti-Muslim pogroms in the country is a blatant denial of justice to the victims of the communal riots, who were mainly Muslims. The excuse given by successive governments is that convicting the guilty could “reopen the wounds” again. This is nonsense. Justice has to be done. India needs to signal that the law of the land applies to all, irrespective of their religious affiliations and the clout they wield.

Not acting against those indicted in the Srikrishna report is a denial of justice to the riot victims. It would also amount to allowing the Sena to hold this country, its Constitution and justice system hostage to its intimidation. There is fear that action against Thackeray and his thugs will prompt Sainiks to unleash violence on Mumbai again. But by kowtowing to Thackeray’s threats, India is allowing one man and his henchmen to hold its justice system to ransom. The Sena is violating the law by terrorising the people of this country with its threats and violence. Sena leaders are using terror tactics and they should be tried for this. Shirking legal action against them amounts to appeasement of terror.