From: "Irfan Engineer" 13 January 2012
Concept Note
Seminar on ‘Lessons learnt from Gujarat’
The Gujarat carnage that took place in 2002 was a rude shock to the secular consciousness of the nation. Thousands of lives and valuable property especially of the Muslim community were brutally destroyed with unnerving impunity. Women were the worst victims, being targets of gang rapes and unspeakable sexual assaults which have scarred the rest of their lives. The worst memory of the carnage is foetus being hoisted on trident as a symbol of victory after brutally assaulting a helpless woman. What has perhaps appalled the civil society and justice seekers is complicity of the state which encouraged the perpetrators to carry out such abhorrent crimes against humanity with such impunity. This severely undermines everything our constitutional values enshrine. Gujarat, the colorful state of diversity, was in a state of terror and lawlessness. For the first time two Muslim sitting High Court Judges felt insecure even in their official residence and were forced to seek shelter in Muslim majority areas. Muslim police officers from IPS took off their name tags from their official uniform out of fear from the rioting mobs and a former MP was brutally killed not far away from the Police Head Quarters. For the first time state government refused to provide relief to the riot victims and the riots led to unprecedented ghettoisation.
On 27th February 2012, a decade will be completed of the burning of Sabarmati Express and the unprecedented anti-Muslim carnage that followed in Gujarat in 2002. The carnage was a watershed in more ways than one. The carnage in Gujarat was unprecedented as was the complicity of the state. The state’s involvement is clear from the organized manner of attacks and lack of help and protection that was to be provided to the victims. A few conscientious state officers who are trying to expose the state machinery and its complicit role in the carnage, are been victimized in order to terrorize them into submission and silence. Social activists and lawyers who are resorting to legal recourse to seek justice for the victims are hounded in a similar manner. These human rights defenders are obstructed in their quest of justice by the mighty state machinery. This leaves very small democratic space for engagement and justice. A grave matter of concern is the rehabilitation of the victims who have suffered colossal loss. The civil societies and researchers who have studied the ground realities have bleak stories to narrate of impoverished and insecure ghettos of the Muslim community who has been driven to the margins of the cities and towns with no basic civic amenities. Faced with abject poverty and economic subjugation, they are living as secondary citizens in their own country. Thus the carnage has triggered a debate on the axis of justice, discrimination, citizenship rights, human rights, rehabilitation, role of state and secularism.
A decade has passed since the carnage. There is a need to take stock of the situation and what took place in this decade. How did the criminal justice system respond to the carnage? What changes we need in our criminal justice system to be able to adequately respond to such mass crimes and targeted violence? How was relief and rehabilitation work organized? Were the victims adequately compensated? What measures are we ready with to prevent such carnage? What was the larger impact of the carnage on citizenship rights of minorities and other marginalized sections? What was the impact of the carnage on the neo-liberal capitalist development model of the state? What was the impact of the carnage on the gender relation? Many such questions disturb us and need urgent answers to be able to learn proper lessons.
For the above purpose, Institute for Peace Studies and Conflict resolution (IPSCR) proposes a 2 day seminar which will be attended by eminent scholars, activists and civil society organizations who have engaged with these issues. The seminar can take place in Surat or Ahmedabad between 27th February to 7th March 2012 which will be observed as the decade since Godhra carnage. Relevant topics are identified and experts can present papers and their insights on the same. This sharing and exchange will eventually culminate in charting a way forward to engage with the issues and pursue the path of peace and justice ahead. The participants will be categorically requested to write papers which will be compiled to have some valuable reading material and literature on the developments in Gujarat. This seminar doesn’t hold significance only for Gujarat but also whole of India since communal forces are becoming strong undermining plurality and democracy in the country.
Below are the tentative topics/ sessions which the seminar will seek to shed light on:
1. Lessons learnt on Post conflict peace building in Gujarat:
The response (or lack of it) of the state to the carnage and how to make state more accountable in the measures taken to prevent, control and to ensure that there is dialogue and peace building between the communities. Some successful experiments can be presented and documented and the possibility to replicate some of them in other parts of the state.
2. Lessons learnt from the post-conflict processes like ghettoization and marginalization of the minorities:
This session will take stock of efforts made by the state for rehabilitation and reintegration of the victims into the society by ensuring security- physical, economical and social. The issue of ghettoization and difficulties faced by the Muslim communities in order to resume their place and role in society will be considered in this session. This process to integrate them again is important.
3. Lessons learnt from the response of various secular institutions:
It will be a helpful and interesting exercise to map the role and potential of institutions like the universities, chamber of commerce and trade associations, bureaucrats, local self governance bodies, trade unions and other such supposed to be secular institutions. Trade and education are connectors which can help actively to establish peace. The role of these institutions can largely influence the state and negotiate to a great extend.
4. Lessons learnt from the psychological trauma faced by the victims, particularly the women and children:
Rehabilitation efforts usually are in the paradigm of economic rehabilitation. However, little thought is spared towards the psycho social aspects of rehabilitation. Rehabilitation must be conceptualized in a gendered way. Women and children are the worst victims of conflict and their different trauma needs different approach. These special needs have to be factored in.
5. Impact of the carnage on gender relations
Patriarchy is a persistent problem facing our society. Communal conflicts where women’s bodies become the site of contestation and they become the culture bearers of the community, their position in the community and society on a whole becomes more vulnerable and complex. Thus there is a need to understand the impact of this carnage on gender relations- within the family and also in the spheres in education, employment, mobility.
6. Lessons learnt from the response of the criminal justice system:
CJS came in for flak from all quarters for its failure to ensure justice to the victims of carnage. However we must collectively think and reflect so as to how to make the CJS more responsive to the victims and identify strategies to make it more sensitive and secular in its outlook.
7. Lessons learnt from the response of the civil society:
Today the state though being a powerful entity, the civil society also has a major role to play in ensuring justice and inclusion. Thus the response of civil society in prevention of the carnage, relief and rehabilitation of the victims and in ensuring justice to the victims must be reviewed. The gaps and opportunities must be identified in order to draw strategies for the future.
8. Engagement with new legislation needed to prevent targeted violence:
Post the Gujarat carnage, under pressure from the civil society, the state initiated work on the development of legislation in order to prevent communal violence on such a large scale. The state drafted a legislation which was draconian in nature. Due to the stiff resistance of the civil society, it was withdrawn and a new draft sought to be prepared. More debate and way to get the government bring the bill on Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence for voting must be discussed.
9. Lessons learnt from the media:
The media which is commonly dubbed as the fourth estate of democracy in the past has not exhibited behavior which promotes democracy. Their bias goes a long way in stereotyping certain communities and hampering the process of justice and peace. Ways and necessary measures to make media more accountable must be explored in this seminar.
10. The lessons learnt from the structure of the education system:
Education with its power to influence minds in the formative age and the educational system which is an institution in itself shapes attitudes and beliefs. These institutions are often exploited for vested interests by communal forces. The seminar will explore the adequacy or inadequacy of this educational system in dealing with stereo-typical attitudes.
The Seminar will be part of weeklong observation by coalition of various NGOs under the title of “Insaf Ki Dagar”. The papers presented in the Seminar will be published and Agile Publisher has agreed to publish the same.
We call upon you to contribute your paper for the seminar and for the publication. The date and venue of the Seminar will be announced soon. Please let us know the title of your paper and a brief synopsis.
With Regards,
Irfan Engineer,
Director, Institute for Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution,
603, New Silver Star, Prabhat Colony Road, Nr. Railway Bridge,
Santacruz (East), Mumbai, India
PIN: 400055
Mob: +91 9869462833; +91 8080629243
Tel: (off) +91 22 6149668; +91 22 26102089; +91 22 26135098
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