From: cpatil@cse.uta.edu (Chetan D Patil)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: Re: Bombay Riots - An Eye Witness Report
Date: 26 Jan 93 22:35:42 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington

In article <1993Jan24.133334.6095@doug.cae.wisc.edu> budaraju@cae.wisc.edu (Srinivas Budaraju) writes:
>This is an eye witness account of the first three days of communal
>violence that broke out in Bombay, from Jan 11, 1993 to Jan 13, 93
>by John D'Mello, Department of Sociology, St. Pius College, Bombay.
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>Jan 11, 1993
>
>While returning by train from Dadra-Nagar Haveli area in Gujarat, riots
Stuff deleted....

>In Goregaon, my parents are telling me that the whole place is under
>curfew. Curfew is lifted only from 6.00 AM to 7.00 AM. For the last
>three days they have been unable to buy food. Everything is closed,


	This is total crap. Whole of the Goregaon was never under
	curfew.
	I was there and I saw people walking around in the evenings.
	My Dad and brother were going to work throughtout the week
	as far as Prabha Devi and Bhandup.
	Parts of Goregaon e.g. Dindoshi were under curfew, that too 11 PM
	onwards.

>schools, colleges, banks, businesses, etc. What is worse is the 'lootmar'
>that accompanies this lawlessness. Only Muslim stores are being looted.

	Please give an acoount of the earlier 2-3 days of the riots.
	During those days the Muslims were stabbing innocent victims
	totally unprovacted. There were cases of numereous rapes.
	They were equally cruel. A student was stabbed while he was
	walking across a Mosque in Santa-Cruz(w) and his hands and 
	ears were cut off.
	Did the poster saw the early Newspapers. They were full of
	the pictures of Bhaiyas etc who were stoned to death.
	It was only after 2-3 days that hindu retaliation started.

>Everybody is saying that it is a political fight between Mr. Sharad Pawar
>and Mr. Naik. Pawar wants to oust Naik and so do the Shiv Sainiks. In
>the process the poor Muslims are the scapegoats. Everybody I know is
>feeling sorry for them. But what can be done? A few priests gave 
>shelter to Muslims have received threats from the Shiv Sainiks.

	What about the Namaz reading on the roads and the use of loud-
	speakers at the mosques? That is the reason why Maha-Artis were
	started in the first place.

	I am not for the riots and the killings. I was myself 
	inconvienienced when I had to wait for an entire hour on the
	Western Express Highway due to a MahaArti.

	As far as I know ,and i know coz I was there, Goregaon was
	pretty peaceful .In fact Bal Thackery had written in "Samna",
	a Shiv-Sena newspaper that Goregaon Hindus do not have blood
	flowing in their veins.
	

>This [is] the worst communal violence Bombay has ever seen. The local
>Marathi newspapers are against the Muslims and talk of teaching them
>a lesson. 95 percent of the families and people who have been hurt,
>killed, looted ... have been Muslims. The Biharis and South Indians
>whi have been sent back to their home towns have mostly been Muslims.
>The attack on them was very well planned and executed. In this spate
>of violence, it is estimated that 75,000 Muslims have left Bombay.
>Muslim men are now shaving off their beards and buying crosses to
>escape from being killed.

	During the early days of the riots a friend of mine was stopped
	while he was coming home at Jogeshwari and was asked his faith.
	He escaped by giving a Christian name.
	4 Hindus (women included) were locked and burned to death in a 
	room at Jogeshwari.

	I am dissapointed in Bombay myself. I could not beleive how
	Bombay has changed in just one and half year.
	But I hate people who give incomplete reports to others. Why not
	give an unbiased view of the whole thing. Posts like above will
	only tend to ignite people against one others. That is not fair.


	Chetan.