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A'bad remains Gujarat's communal hot spotAdd to Clippings

TIMES NEWS NETWORK
[ TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 04, 2003 12:27:52 AM ]

AHMEDABAD: With more than 25 instances of communal rioting in the last 10 months, Ahmedabad district still remains the most volatile areas of communally sensitive Gujarat state which witnessed widespread riots last year.

 

But while other areas have lost their virulence and have settled down to quieter times, it is Ahmedabad which accounted for half of the 1,000 lives lost in the violence in 2002,which keeps the embers burning.

 

Sunday’s violence in Viramgam in Ahmedabad district, about 60 km from the city, once again emphasised its dubious status as the epicentre of communal trouble since the burning of the train at Godhra on February 27 last year.

 

A Viramgam here and there keeps cropping up once in a while,but it is Gujarat’s largest city of Ahmedabad which accounts for nearly 90 per cent of all the rioting cases.

 

After a tumultuous first half of 2002, a lull was observed in rioting in the latter part of the year as the government went into poll mode and the BJP won a landslide victory.

 

Pirana near Sarkhej has a disputed ‘durgah’ which is always a potential source of trouble apart from other hotspots like Kalupur, Dariapur and Shahpur.

 

The other spots that have kept the Ahmedabad district police on its toes are Virochannagar near Sanand, Dholka and Sarkhej. During the last one year, the city has seen no less than 20 instances of rioting.

 

January saw three riots, three more during February, three during March, three in April, one in June, two in August, three in September and one in October and one in November so far.

 

On Sunday, Murad Fardurehman Shaikh was stabbed to death while the police were busy trying to stop local residents of Shahe-Alam from clashing with each other.

 

Commissioner of police K R Kaushik says, “Each incident is separate and its roots are different from the other. One cannot really club these incidents together. However, senior police officials are making all efforts to calm frayed nerves by holding regular dialogue with commoners and helping them co-exist in peace. Our efforts have been largely successful.”

 

DySP (Ahmedabad rural) I D Upadhyay feels: “These incidents are isolated and do not follow a pattern.”

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