![]() Troops patrol streets of riot-hit Indian city
Ahmedabad, India - Hundreds of troops were deployed on the streets of a western Indian city on Thursday as clashes sparked by the demolition of a Muslim shrine continued for a fourth day.
Riots erupted between groups of Hindus and Muslims after civic authorities demolished a Sufi shrine as part of a road-widening project. Six people have since been killed and scores injured, including 10 police officers. On Wednesday a 30-year-old Muslim man was burned to death in his car by a mob of hundreds, including activists of hardline Hindu groups linked to the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which rules Gujarat. Police said 60 people had been arrested in connection with the killing. A top state official said the decision to send in troops had come late on Wednesday as local police were seen to be failing to control the sectarian clashes. Police said three factories had been set ablaze on Thursday, and there had incidents of mobs pelting each other with stones. Muslim leaders said they would file a suit against the police for failing to tackle the rioting. "I have no faith in the local police. They were standing as spectators when my shoe shop was gutted last night," said Ismail Davar. Highly industrialised Gujarat is one of India's most communally sensitive states. It was rocked by Hindu-Muslim riots in 2002 after 59 Hindus were burned to death in a train. The state government blamed their deaths on a Muslim mob. Human rights groups say about 2 500 people - mostly Muslims - were hacked, beaten or burned to death in retaliatory attacks. Officials put the toll at over 1 000. New York-based Human Rights Watch on Thursday urged officials to prevent the rioting from spreading. "The possibility of a return to massive sectarian violence in Gujarat must be forestalled with prompt action by government authorities," the organisation said in a statement.
Published on the Web by IOL on 2006-05-04 11:08:37
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