A 'stunning silence' in Muzaffarnagar villages, torn by riots

Muzaffarnagar: Two weeks after communal riots ripped through Muzaffarnagar, killing 43 people and forcing 40,000 to move to refugee camps, the state government has blamed the Opposition BJP for inciting Hindu-Muslim tension. The BJP denies the charge, and in turn, accuses the government of failing to prevent the worst riots in the state in over a decade, and enforcing pro-minority policies that have left Hindus insecure.

The Supreme Court has said today that it will supervise relief and rehabilitation for those who evacuated their village.  

A fact-finding committee was deputed by independent think tank Centre for Policy Analysis to tour the area. It has recommended that a retired Supreme Court judge investigate the cause of the riots.

"There was a stunning silence in villages. The countryside is afraid," said John Dayal, an activist, who was part of the committee that visited Muzaffarnagar. "The administration stood back and possibly did the worst thing. There was an administration vacuum," said another member of the panel, journalist Sukumar Muralidharan.

A group of politicians from parties like the Congress, the BSP and the BJP are wanted by the police for delivering incendiary speeches at a series of meetings held in the district before the riots erupted on September 7. Though a court has issued arrest warrants against some of the leaders, inexplicably, nobody has been arrested so far.

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Those who have visited Muzaffarnagar in recent days say that it's hard to assemble the chain of events because there are conflicting versions of what provoked the unrest.

The police says that the first spasm of violence came on August 27, when two Hindu Jat boys killed a muslim man for stalking their sister, and were then murdered by a mob.

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Though local officials banned public meetings to prevent community leaders and politicians from addressing Muslims and Hindus, the order was ignored. 

Full-blown riots walloped Muzaffarnagar on September 7 when thousands of farmers who were on their way home from a meeting were attacked with knives and swords. A lethal wave of retribution followed. Over the next 48 hours, 43 people were killed.