Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-05-16-Speech-4-172"
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"en.20020516.9.4-172"2
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"Mr President, we are here to express our concern at the recent outbreak of inter-communal violence that has erupted in the Indian State of Gujarat – violence which has claimed hundreds of lives and left thousands homeless and destitute. I am sure that Parliament will join me in expressing condolences and profound sympathy to the members of both communities who have suffered loss and bereavement, including relatives of my own London constituents.
There is some history to the inter-communal violence in Gujarat including, it must be said, persecution of Christians by Hindu extremists. The latest outbreak began after Muslim extremists killed 58 Hindu pilgrims on a train near Godhra – a deeply callous act which unleashed a round of reprisals and counter-reprisals. This chain of events has generated considerable soul-searching in India itself, a country founded on the rule of law and secular democracy, with accusations that the State authorities did not react quickly enough to the scale of events.
No system of government is perfect, but since the army was called in, 30 thousand arrests have been made, with 80% of those arrested being Hindus. In addition, it is significant that the violence did not spread to other parts of India and large areas of Gujerat itself remained calm. In the Indian Parliament, the government accepted the Congress Party opposition's motion as the basis for discussion with cross-party support, reaffirming its belief in democratic pluralism and respect for minorities in a giant country of over a billion people of diverse backgrounds and race, and the independent Justice Verma commission is now reporting back to the government.
Clearly lessons have to be learned, but we should not forget that India is currently reeling from a series of atrocious terrorist attacks by Islamic Jihadi extremists – most recently the killing of 30 people, including women and children, and scores of wounded on the outskirts of Jammu. This attack makes the dangerous threat of war more likely between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, a country which regrettably and, until recently, actively supported Islamic terrorists.
The international community must urgently do everything possible to prevent any further escalation of violence which might threaten global peace."@en1
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substitute; Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy (2002-01-17--2004-07-19)3
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