New Delhi
20 March 2008
United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or
Belief Asma Jahangir has said that religious intolerance has risen in India in the last
decade.
Ms Jahangir told a news conference towards the end of her visit to India that
"institutionalised impunity for those who exploit religion and impose their religious
intolerance on others has made peaceful citizens, particularly the minorities, vulnerable
and fearful."
In her March 3 to 20 visit at the invitation of the Government of India, Ms Jahangir
travelled to Amritsar, Delhi, Jammu, Srinagar, Ahmedabad, Mumbai,
Thiruvananthapuram, Bhubaneswar and Lucknow. She held talks with a number of
people related to her mandate. They included government officials, policy-makers and
academics as well as members and leaders of religious communities and civil society
organisations.
About the 2002 Gujarat massacre, she said there are credible reports that inaction by the
authorities was evident and most interlocutors alleged complicity by the state
government.
"I'm distressed ... I'm not that hopeful that justice will be done," she said in response to
a question on the condition of the victims. "It (Gujarat) is a cause for concern [because]
atmosphere is oppressive," she added.
She said the Gujarat carnage was different from the forcible eviction of the Pandits from
the Kashmir Valley in that she did not detect any "remorse" within a section of the
society in Gujarat, unlike the people in Srinagar.
She drew another distinction, too. Early action was taken in Jammu and Kashmir and the
authorities there did help. "The complicity of the state was not there," she explained,
"but it appeared to be there in Gujarat."
"Even today there is increasing ghettoisation and isolation of Muslims in certain areas
[in Gujarat]. The assertion of the state government that development by itself will heal
the wounds without a policy of inclusiveness of all communities will only add to
aggravate resentments," she added.
Ms Jahangir acknowledged that the Gujarat massacre and the exodus of the Pandits
from the Kashmir Valley were similar in the manner in which the majority community
intimidated the minority community. "That was absolutely unforgivable," she said.
She hoped to submit her report to the UN Human Rights Council in two or three months.
Her next visit as UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief will be to
Turkmenistan. Bangladesh has extended an invitation to her but Beijing is still to
respond to her request for visiting China.
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