Bada shor Suntey the Pahloo men Dil ka,
Jo Cheera to ek Qatra-ey Khoon na Nikla.”
Great cry, little wool!
According to authentic reports published in the aftermath of Gujarat Pogroms 2002, the Intelligence Bureau of the government had collected data on damages done to religious sites. The data showed that the rioteers desecrated a total of 562 religious places — 302 dargahs, 209 mosques, 30 madrasa, 18 temples and three churches. It has also claimed that of these damaged shrines, 294 had been repaired by December 31, 2002. A human rights fact-finding team called ‘Sahmat’ had reported back in 2002 that around 20 mosques were demolished in Ahmedabad alone as of March 11, 2002. The dargah of famous Urdu Poet Wali Gujarati, who was buried there, was also demolished at Shahibag in Ahmedabad. The Noorani mosque was damaged and burned in Naroda Patiya. The minaret of the mosque was also destroyed. In another incident, a 500-year-old mosque in Isanpur was destroyed with the use of cranes and bulldozer. The mosque at Por in Vadodara was razed by using a bulldozer belonging to the municipal corporation. The UNESCO designated World Heritage city and Gujarat’s capital Ahmedabad was one of the worst affected in terms of riot casualties and damages to religious sites. The historical monuments, mostly religious, were relics of a mixed-cultural past. For example, Ahmedabad’s 15th-century sultan Ahmad Shah I married a Hindu Rajput princess.
Around 600 years ago, by the side of the river Sabarmati, the newly-crowned Sultan of Gujarat Ahmad Shah I had laid the foundation of the first planned city of medieval India. It was to be established by four persons named Ahmad who had not missed any of their obligatory prayers. After a frantic search across Gujarat four Ahmads – Sultan Ahmad Shah I, Shaikh Ahmad Khattu of Sarkhez, Qazi Ahmad Jod of Patan, and scholar Malik Ahmad came together on 7 Zil Qa’da 813 ( 2-3 March 1411) to establish a city that saw the its worst mayhem in the human history.
However, the Muslims were flourishing in Gujarat even before the the establishment of Ahmedabad. According to historical documents, Allauddin Khilji’s army appeared in this region in 1297. Just like Muslims arrival in Malabar in Kerala, as soon as Islam began spreading in Arabian Peninsula, Muslims began to make their presence felt in the coastal region of Gujarat. After Sindh, it is Gujarat where the first Muslim rule was established in Indian sub-continent. Sanjan, a small town on the coast saw the establishment of an independent principality.
The famous Historigrapher Abul Hasan Ali Masudi had arived in Cambay (aka Khambat) in 915 CE and he saw a large number of Arab Muslim settled in Cambay, Chembur, Thana, Sopara, Sanjan, and Bharuch. He wrote that Muslim led honourable life under Hindu kings and they had built a number of mosques where regular prayers were offered. And a number of these mosques have survived the wreak of time, making Gujarat site of some of the oldest mosques of India.The oldest mosque in Gujarat is the Jama Masjid of Bharuch which was completed in the year 1065.
The famous Islamic invader Mahmood Ghaznavi attacked the temple at Somnath in the year 1024. About 150 years later it was Shahabuddin Ghori who also attacked Gujarat but failed twice and not until 1197 when his general Qutubuddin Aibak had some success in Gujarat.
The Modern Gujarat has its roots in the establishment of sovereign Sultanate of Muzaffar Shah I by declaring his independence in 1407. Four years later his grandson Ahmad Shah I, founder of Ahmedabad, becomes the Sultan and start giving shape to a region that we recognize as present day Gujarat.
Ahmadabad was declared a “Historic City” on UNESCO’s World Heritage list on 8th July, 2017 during the 41st Session of World Heritage Committee. This made the walled city of Ahmedabad the first city in India and the third in Asia to be inscribed to the World Heritage List. It presents a rich architectural heritage.
The inscription has been done under Criteria (ii) and (v) as defined in the UNESCO’s Operational Guidelines, 2016. Criterion (ii) refers to the important interchange of human values, over a span of time on development of architecture, monumental arts, town planning and landscape while Criterion (v) refers to being an outstanding example of human settlement and land use.
And what happened to this city of golden heritage is described by Wikepedia in the following words: The 2002 Gujarat riots, also known as the 2002 Gujarat violence and the Gujarat pogrom, was a three-day period of inter-communal violence in the western Indian state of Gujarat. Following the initial incident there were further outbreaks of violence in Ahmadabad for three months; state wide, there were further outbreaks of communal riots against the minority Muslim population for the next year. The burning of train in Godhra on 27 February 2002, which caused the deaths of 58 Hindu pilgrims Karsevaks returning from Ayodhya, is cited as having instigated the violence. According to official figures, the riots ended with 1,044 dead, 223 missing, and 2,500 injured. Of the dead, 790 were Muslim and 254 Hindu.
The CM of Gujarat at that time, was accused of initiating and condoning the violence, as were police and government officials who allegedly directed the rioters and gave lists of Muslim-owned properties to them. However, in 2012, Modi was cleared of complicity in the violence by Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Supreme Court of India.
Regarding the religious places demolished, destroyed and dilapidated by the rioters, The Supreme Court on Tuesday has set aside a Gujarat high court order directing the state government to pay compensation for the damage and destruction of religious sites in the 2002 communal riots in the state. A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra passed the order in the light of the assurance and scheme extended by the Gujarat government agreeing to pay for restoration of damaged religious structures during the communal riots.
The court was hearing an appeal by the state government against the Gujarat high court order on a plea by an NGO, Islamic Relief Committee of Gujarat (IRCG), asking the state to compensate for the damage and destruction post the riots.
A division bench of then acting Chief Justices Bhaskar Bhattacharya and J.B. Pardiwala of Gujarat high court had ordered compensation for over 500 places of worships in the state in 2012. IRCG’s plea had sought a court directive to the state government to compensate for damage and destruction of religious sites during the riots.
And that reminds me of Mirza Ghalib:
Poochtey hain woh ke koun hain Ghalib;
Koi batao ke hum batayen kiya.”
It has been enquired who is Ghalib, Tell me what should I say?
