We Have No Orders to Save You - Human Rights Watch

three-quarters of which were published by the RSS and its affiliates. IDRF has rejected the allegations contained
in the report and has asserted that it “does not subscribe to any religious, political, or sectarian agendas.” 28 Many
who donate to IDRF and other such groups do so for charitable and humanitarian purposes and likely are unaware
of the uses of some of their funding.
The Citizens’ Tribunal report states:
• The Tribunal recorded evidence of the vast amounts of money at the sangh parivar’s disposal, to lure
cadres, pay for advertisements in the mass media, print hate literature, hold arms training camps,
distribute trishuls in lakhs for free and even employ fully paid cadres.
• Fund-raising has become a zealous activity for the RSS and VHP, the latter known as the World
Hindu Council abroad. Evidence before us suggests that organisations such as the Hindu Sevak
Sangh (HSS), a U.K.-based ‘charity’ and many such fronts in the U.S. collect and contribute large
sums of money to these organisations.
• The VHP finances the Bajrang Dal, which remains an unregistered body, from the money it receives
as donations for charitable work.
• Evidence before the tribunal suggests that the VHP itself has floated several organisations through
which it collects funds that are in addition to the contributions it receives from other sources.
• The most active have been VHP (USA) and VHP (U.K.), both of which are also connected with other
“charitable” societies in these countries. 29
The U.K. Charities Commission is reportedly under pressure from London-based South Asian organizations to
withdraw the charity status of the U.K. unit of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh,
which have been accused of diverting charitable donations to fund sectarian violence in India. 30 Meanwhile, the
U.S. State Department has asked the Justice Department to look into reports suggesting that the India
Development Relief Fund is siphoning off funds received from major U.S. companies and individuals to RSS-run
institutions with the express purpose of furthering the “Hindutva” agenda. 31
IV. IMPUNITY FOR ATTACKS AGAINST MUSLIMS
Muslims in Gujarat continue to be denied equal protection of the law. Although the government initially boasted
of arrests in the thousands following the communal violence, many of those arrested have since been released on
bail, acquitted, or simply let go. In “We Have No Orders to Save You,” Human Rights Watch reported that the
Gujarat state administration was engaged in a massive cover-up of the state’s role in the massacres and that of the
sangh parivar. Though eyewitnesses filed numerous police First Information Reports (FIRs) 32 that named local
VHP, BJP, and Bajrang Dal leaders as instigators or participants in the attacks, few if any of these leaders were
arrested. Reportedly under instructions from the state, the police faced continuous pressure not to arrest them or
to reduce the severity of the charges filed. In many instances, the police also refused to include in FIRs the names
of perpetrators identified by the victims and registered what are known as “omnibus FIRs,” where the accused is
identified only as “an unruly mob” or “a mob of 10,000.” Police had, however, filed what were shown to be false
charges against Muslim youth arbitrarily detained during combing operations in Muslim neighborhoods that had
28 Press Release, India Development and Relief Fund, IDRF Dismisses Hate Campaign Against IDRF Launched by Leftist
Groups (Nov. 22, 2002), at http://www.idrf.org/pressrelease112202.html.
29 Concerned Citizens Tribunal, Crime Against Humanity , vol. II, pp. 70 – 71. For more details see:
http://www.sabrang.com/tribunal/vol2/prepvio.html, sections 9.1-9.21. See also, Rukmini Callimachi, “The scars of
nationalism,” Daily Herald, May 7, 2003 [online], http://www.dailyherald.com/special/passagefromindia/hindu.asp (retrieved
May 18, 2003); and Kalpana Wilson, “Foreign direct investment in hatred,” The Hindu, March 23, 2003.
30 Hasan Suroor, “Pressure to withdraw charity status of RSS, HSS in U.K.,” The Hindu, March 5, 2003.
31 Seema Mustafa, “U.S., U.K. to probe Parivar funding,” Asian Age , February 25, 2003; David Bank, “Matching-Gift
Practices Face Scrutiny Amid Worries About Who Gets Money,” Asian Wall Street Journal, February 19, 2003.
32 The initial reports of a crime recorded by the police.
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 15 JULY 2003, Vol. 15, No. 3 (C)