We Have No Orders to Save You - Human Rights Watch

get the food. If you go twice then maybe one out of two times you’ll be able to get food. So that’s Rs. 50
[U.S.$1] or Rs. 60 [U.S.$1.3] just coming and going…. We find some way to fill our stomachs. Somehow we
have to survive…. If you ask me, they’ve really abused and tortured Muslims here. It’s too much. Even now we
have no relief. We have no rest. For those who’ve saved us, many thanks to them. May God take care of
them.” 245
Part of the compensation for families who have lost loved ones has come in the form of bonds. Typically the
break down is as follows: Rs. 40,000 (U.S.$851) in cash and Rs. 60,000 (U.S.$1,277) in bonds. While the
families are told that they have Rs. 60,000 in bonds, they have not, in some cases, been given any documents to
prove their ownership. 246 X. ECONOMIC MARGINALIZATION OF MUSLIMS
There has been an unimaginable marginalization of Muslims in Gujarat. They have no trading
power. The middle class segment of Muslims has been wiped out and set back. They have no
benefits and won’t get any benefits from this government.
— Sheba George 247
Independent nongovernmental groups estimate that, as a result of the large-scale destruction of homes, properties,
and businesses in Gujarat, the Muslim community has suffered an economic loss totaling Rs. 3,800 crore, or
approximately U.S. $760 million. 248 The prolonged closure of shops, industries, and commercial establishments
in the state has also hurt the economy as a whole rendering thousands of Muslims and Hindus jobless. 249 Across
Gujarat, over 1,100 Muslim-owned hotels, over 100,000 homes, around 15,000 business establishments, 3,000
handcarts, and over 5,000 vehicles were badly damaged or completely destroyed. 250 Discriminatory economic
boycotts, ghettoization, and the deliberate targeting of businesses and income-generating mechanisms such as
handcarts, taxis, autorickshaws, and trucks, have economically crippled the already pauperized Muslim
community of Gujarat. In many places, the Hindu community has also been hard hit. Reports have surfaced of
Hindu traders committing suicide out of economic desperation. Their businesses were paralyzed for months after
the violence and many have been unable to pay off their loans to banks or loan sharks. 251 This chapter looks at the
phenomena of ghettoization and boycotts in Gujarat, as well as the long-term psychological and educational
impact on Muslim children.
“Ghettoization”
Successive episodes of Hindu-Muslim violence in Gujarat (in 1969, 1985, 1989, 1990, and 1992) have resulted in
the increasing ghettoization of the state’s Muslim community. 252 The pattern is now reinforcing itself as Muslim
residents once again look for safety in numbers and refuse to return to what is left of their residences alongside
Hindu neighbors. The reconstruction of homes has largely taken place along communal lines. Muslims cannot
work, reside, or send their children to schools in Hindu dominated localities. As the segregation of communities
continues hopes for community dialogue or reconciliation have dissipated.
245 Ibid.
246 HIC, YUVA, Rebuilding from the Ruins, p. 32.
247 Human Rights Watch interview with Sheba George, head of the NGO SAHR WARU, Ahmedabad, January 3, 2003.
248 Concerned Citizens Tribunal, Crime Against Humanity, vol. II, p. 44.
249 For a more detailed account of the economic devastation caused by the violence in multiple industries see: “Economic
Destruction” in Concerned Citizens Tribunal, Crime Against Humanity, vol. II.
250 Concerned Citizens Tribunal, Crime Against Humanity, vol. II, p. 27.
251 Rasheeda Bhagat, “The great divide in Gujarat,” Business Line (The Hindu), December 11, 2002.
252 The term ghettoization is defined here to encompass economic and other circumstances that result in the impoverishment
and segregation of members of a minority group from the larger community.
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 47 JULY 2003, Vol. 15, No. 3 (C)