- New Indian Express / 14-02-2006
- Tehelka / 8th Oct, 2005
- New Indian Express / 31-07-2007

Kovai under security blanket
[New Indian Express / 14-02-2006]

COIMBATORE: Tuesday is Valentine’s Day. While there is celebration in the air, amidst protests from some quarters, Coimbatore remembers, and prepares for the eighth anniversary of the serial bomb blasts that rocked the textile city in 1998.

On Monday, the general view prevailing in the city is that a lot has changed since then and for the better. Overall, the city is on the path of growth.

However, the police are not taking any chances. Terrorist attacks in any part of the country are followed by the police strengthening security measures in the city. This happened even after the attack at the Indian Institute of Sciences in Bangalore that claimed the life of retired IIT professor M C Puri and injured several others in December 2005. Security has been stepped up at vantage points in the city, like the railway junction, since then.

The city police have made separate security arrangements for the anniversary of the serial blasts. City police commissioner Karan Singha has convened a meeting of
representatives from different communities, particularly from the Hindu and Muslim communities here on Monday evening.

Karan Singha, who attributed the cooperation extended by different communities as the main reason for the prevailing peace in the region, also detailed the elaborate security arrangements that were in place for Tuesday.

“We have activated all the 11 border checkpoints and deployed 19 mobile teams in
the city. We have put up picketing in several places. Vehicular checking is being taken up at 18 points besides regular traffic checks. Ten strike forces have been mobilised. Three anti-sabotage teams and six fire tenders have been kept on standby,” the commissioner said.

The serial blasts that rocked the city between February 14 and 17, 1998, had left over 50 dead and more than 200 injured. On that fateful Saturday, a series of 12 blasts had occurred shortly before the then-BJP president L K Advani was to land in Coimbatore for a campaign.

The attack was seen as a retaliation by the Islamic fundamentalists against the lynching of 17 Muslim youth in Coimbatore on November 30, 1997, close on the heels of the murder of traffic constable R Selvaraj by a few Al Umma activists.

The Tamil Nadu government had banned Al Umma and All India Al Jihad Committee soon after the blasts. Around 167 persons including Al Umma founder President S A
Basha and PDP chief Abdul Naser Madhani were arrested. The charge sheet was framed in the special court on October 23, 2001 and trial began in March 2002.

G Subramanian, executive director of ‘Manitham’, a human rights organisation, who said that things are better and normal now, recalled that during the aftermath of the serial blasts, Muslim tenants were denied houses in the city. But today, things have changed at least to a certain extent.

The security measures taken by the police are necessary, he said, but added that police should ensure that they did not create panic among the public.

- By: Gladwin Emmunuel, Chief Reporter, New Indian Express / 14-02-2006 / Page - 2
- URL : NEW INDIAN EXPRESS

"Police obstructs study on families of blast accused"
[Subramanian, Executive Director, Manitham]

A study conducted by Coimbatore based human rights group Manitham and the reputed PSG College of Arts and Science on the socio-economic condition of families of the serial blast accused, produced shocking details before it had to be wound up, allegedly under police pressure. G. Subramanian, Manitham's Executive Director, says the study was undertaken to find out the impact of the blasts on the families of the deceased, accused, disappeared, and injured.

A 40-member team, comprising mostly psychology students of PSG, armed with a questionnaire, began by interviewing families of the blast accused.

About 62 families in and around Coimbatore were interviewed between December 2004 and January 2005. The team found that in most cases, women, who hardly stepped out of their homes when the men were around, had to start working to support the family. While that in itself may not be cause for any alarm, the nature of some of the 'work' does. "Atleast 20 percent of the women had took to prostitution," says Subramanian, who blames the government for the sad state of affairs. "The police and the administration know about it. But they have not done anything about it," he alleges. There were families that could not pay house rent, which are as little as Rs. 70, for months. Many parents were finding it difficult to get their daughters married, either because they had no money, or nobody was willing to marry them. "They are almost being ostracised," says Subramanian.

When the police found that a French activist on tourist visa, Aline Daillere, was collaborating in the study, then Commissioner of Police Ashutosh Shukla sent a letter to Subramanian pointing out that it was "a blantant violation of the visa conditions".

Subsequently, police allegedly contacted PSG authorities and asked them to dissociate from the project. But Subramanian is determined to finish it: “I will complete the study somehow and bring to light the comprehensive socio-economic fallout of the blasts."

A neighborhood’s endless wait for its jailed sons....

NOORJEHAN:

Noorjehan had great hope in her son Abbas. Besides an apprenticeship in a workshop, Abbas was already getting Rs. 300 a month as a volunteer for the government's "Arivoli Iyakkam" [a literacy programme]. Locals called him 'Arivoli' Abbas. As a 'peace committee member' in the local police station, he was well known to the cops.

It was this familiarity that gave him courage to speak to the insepector rounding up Muslim youth in the colony soon after the clashes. "The inspector threw his 'peace committee member' badge and took him away, “says Noorjehan.

In jail, Abbas has become a voracious reader. "He spends his time reading books and the Quran", says his mother, who visits him every fortnight. One of Abbas' sisters has been married off since. the family is praying that Abbas makes it to the marriage of his younger sister at least.

KHURSHEED:

Twenty-three-year-old Barkat was a lorry driver for an oil company, earning a decent amount of about Rs. 200 a day, when he was arrested by police in the blasts case. "Barkat came home that evening after getting beaten by a mob on the way. We were nurshing his wounds when police arrived and took him away. Our pleas fell on deaf ears," says his mother Khursheed. Barkart's son was 4 months old at the time of his arrest.

Barkat's grief-stricken father died five years ago. Tragedy stuck Khursheed again, when her elder sone died, leaving behind four daughters. Left to battle it out all alone, Khursheed looks after her grandchildren with the meager earnings from her roadside idli shop. "There's nobody to hold us," she says, voice choked with emotions. Her only hope now is Barkat's return. "Will they release him soon," she asks, as we leave her.

KATHEEJA AND SHKILA BANU:

katheeja's husband died more than a decade ago. Her son Akbar was just 18 years when he was arrested in 1998.

"We were running the family with the money Akbar used to bring home. He was a construction worker, and did other small jobs too, “says his sister Shakila Banu, a widow. Akbar was just 18 years when he was picked up by police.

A year ago, mother and daughter set up an idli shop on a pavement in the neighborhood. Katheeja also works as a housemaid. With great difficulty, they are sending Banu's daughter Rashida to school.

It's been a month since they last visits Akbar in jail. "We need at least Rs. 150-200 for every visit. We buy him soap, and some fruits. If we don't visit him, he will know it's because we don't have the money," says Katheeja, who is longing for the day her family would be reunited.

- PC VINOJ KUMAR / TEHELKA / 8th Oct, 2005 / Page 8 & 9
- URL : http://www.tehelka.com/story_main14.asp?filename=Ne100805Police_obstructs.asp

They put aside their past
[New Indian Express / 31-07-2007]

COIMBATORE: A case study on the 1998 serial blasts entitled, ‘Towards Conflict Resolution - A Study of Communal Riots in Coimbatore,’ has concluded that the blasts were triggered by economic and political background together with certain psychological factors. The study is set for publication in 2008.

Joe Arun, Executive Director, Institute of Dialogue with Cultures and Religions, Loyola College, Chennai, on Monday said, ‘‘The study has important findings which will not be revealed at this juncture. We have examined the victims, the players and the spectators.’’

He added, ‘‘Although it is intended to be evocative, the study may be interpreted as provocative by some. That is why we have decided to publish it next year.’’ As the long wait for the victims and the undertrials draws to a close, with the special court scheduled to commence the pronouncement of verdict in the blasts case on Wednesday, Express spoke to Reena, a research student of the institute, who completed the study last year. She recalled that she found the affected families coming to terms with the wounds of the past. Some of them narrated their version of events, for the first time, only in the court. The equation of the relationships within a family under went dramatic changes after that fateful day, she said.

Manitham, a human rights group, conducted a study on the socio-economic conditions of the families of the serial blasts accused, along with a city college. According to G Subramanian, Executive Director, the study uncovered shocking details before it had to be wound up. As many as 62 families in and around the city were interviewed between December, 2004 and January, 2005. The team found that in most cases, women who hardly stepped out of their homes earlier, were forced to start working to support the family.

- By: Gladwin Emmunuel, Chief Reporter, New Indian Express / 31-07-2007
- URL : NEW INDIAN EXPRESS