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US panel to hold hearing on Gujarat riots on June 10

T V Parasuram in Washington

United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, a statutory body advising the American president and the Congress, announced on Wednesday that it would hold a hearing on June 10 to examine evidence, which suggested that the recent communal violence in Gujarat was carefully planned by the state government.

"The government of Gujarat and some members of the police force are involved in the recent violence in that state. The riot in the state, located on the border with Pakistan, threatens to exacerbate the already inflamed tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad," Commission chairman Michael K Young said.

"According to India's National Human Rights Commission, the events leading up to the Godhra tragedy and the violence that followed were marked by a serious failure of intelligence and inaction by the [Gujarat] state government," an official release quoted Young as saying.

"The Commission is very concerned that the US government has not spoken out forcefully against the attacks which killed nearly 1,000 people and left another 10,000 homeless in Gujarat," he said.

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