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EU condemns sectarian violence in Gujarat

The European Union is considering sending humanitarian assistance to the victims of the riots in Gujarat after a resolution was adopted by the European parliament, which debated the situation in the state.

EU Development Aid Commissioner Poul Nielson said he expects the commission -- executive arm of the 15-member union -- to take a decision on the relief plan within the next two weeks.

The EU already has a co-operation programme in Gujarat, where it is trying to speed up reconstruction after a massive earthquake hit the state last year.

The resolution was adopted with a very large majority in the European parliament on Thursday after an emergency debate on Gujarat. The resolution was submitted jointly by all political parties, with the exception of the Greens.

"I have to say that this resolution is not the best way to help the Indian society to deal with the worrisome situation in Gujarat," a Portuguese member of the European Socialist Party, Maria Carrilho, said during the debate.

Carrilho, who is chairperson of the European parliament's South Asia delegation, saw the violence as a manifestation of a larger and more complex phenomenon affecting Asia.

"India is one of the largest secular democratic countries, in which several communities and religions live peacefully together," the resolution said. "The fact that troubles in Gujarat have not affected other parts of the Indian Union testifies to the underlying strengths of India's democratic and tolerant society."

The resolution condemned "in the strongest possible way all the sectarian violence which followed the burning to death of 58 Hindu pilgrims [rather than "activists" -- the term used initially] by Muslim extremists, and the ensuing violence in which Hindus indiscriminately targeted Muslims as reprisals".

Carrilho noted that she visited the Indian parliament even while it was debating the Gujarat situation. "The interest shown by the European parliament means that we strongly support the principle of communities from different ethnic and religious organisations living together in peace," she said.

India, she noted, "has been an example of this possibility in the past, and it is decisive for the Indian people and for the world that it will be so in the future".

Many of the statements made by votaries of the resolution were supportive of the Indian government and its democratic system.

Referring to Tuesday's attack near Jammu, Charles Tannock, a member of Britain's Conservative Party, said, "India is currently reeling from a series of atrocious terrorist attacks by Islamic jihadi extremists." It "makes the dangerous threat of war more likely between India and Pakistan".

Nielson noted that the findings of the commission's delegation in New Delhi were "deeply worrying". "Violence was not only widespread," he said, "but in many cases extreme brutality was used."

The defeat of the amendments submitted by the Greens resulted in the resolution being less emotive and more balanced.

PTI

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