Says Ahsan Jafri's daughter-in-law of her slain kin's 2,000 sq foot property for the sake of planned museum
 Ahsan Jafri alias Appa (74), ex-Congress Member of Parliament (MP) had finished paying off the loan for his bungalow number 19 in Gulbarg Society in 2001. To complete the happy picture, his son gifted him a car. Jafri who was killed in the Godhra riots was witness to his dream being razed to the ground.
Museum as a reminder
In year 2010, the society has only a few charred bungalows to show. Burraiya Jafri (45), Jafri's daughter-in-law spoke to Sunday MiD DAY from Surat. "I can give up our bungalow plot (measuring over 2,000 sq ft) for free for the cause. I only hope my husband and family will hold the same view," she added.
Burraiya wants the proposal to set up the 'Museum of Resistance' as planned by the Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) to come up at the site at Chamanpura, Ahmedabad, so that the Gulbarg society massacre in Gujarat will be a stark reminder.
The museum project came to a standstill after a few residents of the society refused to hand over their property without any monetary consideration. Burraiya feels the surviving residents' claims are valid. "The residents who were lucky to survive the massacre are talking about money for their property which I feel is right. They are poor and have no source of livelihood."
Recalling that fateful night, Burraiya says, "Hundreds of innocent people had taken refuge in our bungalow, hoping that my father-in-law being a powerful politician would save their life. My father-in-law kept calling chief minister Narendra Modi and senior police officials, but his efforts were futile." The incident claimed 70 innocent lives including that of Jafri.
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Activist Teesta Setalvad with the late Ahsan Jafri's wife and (right) Gulbarg society |
Political murder
Burraiya feels it was a 'political vendetta' that led to the killing of her father-in -law. "Two days before the massacre, my father-in-law was appointed as observer for the Congress party at Rajkot Fort election in 2002. Though Modi's representative stood for the election, the Congress won with a majority and Modi could not take it," says Burraiya. "We suspect that this might have led to the hatching of a murder conspiracy lending the Godhra massacre a communal colour."
A month after the carnage, Burraiya braved a visit to the house she lived in. The mob had ransacked the entire house and looted valuables including jewelry, air conditioners, computer, etc.
Wasim Jafri (14), grandson of Ahsan, a class 10 student of Seventh day Adventist School, Surat, speaks to Sunday MiD Day even as he prepares for his final examination. "My grandmother Zakia wants to see the guilty punished. She is happy with Narendra Modi being questioned by SIT. She will be very happy on the day when SIT registers an FIR against Modi and others who were responsible for the killing of my grandfather and several others," says Wasim.
No support
Adds Burraiyya, "We pleaded before the Nanavati Committee to probe the Godhra incident and check our telephone records to establish that my father-in-law had indeed made hundreds of phone calls that day.
However, the committee did not take cognizance of it and therefore we had to approach the court." Burraiya recalls that her father-in-law had procured the plot in 1968 and constructed the structure at a cost of over Rs 60,000 per bungalow. The idea was not to make profit but provide shelter to those needy, Burraiya explains.
Soon enough, people occupied the other houses. "My father in law also constructed a police chowkie nearby, but when the rioters attacked our society but none of the policemen came to our rescue," she says bitterly.
On being asked, if the family was under any sort of threat, both Wasim and his mother Burraiya replied in the negative. However they add that associates of Modi, through some community members had asked the family to withdraw for huge sums of money.
What happened at SIT, Gandhi Nagar office on Saturday
SIT had summoned Modi to depose in connection with a complaint of Zakia Jafri, widow of former Congress MP Ahsan Jafri, who was killed in the riot at Gulbarg Society here along with 69 others.
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Modi outside the SIT office in Gandhinagar |
This was the first time Modi presented himself before any authority to explain his role in the riots.
Modi's security and a bomb disposal squad reached the SIT office before him.
Ex CBI officer A K Malhotra, questioned Modi in absence of R K Raghavan, the chief of SIT.
SIT had prepared a questionnaire consisting of 68 questions. Modi replied to 49 questions in the first round, after which he left the SIT office. He answered 13 of the 14 questions that were part of the second session that was held at 9.00 pm.
What was Modi asked
These were the questions that the SIT interrogation team asked Modi
>>Did he hold a meeting of his top officials on February 27, the day of the
Godhra riots and ask Gujarat police officers to go slow against rioters?
>>Did he instruct any of his ministers to sit in the police control room
when the riots were taking place?
>>Did the Chief Minister's office get phone calls from former congress minister, Jafri when Gulbarg Society was attacked?
International funding for museum
Teesta Setalvad, who has been campaigning for the victims of the Gulbarg tragedy for years now, said that the day's developments had been "historic".
"Today was a historic day when a sitting chief minister is being questioned on serious allegations of mass murder and criminal conspiracy. We believe there is enough evidence for registration of an FIR, which we hope is the next step. There have been so many delays and hiccups, but we are still hopeful that justice in one of India's darkest and most shameful periods, will be done"
However she maintained that plans to convert the site of incident into a museum remained in the doldrums.
"That plan is very much on the anvil, but we are awaiting the legal process to be completed before we actively pursue that vision."
Setalvad also did not provide much information on the money promised from the sale of flats to owners. "That's a large project and plan for which we are talking to international institutions and individuals," she said.
Teesta Setalvad on the museum That plan is very much on the anvil, but we are awaiting the legal process to be completed before we actively pursue that vision |
