Marad and May 2, 2003, will always remain an unerasable memory in the minds of Hindus in Kerala. It was on this day that eight Hindu fishermen were brutally butchered by Islamic extremists in the fishing hamlet of Marad near Kozhikode in North Kerala. In the past three decades, around 200 RSS cadres have died at the hands of Islamic extremists and Marxists, but the revulsion and resistance by Hindus to the Marad massacre is unprecedented in the near history of Kerala. There was all round condemnation from all sections of society and the Sangh Parivar organised massive agitations demanding justice and compensation for the victims? dependants.
Bowing to the agitation, the then Chief Minister A.K. Antony ordered a judicial probe by a sitting judge, compensation of Rs 10 lakh each for the victim'sfamilies, job for dependant and various welfare and security measures. He did everything except ordering a CBI probe, which Sangh demanded.
The Justice Thomas P. Joseph Commission submitted its full report to the earlier Chief Minister Oommen Chandy of UDF six months back. The Commission had severely indicted the Islamic extremists, alleged the role of the Muslim League in the carnage and asked for further investigation into the conspiracy, flow of outside money and role of outside organisations like ISI, LeT etc in the carnage. It also recommended action against the then District Collector T.O. Sooraj (a Muslim) for his open pro-Muslim partisan attitude and for allowing Muslim League Leader and now Union Minister of State, E. Ahmed, to enter and offer namaz at the Marad mosque, which was seized and under seal for illegal storage of weapons used in the mass murder. Strong action was also recommended against Commissioner Sajeev Patjoshi, I.G.P. Mahesh Kumar Singla and Assistant Commissioner Abdul Rahim for dereliction of duty for preventing the carnage, ignoring intelligence reports of a possible attack, failure to conduct proper investigations into a conspiracy angle, not taking action against perpetrators of the crime and partisan attitude, especially in the name of Abdul Rahim.
The irony of the situation is that Oommen Chandy, who convened a special session of the Kerala Assembly to pass a resolution for release of Madhani from Tamil Nadu (supported by both LDF and UDF), did not deem it right to discuss the Marad report and place it on the table of the House. Fear of losing Muslim votes prevented Chandy and CPM to make public the report.
Now in a cover-up bid the CPM'sHome Minister has ordered departmental action against the four IAS/IPS officials indicted by the Commission. This is a bid to corner the Hindu votes and at the same time to help the Islamic extremists escape.
The BJP state president P.S. Sreedharan Pillai and Hindu Aikya Vedi (HAV) leader Kummanam Rajasekharan have demanded CBI probe in the whole carnage. They said this massacre has no parallel in the history of Kerala and the culprits should not be allowed to go scot-free. They said the conspiracy behind the violence, inter-state network of the terrorists, terrorist involvement (ISI etc) and financial source of the extremists can be brought out only though a CBI probe. They charged that the culprits had links with CPM, Muslim League and NDF. The Muslim League leader Mayin Haji of Marad had spoken to Minister Kunjalikutty over mobile phone immediately before the carnage, the weapons used for the attack were stored in the Marad mosque and all Muslims of Marad area were asked to leave the area, a day prior to the attack. They, hence, said the role of the Muslim League and its leaders in the mass murder is undisputable.
A.K. Antony had refused CBI probe since he said the investigations are moving in the right direction. Now the judicial commission has indicted the officer Mahesh Kumar Singla for dereliction of duty and derailing of a conspiracy angle. The Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan of CPM admits that Islamic extremism is on the high in Kerala. If the CPM is sincere in its efforts to contain Islamic terrorism in Kerala, it should straight-away order a CBI probe and take action against the big sharks who were behind this carnage. Action against small fries and officials is only scape-goatism to bag Muslim votes.
