Today marks the first anniversary of the brutal anti-Hindu riots which happened in Delhi. Hindus were slaughtered, their houses destroyed and properties were vandalised by Islamist mobs. These riots were carried out in the name of anti-CAA protests. But later investigation agencies traced the funding from Islamist organisations and the role of ‘activists’ is fuelling the riots. Here is the key take away points from the report released by a fact-finding team.
The riots were planned in 4 phases as per the report. In the First Phase which was the period immediately after the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Act on 11 December 2019 in the Parliament, protests were held by Jihadis and Peoples Front of India (PFI) in Universities. The content of all protests was radical Islamic. Crowds of students mixed with outsiders and clashed with the Police in Aligarh Muslim University, Jamia etc. Sharjeel Imam made his first speech in Jamia on December 13 2019. Later his much-publicized second speech was made at AMU on 16 January 2020.
In the second phase, Shaheen Bagh Type dharnas were escalated after Police action against protesters. North-East Delhi is exclusively escalated as one dharna zone. Most of the political parties supported these Dharnas. However Urban Naxal-Jihadi organizers closed these protests to any outside negotiation, says the report.
In the third phase, from about 15 January till 15 February the protests at such sites continued and there was no police or state action. During this period most of these dharnas were sites of Artists performances, speeches, poems, high-decibel anti-government, Anti- Hindu and radical Islamic protest formats were observed and most Universities in Delhi continued to feed these Dharna sites, says the report.
In the fourth and final phase, from 15 February onwards most Dharnas became violent and aggressive. Warris Pathan delivered his hate speech in Gulbarga on 20 February 2020. On 23rd February a crowd of around 4000 Anti-CAA protesters entered Malviya Nagar market. In an extremely dangerous move, Azadi slogans were raised in front of the Shiva Temple. Clashes with the Police occurred when the Anti-CAA protesters tried to block the road. It was during this time that Hindu homes and properties were vandalised, burnt and dozens of Hindus killed.
The timeline and the details of the violence on 24th February onwards in the report shows the one-sided violence perpetrated by violent Muslim mobs on Hindus. The ground report from Chand Bagh, Shiv Vihar, Bhajnapura, in the GIA report provides the details of the nature of the violence, weapons and paraphernalia used to attack Hindus and the kind of preparations that went behind the riots. The role of Muslim leaders of AAP like Tahir Hussain, Amanatullah Khan are evident from the report. The report also shows that most of the victims who suffered at the hands of the Muslim mobs were from the Scheduled Castes.
The report provides details for each of the reasons for the riots in its 19 findings. They are:
1. Riots in North East Delhi were a planned conspiracy
2. There is evidence of an Urban Naxal- Jihadi network that planned and executed the riots
3. Radicalization of Muslims over a long period led to the riots
4. Riots originated in Anti CAA Protest sites
5. Women used as a shield in all protest sites
6. Anxiety and fear among the locals
7. Protest marches on streets, roads, markets etc. at odd times leading to chaos
8. The Shaheen Bagh Model
9. Anti Hindu, Anti India, Anti Police and Anti-Government nature of the protest
10. Jihadi mobs indulged in targeted killings, looting and vandalizing shops
11. Riot weapons were stockpiled over a period of time
12. Links across the border
13. Exemplary role of local Hindu and Muslim community leaders
14. Violence against women
15. Scheduled Caste victims
16. Identity of rioters
17. Role of the Outsiders
18. Outsiders from various Universities in Delhi
19. Violent nature of Anti-CAA protests
