The Hindu : Tension in Marad as rehabilitation begins

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 26, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

Tension in Marad as rehabilitation begins

By R. Madhavan Nair

KOZHIKODE JUNE 25. Tension escalated in the strife-torn Marad region today after two Muslim families returned to their home there for the first time after they fled in the wake of the gruesome massacre on May 2.

The 11 members of the Muslim families, consisting of women and children, entered their homes located near the Marad mosque in the morning with police escort, unmindful of a large gathering of women from local Hindu families who kept shouting slogans asking them to go back.

The agitated women who kept shouting throughout the day against the return of the displaced Muslim families went back to their own homes in the night. They would return to continue their protest tomorrow morning if the Muslim families had not left Marad by then, a leader of the Araya Samajam said. The Araya Samajam president, Dasan, blamed the district administration for the fresh flare-up of tension and said the decision of the District Collector to bring back the Muslim families which had left Marad after the carnage fearing reprisals smacked of "arrogance and is totally unjustified''.

The District Collector, T. O. Sooraj, however, defended his decision. Speaking to The Hindu, the District Collector said even though "it was not necessary,'' he had held talks with leaders of the Araya Samajam last Sunday and informed them that all those who were not accused in the Marad case would be allowed to return home in Marad as part of the rehabilitation process planned there. They were also requested to prevail upon the womenfolk now in Marad not to prevent the return of the displaced Muslim families. If the Araya Samajam leaders had any genuine demands, they would be looked into.

The District Collector said nobody could declare any place out of bounds for others. Any such attempt would be put down.

The Araya Samajam leaders, however, said no talks were held with them before the families were allowed to return to Marad. The Samajam president said his organisation had nothing to do with the demonstration by local Hindu women.

Leaders of the Araya Samajam were of the view that the time was not yet ripe for the return of the Muslim families to the scene of the crime since the families of the victims of the ghastly murders on May 2 were still grief-stricken and agitated over the loss of their dear ones.

They also alleged the women who had returned to Marad and occupied their houses today were involved in the massacre which claimed nine lives and should have been booked for the crime. The Muslim families that returned to Marad were those of Thekkepurath Mariyambi and Vallinnedi Bichivi. The Hindu women of the locality who surrounded the two houses today made vain attempts to enter the house but were persuaded against doing so by the Araya Samajam leaders. A strong posse of policemen headed by the City Police Commissioner. T. K. Vinod Kumar, remained on red alert throughout the day.

The Director General of Police, Hormis Tharakan, who was in Marad yesterday, had told correspondents that the responsibility of arranging rehabilitation of Muslims who had left Marad was not of the police but of the district administration.

Significantly, the DGP had also expressed the view that the situation in Marad, though peaceful, was not conducive for the return of the displaced families.

The communal divide there was still deep. This view is shared by most officials and social workers.

The Chief Minister is also on record saying so. An attempt to bring back eight displaced families was abandoned recently after the Chief Minister's state- ment that Marad was not ready yet for launching the rehabilitation process. However, the Indian Union Muslim League and a number of other political parties, including the CPI(M), had expressed disappointment at the delay in arranging the return of Muslim families who left Marad on May 2.

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