Last month, people across West Yorkshire enjoyed the annual Mela in Bradford, Leeds and across West Yorkshire in glorious sunshine with out a care in the world, relaxing and basking in a multicultural environment. However on the sidelines, a Batley family cannot live in a carefree world as they are still fighting for justice on behalf of their loved ones who were viciously murdered by a Hindu Mob in Gujarat.

In February 2002, Saeed and Sakil Dawood went to India with their childhood friend Mohammed Aswat, their 18-year-old nephew, Imran accompanied by a hired driver.

Within hours of crossing the Gujarat border, a roadblock manned by a well-organised mob, fuelled by religious hatred, stopped the British tourists. The mob circled the jeep and murdered the hired driver.

Mohammed Aswat and Imran were stabbed and left for dead. Imran miraculously survived and since then, Saeed and Sakil have never been seen again. In that month, state sponsored violence in Gujarat claimed the lives of more than 2,000 innocent Indian Muslims.

In a damning internal report obtained by the BBC, British officials in India said the violence against Muslims was “pre-planned and carried out with the full support of the state government”.

As a result of family concerns regarding the police investigation and allegations of state sponsored genocide in Gujarat, the family has demanded the involvement of an independent police force. In this regard, the Tony Blair and Jack Straw share the family’s concerns and have offered specialist assistance from the British Police Force. However, the Indian government remain unmoved.

Yusuf Dawood, younger brother of one of the Batley men murdered in Gujarat made the following statement “We as a family accept that it is Allah’s will that our loved ones have been taken away from us, we also accept that it is our responsibility to fight for justice not just for our loved ones but to ensure that the perpetrators of the massacre and mass rape of Muslims are not allowed to get away with. It is easy to simply forget and move on, the path we have taken is the hard path and may Allah grant us patience and support our efforts.

“Those who forget history are condemned to re-live it and despite the scale of massacre of Muslims and the fact that awareness and while coverage of the Genocide has been extensive, where is the support base for the campaign? What will happen in Gujarat if we do nothing at all? In this context, it is worth considering why the family have launched cases against Modi and senior members of Police and Gujarat Government.
“There is a real danger that having launched the legal cases for Genocide, a lack of support for such action may mean that Modi and other perpetrators of the Genocide get away with it. Local politician Shahid Malik is being useful and is now taking genuine interest in this matter and if people want to help they may contact the family via info@dawoodcampaign.org or telephone me direct on 07787 126615.”

The Gujarat Genocide has shamed two communities, the Hindu Community because Modi was voted in on Hinduva ideology and had popular support for carrying out mass murder and rapes of innocent and the Muslim communities have been shamed because they have not shouldered the responsibility of taking steps to ensure justice for their communities dignity and respect. Muslims are supposed to be one family; however what does this experience tell us about how the Gujarati community is in terms of brotherhood and unity?