March 11, 2002	Monday	Zilhaj 26, 1422

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LOS ANGELES, March 10: Members of the American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin (AFMI) and other Pakistanis and Indians held marches outside the Indian missions during the weekend throughout the US to highlight the ‘indifferent attitude’ of the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Gujarat towards the minorities.

The held placards and shouted slogans against the chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, demanding peace in the land of Mahatma Gandhi.

Tayeb Poonawala, an AFMI member, told Dawn that India was a land of secular democracy and everyone must be protected.

The Gujarat government had done a miserable job in protecting the minorities.

Another protector, Sushila Gidwani said: “I am a Hindu and I condemn such violent acts. It is a shame that the government is not doing anything to stop riots in Gujarat.”

The delegation then met the New York Consul General Shashi Tripathi and expressed anguish at the way in which minorities were being treated in Gujarat. They also expressed dissatisfaction over the distribution of relief there.

“Tripathi told us that she was very sympathetic to all those people who lost their loved ones in Gujarat. And we must see that this does not reoccur in any part of our country,” Poonawala said.

The president of the AMFI, Mukhi Shakir, said that the organization had distributed hundreds of rickshaws to unemployed Muslim youths in Gujarat, and all of which had been damaged in the riots.