April 2, 2002	Tuesday	Muharram 18,1423

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NEW DELHI, April 1: India’s National Human Rights Commission on Monday asked for a federal probe into widespread attacks on Muslims and said the unabated killing spree amid allegations of official connivance had breached the country’s international treaty obligations, including a solemn commitment to protect lives and other key rights of all citizens equally.

NHRC chairman Justice J.S. Verma said the commission had prepared a preliminary report that was released to the media, and a confidential report that was sent to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee ahead of his proposed visit to Gujarat on Thursday.

“The Commission would like to observe that the tragic events that have occurred have serious implications for the country as a whole, affecting both its sense of self-esteem and the esteem in which it is held in the comity of nations,” the NHRC report said.

“Grave questions arise of fidelity to the Constitution and to treaty obligations. There are obvious implications in respect of the protection of civil and political rights, as well as of economic, social and cultural rights in the State of Gujarat as also the country more widely. But most of all, the recent events have resulted in the violation of the Fundamental Rights to life, liberty, equality and the dignity of citizens of India as guaranteed in the Constitution. And that, above all, is the reason for the continuing concern of the Commission.”

Justice Verma, a former chief judge of the Supreme Court, had led NHRC team to Gujarat recently where he said he found clear evidence of official apathy towards the victims. Official death toll in the pogroms after the Feb 27 train tragedy at Godhra has been estimated at 780, but most human rights groups say the number of those killed could be closer to 2,000.

The NHRC’s interim report slammed the Gujarat government for suggesting that the state had no prior information about the return of Hindu volunteers from Ayodhya by the Sabarmati Express before a suspected Muslim mob attacked it, killing 58 people.

“The Commission is deeply concerned to be informed of this. It would appear to constitute an extraordinary lack of appreciation of the potential dangers of the situation, both by the Central and State intelligence agencies. This is more so given the history of communal violence in Gujarat,” the report said. It quoted a Gujarat government report as saying that the Godhra incident occurred at a time when the environment was already surcharged due to developments in Ayodhya and related events.

The NHRC said it had noted that while the Gujarat government report