INVESTIGATE AND COVER DISCOVERY OF GUJARAT MASS GRAVE

Dear Editor, Newsday
Address January, 6, 2006

INVESTIGATE AND COVER DISCOVERY OF GUJARAT MASS GRAVE

We, the congregation at Islamic Center of Long Island, Westbury, are disappointed that Newsday, like other major US news outlets, has failed to cover the discovery of mass grave of riot victims in the Indian State of Gujarat.

The Indian media and BBC have extensively covered the recent discovery of a mass grave in Gujarat. The grave is believed to hold the remains of at least 1000 victims of the anti-Muslim pogroms of 2002 known as the Gujarat riots.

Unfortunately American media which has covered the discovery of mass graves in Bosnia and Iraq has not covered the news of the mass graves in Gujarat. The US media seems to ignore the importance of the anti-Muslim pogrom of 2002 in Gujarat, India.

In the well planned pogrom thousands of Muslims were killed, raped and ethnically cleansed. The Human Rights groups such as Human Rights watch and Amnesty International hold the Gujarat government responsible for the atrocities. Recently the US State Department revoked the visa of the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Economic blockade and low-level ethnic cleansing is still going on against the Muslims in Gujarat. Attacks on Christians are also quite common.

We believe that we need to put sustained pressure both from within and from outside India to get justice for the victims of the Gujarat pogrom and for human rights to be respected. We strongly believe that such a pressure will also deter future massacres. Therefore, we urge that Newsday investigate and schedule a timely coverage of the discovery in order to ensure that justice and human rights prevail.

We respectfully look forward for your coverage of this important news.

Sincerely,