New Delhi – Hamid Ansari – ex-Vice President of India – raised serious questions about the failure of Police administration and the role of Parliamentary system during 2002 Gujarat riots, on Saturday.
During the release of memoir of Lt. General Zameer Shah – “The Sarkari Musalmaan” – The Government’s Muslim, Ansari said,”The book is silent about the role of the political leadership. If civil and police administrations fail to respond to a massive failure of law and order, where does the responsibility rest in a democratic and Parliamentary system? Why was Article 355 of the Constitution, which makes it duty of the Union to protect a state against internal disturbance, not invoked even when the Center had the benefit of the Raksha Mantri’s on-the-spot assessment?”
General Shah was sent to Ahmedabad during the 2002 riots to control the violence. He writes, the support for 3,000 troops, who reached Ahmedabad on March 1, came only the following day, and the Army lost crucial hours before soldiers were deployed to control violence.
He has also written that the response from administration was “tardy”, and that the police behaved with narrow-mind.
