Bhuj’s image of peaceful town suffers major damage

Bhuj, 28 July 2014

Sunday’s violence in Bhuj has to be taken seriously because (1) Kutch is a border district, (2) There are number of villages in border areas of Kutch having majority of Muslim population, (3) There’s an impression that Muslims in Kutch are peaceful and live cordially with others, (4) Bhuj is the district headquarters and it impacts entire district (5) Bhuj has no history of such violence in the past (6) Some jamaats that are known for converting common Muslim into a fanatic one are more active in recent years.

When DeshGujarat tweeted about Muslim mob’s attack on police station in Bhuj on Sunday evening, one of the reaction received was from former Superintendent of Police of Kutch. He said: Surprising, Bhuj used to be a quite town. I was SP there from 1969 to 1971 and loved my posting.

This gentleman is right. Bhuj used to be a quiet town. But yesterday’s event was exceptional and it has shattered earlier impression.

A prominent local newspaper of Kutch has today reported that some prominent Muslim went to the assembly of Muslims and tried to convince them not to take law in hand, but they failed.

Looking at the pictures of the incident, it is very clear that those assembled there were young Muslims of 20-40 age.

So contrast to peaceful and cordial elder Muslims, if this assembly represents a new generation out there, the question remains, whether Bhuj will continue to be a quit and peaceful city in future?

Kutch police need to take strict actions against those involved in yesterday’s violence, but also need to check the roots of this intolerance, hatred and violent behavior.

After all, it was just a comment on Facebook that was able to bring so many Muslim youths to street with stones in hand and hatred in mind. Police had already arrested a person for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of Muslims through his comment on Facebook. Then what was the case for violence? Ridiculously, the Muslims wanted police to beat that person in public!

Police need to break spine of those who brought shame to peaceful image of Kutch.