10-17-2005, 11:24 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Uneasy calm in Mau as Govt cracks down </b>
Pioneer News Service / Mau / Lucknow
An uneasy calm returned to Mau, near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, for the first time on Monday after three days of arson and riots that claimed nearly a dozen lives. An all-new local administration team dealt with the situation with an iron hand and succeeded in installing a semblance of order across the district with a change of guard at the helm.
Shoot-at-sight orders, however, continue to be in force in the district and authorities in adjoining areas are on high alert. More importantly, violence, which was gradually percolating into rural areas, was also checked on Monday barring a few stray incidents.
The alacrity with which the administration responded to the situation on Monday was in stark contrast to the approach adopted during<b> the first three days to handle those indulging in violence and arson in which local independent MLA Mukhtar Ansari played an inflammatory role.</b>
<b>Trouble erupted over organising "Bharat Milap" this year.</b> Traditionally, "Bharat Milap", part of Dussehra celebrations, has been marked by communal harmony in the district. This time, however, it sparked of unprecedented trouble.
<b>Old-timers say "Bharat Milap" has been organised in Shahi Katra, dominated by Muslims, since ages and people of Mau take pride of holding a Hindu religious function near Katra madarsa.</b>
Last Thursday, "Bharat Milap" was planned as per tradition. Loudspeakers were blaring Hindu devotional songs and Hanuman chalisa as in previous years.
However, this time Muslims objected to the Hindu devotional songs. The Hindu-Muslim coordination committee held an impromptu meeting and decided that "Bharat Milap" would be held on October 29. BL Rahi, one of the members of the committee, told The Pioneer from Mau that district officials approved the proposal.
<b>The situation took an ugly turn the next day when some people staged a dharna demanding "Bharat Milap" should be held that very evening. Muslim youth from the madarsa came out in protest</b>. The war of words led to fisticuffs. Some one from the crowd opened fire, killing Ram Murth Pandey.
This killing sparked widespread violence, one of the worst since 1969, in which 12 people were killed.
All this while the district administration and police officials chose to ignore the tension that was building up. It was only after members of the minority community put up roadblocks that the district administration sat up.
By then it was too late. <b>The ominous presence of don-turned-legislator Mukhtar Ansari taking rounds of the town escorted by his armed cohorts in his open Gypsy jeep only added fuel to fire. Bolstered by his presence, Ansari's supporters unabashedly took to the streets, indulging in arson, loot and violence</b>. The police remained mute spectators, ostensibly due to the former <b>don's proximity to the powers that be in Lucknow</b>.
Some believe that the violence was not by default but by design keeping an eye on the coming panchayat elections. <b>Mukhtar Ansari led his goons, asking them to take "badla".</b>
Mohammed Tayyab Palki, said to be Mukhtar's lieutenant, wants to contest the chairmanship of Mau Nagar Palika. He is up against incumbent chairman Arshad Zamal, a noted criminal of the area.
Mukhtar, however, refuted these charges. "I never started the riot. In fact, I was first to reach there to help the riot-hit people," he told The Pioneer from Ghazipur. "I am a jan pratinidhi. I was there to help people of my constituency. I helped both Hindus and Muslims," he claimed.
Notwithstanding his claim,<b> the administration has banned Mukhtar's entry into district after his covert support to the rioters was exposed.</b> "This decision is wrong. I have spoken to Chief Minister (Mulayam Singh Yadav) regarding this," he said.
It was only after the State Government decided to deal with the situation with an iron hand and brought in a new team of officers on Monday that the violence could be curbed. Besides, the decisions not to allow politicians to visit the riot-hit areas and debar Mukhtar Ansari from entering Mau have also helped.
................
But there were reports of rioters raiding and partly damaging two places of worship [Hindu temple] in Amila and Surajpur villages, 40 km from Mau. Stray violence was also reported from Bahraich, Azamgarh and Ghazipur but police intervened to control the situation.
Meanwhile, DGP Yashpal Singh on Monday conceded, " The district administration failed in assessing the gravity of the situation and in reacting promptly to control the volatile situation which eventually snowballed. The lack of sufficient police force only added to the worsening of the situation."
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Pioneer News Service / Mau / Lucknow
An uneasy calm returned to Mau, near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, for the first time on Monday after three days of arson and riots that claimed nearly a dozen lives. An all-new local administration team dealt with the situation with an iron hand and succeeded in installing a semblance of order across the district with a change of guard at the helm.
Shoot-at-sight orders, however, continue to be in force in the district and authorities in adjoining areas are on high alert. More importantly, violence, which was gradually percolating into rural areas, was also checked on Monday barring a few stray incidents.
The alacrity with which the administration responded to the situation on Monday was in stark contrast to the approach adopted during<b> the first three days to handle those indulging in violence and arson in which local independent MLA Mukhtar Ansari played an inflammatory role.</b>
<b>Trouble erupted over organising "Bharat Milap" this year.</b> Traditionally, "Bharat Milap", part of Dussehra celebrations, has been marked by communal harmony in the district. This time, however, it sparked of unprecedented trouble.
<b>Old-timers say "Bharat Milap" has been organised in Shahi Katra, dominated by Muslims, since ages and people of Mau take pride of holding a Hindu religious function near Katra madarsa.</b>
Last Thursday, "Bharat Milap" was planned as per tradition. Loudspeakers were blaring Hindu devotional songs and Hanuman chalisa as in previous years.
However, this time Muslims objected to the Hindu devotional songs. The Hindu-Muslim coordination committee held an impromptu meeting and decided that "Bharat Milap" would be held on October 29. BL Rahi, one of the members of the committee, told The Pioneer from Mau that district officials approved the proposal.
<b>The situation took an ugly turn the next day when some people staged a dharna demanding "Bharat Milap" should be held that very evening. Muslim youth from the madarsa came out in protest</b>. The war of words led to fisticuffs. Some one from the crowd opened fire, killing Ram Murth Pandey.
This killing sparked widespread violence, one of the worst since 1969, in which 12 people were killed.
All this while the district administration and police officials chose to ignore the tension that was building up. It was only after members of the minority community put up roadblocks that the district administration sat up.
By then it was too late. <b>The ominous presence of don-turned-legislator Mukhtar Ansari taking rounds of the town escorted by his armed cohorts in his open Gypsy jeep only added fuel to fire. Bolstered by his presence, Ansari's supporters unabashedly took to the streets, indulging in arson, loot and violence</b>. The police remained mute spectators, ostensibly due to the former <b>don's proximity to the powers that be in Lucknow</b>.
Some believe that the violence was not by default but by design keeping an eye on the coming panchayat elections. <b>Mukhtar Ansari led his goons, asking them to take "badla".</b>
Mohammed Tayyab Palki, said to be Mukhtar's lieutenant, wants to contest the chairmanship of Mau Nagar Palika. He is up against incumbent chairman Arshad Zamal, a noted criminal of the area.
Mukhtar, however, refuted these charges. "I never started the riot. In fact, I was first to reach there to help the riot-hit people," he told The Pioneer from Ghazipur. "I am a jan pratinidhi. I was there to help people of my constituency. I helped both Hindus and Muslims," he claimed.
Notwithstanding his claim,<b> the administration has banned Mukhtar's entry into district after his covert support to the rioters was exposed.</b> "This decision is wrong. I have spoken to Chief Minister (Mulayam Singh Yadav) regarding this," he said.
It was only after the State Government decided to deal with the situation with an iron hand and brought in a new team of officers on Monday that the violence could be curbed. Besides, the decisions not to allow politicians to visit the riot-hit areas and debar Mukhtar Ansari from entering Mau have also helped.
................
But there were reports of rioters raiding and partly damaging two places of worship [Hindu temple] in Amila and Surajpur villages, 40 km from Mau. Stray violence was also reported from Bahraich, Azamgarh and Ghazipur but police intervened to control the situation.
Meanwhile, DGP Yashpal Singh on Monday conceded, " The district administration failed in assessing the gravity of the situation and in reacting promptly to control the volatile situation which eventually snowballed. The lack of sufficient police force only added to the worsening of the situation."
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