The clashes sparked by dispute over land. Three killed, 20 injured and 38 arrests. According to the authorities the Muslims started the riots. But members of both communities claim that the violence was perpetrated by "outsiders, not locals. Perhaps there are political motivations".

New Delhi (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Uttar Pradesh government has imposed a curfew in the city of Saharanpur, the last two days have been marred by violent clashes between Muslim and Sikh communities. Three people were killed and another 20 were injured in the disorder. Police arrested 38 people in connection with the episode and has orders to "shoot on sight" anyone who attempts to cross the barricades erected to divide the two communities.

The violence erupted on the morning of July 26, after Sikhs began building a Gurdwara (Sikh temple) on a plot at the center of a legal dispute with the Islamic community, which claims the plot as its own. In the clashes about 20 vehicles and more than 70 shops along the main street were burned.

Quazi Nadeem Akhtar, a leader of the Muslim community, says that he accompanied others to the city magistrate after learning of the building. "Our protest was peaceful - he explains - we asked the police to stop them, but nobody did anything. We were there to talk, but the officers began firing into the air to disperse the crowd. At that point, the group was enraged and believed that the police and administration were conniving with the Sikhs ... it was difficult to stop, even though we did our best to control the situation".

Instead authorities claim over 700 people from the Islamic community arrived on the disputed scene, and began throwing stones at police and then attacked the Sikhs with swords and guns.

However, some suspect that the violence was "instigated" by outside elements with the explicit purpose of fomenting tensions. A woman of 32, a member of the local Muslim community, said: "Saharanpur, where I live for years, is now split in two. I cannot go see my friends, and they cannot come to me. Yesterday, some men came to this area with the police and started firing rubber bullets... They smashed the window panes of the mosques, torched cars and damaged shops. I don't know who they are and why they came here. I just know that this Eid is not going to be the same. Who are we scared of? The people we lived with for so many years?".

Even Gursharan Kaur, a Sikh of 58, says the same: "Our communities have co-existed peacefully for many years. I do not know if it is politically motivated or not. But I saw that the maximum violence was being done by outsiders, not the locals. I do not remember seeing any known Muslim face among the people who were torching vehicles and burning down shops. It seems that it was all pre-planned".

 

• India
• uttar
• pradesh
• sikh
• muslim
• violence
• curfew
• land
• dispute