Amid partygate row, pressure mounts on British PM to discuss Gujarat riots with Modi

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been urged to demand the return of the mortal remains of three British Muslims killed during the Gujarat riots in February 2002, from Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he meets him in India. Labour MP Kim Leadbeater has written to Johnson telling him to take the case up as a matter of urgency as it would be “an opportune, albeit long overdue moment, to right this long-standing injustice”.

Johnson becomes the first British prime minister to visit Gujarat since the ghastly burning of a bogie of the Sabarmati Express at Godhra station in which 59 Hindus died and the subsequent violence across the state in which over 2,000 Muslims were killed and lakhs made homeless. Johnson has been persuaded by Modi to visit Gujarat, to show that 20 years after the riots when Modi was then the chief minister, “it is business as usual”.

Imran Dawood, his uncles Shakeel and Saeed and their childhood friend Mohammed Aswat from Batley in West Yorkshire – all British Muslims originally from Gujarat – were on a visit to the state to see family and friends in the winter of 2002. Driving back after a sightseeing tour of Agra and the Taj Mahal, their car was stopped outside a village in Gujarat the day after the Godhra fire. Asked about their religion, the holidaymakers identified themselves as British Muslims but their foreigner status cut no ice with the crazed mob.

The mob dragged the hired Indian driver Yusuf Palagar from the car, beat him to death and set fire to his body. Imran, then only 18 years old, and the other three men were chased to a nearby farm, beaten and stabbed. Shakeel, a 37-year-old optical technician, Saeed, 42-year-old sales manager and father of three and Mohammed Aswat a 42-year-old father of five who worked at Fox’s Biscuits in Batley were all killed on the spot.

Imran, miraculously, survived and eventually returned home to Batley. “Dawood was the only one in the party to survive after they were set upon by a crowd demanding to know their religion”, explains Leadbeater, MP for Batley and Spen, in her letter to Johnson. The Dawood Family Justice Campaign fought for 13 years to see the killers brought to justice.

However in 2015, the six men charged with the murders were acquitted by a court in Gujarat on the basis that none of the accused were identified. “It is an established fact that the Gujarat police failed to investigate the murders properly and thoroughly” said Suresh Grover, spokesman for the Dawood Family Justice Campaign. “This negligence was especially noticeable in two key aspects of the investigation – the police’s unwillingness to identify, interview and support crucial witnesses, and their apparent inability to collect forensic evidence,” Grover had said at the time.

For the last 20 years, Imran and the families of other three British Muslims killed have been demanding that the Gujarat government return the remains of their loved ones so that they can be buried in their home town of Bately and the families can get some kind of closure.

Journalists asked Johnson’s spokesman on Tuesday if the Prime Minister would be taking up the case with Modi. However, the spokesman was non-committal in his response. “I cannot get ahead of what the PM will speak about on this. We understand the strength of feeling but will have further updates when the visit takes place,” said the spokesman.

Interestingly, Johnson has flown to India on a visit at a time when his future as prime minister hangs in balance. On Tuesday, Johnson apologised more than 30 times in the House of Commons in a show of contrition as he addressed MPs for the first time since being fined by the police for breaching Covid laws. Johnson, his wife Carrie and the Indian-origin Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak were all fined for breaking the law by gathering to celebrate Johnson’s birthday on June 19 2020 in Downing Street, the prime minister’s office and residence.

British MPs are holding a vote on Thursday on whether to investigate Johnson for misleading Parliament over the numerous gatherings held in Downing Street that broke lockdown rules. If MPs vote in favour of the Committee of Privileges investigating whether the Prime Minister ‘mislead’ Parliament on what is popularly being called Partygate, it could be the end of Johnson’s prime ministership. There have already been calls for his resignation from all the Opposition benches and even some senior members of the Conservative Party.

Labour’s Shadow International Trade Secretary, Nick Thomas-Symonds, described Johnson’s India visit as a “vanity trip” and an “official response to distract from the Prime Minister’s law-breaking and failure to tackle the cost of living crisis.”