Enough
is Enough
Posted by Devant Maharaj on January 15, 2001
WE STILL HEAR YOUR CRIES
(Full page ad appearing in Chronicle, Stabroek
and
Kaieteur on January 12 2001 to commemorate 3rd
Anniversary of Ethnic
Riots of January 12 1998)
January 12th 2001 marks the third anniversary
of the
Georgetown ethnic riots, spurred by the decision of
the High Court
to discharge, the three nisi orders to
stop the inauguration of Mrs. Jagan as
President. This
decision resulted in irate mobs, whose expectations
had
been raised by PNC rhetoric, rampaging through the
streets of Georgetown,
targeting Indians and their
businesses.
The headlines of the
Stabroek News on the
following
day read “Terror in the
City” and the Chronicle
“Mobs
beat, Loot in city
rampage”. The Guyana Indian
Foundation Trust’s
(GIFT) investigation revealed that
the victims were predominantly
Indians. The Economist
magazine
of January 24th 1998 emphasized, “some 200
Indo-Guyanese were pulled from minibuses,
beaten,
robbed and thrown into drainage canals”.
Yet
to this day there has not been a single arrest and
as importantly, peace of
mind for the victims. Their
cries are still unanswered. ROAR argued for
an
investigation into the riots. Unfortunately, our calls
were ignored and
we missed an opportunity to address
the underlying ethnic dilemma and to
implement the
mechanisms to allow for a society where all ethnic
groups
are guaranteed security - a fundamental human
right.
Instead the
“PPP rewarded the PNC for jettisoning the
rule of law” by signing the
Herdmandston Accord. By
the Accord the PNC agreed to stop their
illegal
marches in the streets in exchange for an audit of the
elections,
the establishment of a Commission to draft
a new Constitution and the
curtailment of the PPP’s
term in office by two years. Despite all of
these
concessions the Accord still allowed the PNC to
challenge the
elections in the Courts. Yet the Accord
provided nothing for those persons
whose rights were
brutally violated simply for being Indian on January
12,
1998 - “it did not matter if you were Muslim,
Christian, Hindu, male, female,
PPP or even PNC. If
you were Indian you were a target.”
Today as
we approach January 17th there is once again
great fear and trepidation
amidst rising tensions in
Georgetown. This is the consequence of sweeping
truth
under the rug. ROAR repeats its call for a Commission
of Enquiry
into the riots of January 12, 1998.
WE STILL HEAR YOUR CRIES!
Justice may be blind... But is it deaf in
Guyana?