Page 96 - Non-violence and peace-building

Lessons for Conflict-Resolution

governmental authorities and took out a Shiv Jayanti
procession through the town. Muslims objected to the
procession. Fearing trouble, the authorities had arranged
for massive police presence, and the procession ended
peacefully.
The procession further stoked the flames of Muslim
anger. To counter the Shiv Sena, a Muslim leader,
A.R. Khan, mobilized a procession of Muslims in the
neighbouring town of Parbhani. Fiery speeches were
delivered on the occasion, denouncing the Shiv Sena. A
group of Muslims garlanded an effigy of Mr. Thackeray
with old slippers.

It so happened that that year, Shab-e Barat fell on
1
the 6 of May, and Muslims decided to observe the
th
occasion as a day marking the glory of Islam. The roads
and narrow lanes of the Muslim localities of Bhiwandi—
that are lined with filth, and which Muslims have never
displayed any enthusiasm to clean up—were suddenly
festooned with green flags as a sign of the Muslims’
‘Islamic zeal’. During this, some Muslims supplanted a
Shiv Sena flag with a green flag, which, so they thought,
was an ‘Islamic’ one.
In this extremely tense situation, on 16 May the Shiv
th
Sena decided to call for a strike in Mumbai. This further
worsened the situation. The next day, horrific rioting
broke out in Bhiwandi, which spread to neighbouring
Thane and Mumbai. Large numbers of innocent lives

1 This is the night preceding the 15th day of the eighth month of
the Islamic calendar. Some Muslims consider this night as sacred,
although there is no reference for this in the Quran or Traditions of
the Prophet.

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