A Gujarat City under Permanent Curfew

Palampur, Gujarat: Have you heard of a city which is permanently under curfew – thanks to “Hindu non-violence”? Virtually nobody alights at the railway station here. The streets are perennially deserted. Time seems to stand still. While that’s not too unlike any other strife-torn city in India today, Palampur is altogether in a different league. Further, it’s been that way for years, starting from 1985. This once-bustling town, 130 km north of the state capital Gandhinagar, a major diamond trading center of the past, was under curfew for 320 days in 1989. In 1990 the total is slated to exceed even this incredible figure. In 1989, 65 persons were killed in anti-Muslim riots which led to the authorities’ clamping the curfew. In 1990, till the end of November, 70 lives had already lost. Normal life doesn’t go on in Palampur anymore.