Inaugural Lecture

On Saturday 31st May an audience of more than 300 gathered in a packed Dewsbury Town Hall. People from both the local community and around the country came to take part and to give their support to the Dawood family in their fight for justice.

Yusuf Dawood, who welcomed the audience with an introduction explaining why the family needed their support, chaired proceedings. Yusuf reminded the audience of the crimes that had taken place and stated that the pursuit of justice was the civilised route and that by taking this path they were showing the Gujarat perpetrators for what they truly are - barbarians.

Yusuf spoke of the political development that had taken place and the family's meeting with Jack Straw. He stated that although both Straw and the Prime Minister, Tony Blair had expressed their support, their words now appeared as hollow and lacking in credibility.

The lecture was then ushered in with a moving and melodic recitation from the Holy Quran by Molvi Shokat, a childhood friend of the Dawood family.

Guest speaker Lord Bikhu Parekh spoke on the history of peaceful coexistence in India between Muslims and Hindus, on their shared culture and traditions and the enormous contribution Muslims have given to India.

Lord Parekh analysed the rise of Hindu communalism since the 1960s as a response to the disintegration of the caste system. The demonising of Muslims was a means for high-caste Hindus to protect their own interests and deflect the pressures for redistribution of rights and wealth. By turning on the minority the so-called puritan Hindu parties were using the innocent lives of Muslims in a cynical bid to keep control of Gujarat and win votes.

He described his own experiences of anti-Muslim prejudice in Gujarat both on the street, when he himself had been mistaken as a Muslim and very nearly beaten up by Karshevaks and in the ivory towers of academia, where he had witnessed Muslim students suffering from enormous prejudice. Lord Parekh drew parallels of his experience as a minority in the UK with the experiences of Muslims as a minority in India and promised the Dawood his every support in their rightful quest for justice.

He noted that large sums of money were unwittingly going to Gujarat from Hindus in the UK and the USA to fund the activities of Hindu chauvinists in Gujarat and appealed for this activity to stop.

Left to right: Saed's brother Yusuf, Imran
Khan, Lord Parekh, and Sakil's brother Salim.
Picture courtesy Yorkshire Evening Post.

Ismail Dawood, brother of Imran, spoke movingly of Imran's difficulties in coming to terms with what had happened to him and his family, but how nevertheless he has persisted with his studies. Angela Forsely, Imran's college tutor before and after the incident, told the audience how Imran had soldiered on, despite the difficulties he had faced. Angela was barely able to contain her emotions as she described how Imran had gone to India as a happy teenager only to return as a frightened young man.

Bilal Dawood described the events of February and March 2002. Bilal was in Gujarat with Saeed, Sakil, Mohammad Aswat and Imran, but for business reasons didn't join them on their return trip from Agra.

He told how he the Indian Police displayed their indifference in trying to discover the fate of his family and pursue the killers. He thanked the UK consular officials, as they had worked beyond the call of duty to help family members to investigate the crimes.

His account of his experience in Gujarat, shed light on the manner in which the Gujarat police had done little to take the crimes seriously. Indeed, from Bilal's account it was clear that the Gujarat Authorities had displayed by their actions a clear dis-regard for the murders.

Imran Khan then provided an update on the legal proceedings and re-enforced the message that the road to justice will be long and arduous. Imran Khan highlighted the difficulties that the family's lawyers in India were facing and revealed that the family were considering private prosecution, although the state should provide justice for the Dawood family.

Imran Khan reminded the audience that the victims were British and as British citizens, international pressure seems to be the best way of opening the doors to justice and that an international police force ought to be in charge of investigating the crimes. He ended by stating that an injustice to one is an injustice to all.

Suresh Grover talked about the Dawood Family Justice Campaign, and the importance of maintaining pressure on both the British and Indian governments to provide justice. He described previous campaigns in which he has been involved and their success. He appealed to the audience to publicise the campaign in their mosques, temples, gurdwaras and workplaces, to pass resolutions in their union branches and lobby their politicians for action.

The lecture was brought to a close by a prayer lad by Molvi Shokat.

The Dawood Family Justice Campaign would like to thank everyone who came to the lecture for offering their support, and to the many whose assistance made the organisation of the event a possibility.