RAZING AN ILLEGAL STORM

Aftershocks of a terror attack in Kashmir are felt in the ghettos of Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat. Thousands displaced, land gets freed, amid a welter of charges

- By Jumana Shah

A SECURITY SWEEP SOUNDS like a good idea after a terror outrage. One came four days after Pahalgam. Targets?

Over 6,500 people alleged to be illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in faraway Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat.

Two days after Gujarat Police swooped down for this mass detention, it joined the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) to also demolish 12,500 shanties around Chandola Lake, one of the city's Muslim ghettos. Some 25,000 inhabitants were displaced as a total of 400,000 sq. metres was cleared. The demolition, done without notice, wasn't stayed by the Gujarat High Court on the grounds that this was government land.

A SHORT HISTORY OF SLUMS