Gujarat massacre a blot on Modi's crumbling democracy.

ISLAMABAD -- The 2002 riots of India's Gujarat and their subsequent handling have shown that the country's crumbling democracy under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in the danger of total collapse.

The Gujarat massacre, that took place on February 27, was one of the deadliest incidents of religious riots that killed more than 2,000 Muslims since Independence.

Modi, the then Gujarat chief minister, had popularized the fake and factually incorrect assumption that Godhra train was burnt in a pre-planned manner by local Muslims.

Furious Hindu mobs rampaged through Muslim neighbourhoods in several cities seeking reprisals during three days of bloodshed.

During the slaughter in Ahmedabad and in hundreds of other towns and villages, the Hindu mobs rounded up and raped hundreds of Muslim women. The BJP ( Bharatiya Janata Party) and RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) goons poured kerosene oil down the throats of Muslims and threw lit matches at them.

The police directed rioters to Muslim homes and also turned fleeing victims back towards their killers.

The Hindu nationalist Modi was widely accused of turning a blind eye to the violence.

Senior police officers even testified that CM Modi had ordered them not to intervene as the killing spread.

The bloody riots tarred Modi's...