Pawar’s deposition today

He went on record to say that the army moved in much later and was reluctant to fire at the rioting mobs. Naik also alleged that as the defence minister Pawar played dirty politics in order to bring disrepute to the state government. During his deposition, former additional chief secretary of the state government Jambunathan Sriniwas Iyer said that the home department requested deployment of 40 army columns by January 6, 1993 to contain the communal violence that erupted during the post-demolition period. The army, according to Naik, didn’t move till January 10, 1993.

Naik said that even the presence of the army failed to prevent the mobs who indulged in large scale vandalism till mid-January. By passing the entire blame on to the army, Naik succeeded in embarrassing his bete noire Pawar who has since maintained a discreet silence. With Pawar’s appearance on Monday, the commission will witness yet another important session as he will be answering charges made against him by Naik.The terms of reference for Pawar’s appearance is, whether the inefficient handling of riots was due to civil authorities or army’s reluctance to co-operate with state police. The question whether the army’s reluctance was due to political pressure will also be discussed on Monday. Court watchers say Pawar is one of the star witnesses and counsels from various sides are likely to grill him on various issues.