Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The 500-odd Muslims who shifted to a relief camp 50 km away in Dahod recently returned safely to their houses. No hatred, no terms, only nowhere to go for there was little left of the ransacked structures.
Loath to go away, the Muslims have now put up at a relief camp that overlooks the houses8217; ruins. With government help failing to materialise, the refugees are wondering how to rebuild their lives.
Only Hindus8217; houses stand at Masjid Falia, protected by saffron flags and Jai Shri Ram scrawled prominently on them.
The three words have worked so well that every structure in the village now sport them along with white crosses marking the Hindu houses. The white marks are in sharp contrast to the prominent red ones on the ruins of minority8217;s houses, left by official survey teams.
The Muslim villagers were evacuated in 15 tempos on March 1, under heavy police protection, after they were told to 8216;8216;choose between life and property8217;8217;. Some, however, were left at a marauding mob8217;s mercy after the tyres of a tempo burst.
Those who escaped thank DSP A.K. Jadeja for being still alive. Jadeja recalled how the villagers were moved to Rajasthan and later brought back after a series of meetings with the majority community in Sanjeli. After the refugees were urged to forgive the rioters, they returned from Dahod under police protection. The administration promised to help rebuild their lives.
Grocer Abdul Ismail German is one of them. He now spends his days supervising the cleaning of his roofless house. He is determined to rebuild his life, but unsure how far the administration would help him do that.
German8217;s family of nearly two dozen lost seven houses. He received Rs 21,000 as compensation for two houses. Herun, his daughter-in-law, pointed at her salwar kameez and said: 8216;8216;We ran for our lives, leaving everything behind.8217;8217; The clothes are borrowed.
Though the refugees are getting food and drinking water, they want the government to resurvey the damage to their properties. 8216;8216;Our shops, larris and shops, everything has been taken over,8217;8217; Mushtak Masken said.
Jadeja, however, dismissed the claim that the victims lost everything. Before they were shifted out, the refugees had managed to retrieve money, jewellery and other valuables.
