Six years is a long time to wipe away tears, come to terms with the loss of a loved one, to rebuild a life. But as the people living in the 1,000-odd Muslim houses in Naroda Patiya will tell you, six years has not been long enough to wipe away the fear from their hearts.On Saturday evening, when Ahmedabad was being jolted by one bomb blast after the other, in Naroda Patiya, the only Muslim settlement in a 7-km radius on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, many anxious residents were already packing up to leave for safety. Here, terror has lurked beneath the surface ever since the riots in 2002, considered by many as the most brutal backlash born out of Godhra, claimed 103 lives in Naroda Patiya and the nearby Naroda Gam. “As soon as news of the blasts came, I remembered 2002. My wife was almost hysterical, saying we had to leave this place. Even I thought anything could happen. So I took my three children and my wife and went to Shah-e-Alam (a Muslim neighbourhood),” says Abdul Khalique, 50, whose house was ransacked and burnt during the riots. Khalique returned on Sunday evening only after he was satisfied that the situation was under control and there was no attempt to take ‘revenge’ against Muslims. The Khalique family’s story is one that was repeated across the narrow lanes of Naroda Patiya. Those who had relatives living in ‘safer’ parts of the city locked their houses and fled. Those who stayed behind believed they were taking a huge risk.For Fatima Bano, fondly known as Aapa in her neighbourhood, staying back was not even an option worth considering. The 2002 violence had claimed eight lives in her brother’s family. Her four shops were also torched. She says, “Dil me dahshat baith gaya hai. Bachche jinhone dhammal dekha hai, vo bahut ghabra jaate hain. Mere aadmi ko police ne bahut maara tha 2002 me, mere aitbaar nahin ab kisi pe. (I am terrified. My children who had seen the riots become very tense whenever something like this happens. My husband was badly beaten by the police in 2002, I don’t trust anybody now).”Fatima, 45, along with her four children and husband spent Saturday night at Narol with a relative and returned on Sunday evening.But they remain apprehensive. A police outpost just outside the settlement and a major centre of the State Reserve Police a stone’s throw away are not enough to inspire confidence in the residents. Yet, most people are reluctant to admit that they feel compelled to leave their homes whenever a ‘sensitive’ situation arises. “Most people refuse to acknowledge that they are leaving because of the blasts. They will just say they are visiting relatives. Everybody knows but nobody says. Somehow there is a guilt associated with the admission of your own distrust of a community,” says Mohammad Salim, a social worker living in Naroda Patiya, adding, “Since yesterday around 100 families left this place for safer localities. Most have returned now only because there has been no violence.”
