Journalism of Courage
Merely two days before violence erupted in Muzaffarnagar for the second time,with the death of three persons,leaders of the Jat and Muslim communities in Mohammadpur Raisingh and Hussainpur Kalan were talking about peace.
We formed a peace committee with 26 Jats and Muslims each from across the villages and approached the SDM Manish Kumar Sharma for peace talks which were to begin Monday, said Omkar,pradhan of Mohammadpura Raisingh village.
However,two days later,on Wednesday as the two communities were preparing for their meeting the government announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the victims families. Area SDM Manish Kumar Sharma said,Though peace talks were to be initiated,an official visit took place for which I had to be on the ground. The way things erupted,it does not look like a case of communal violence. It seems more like criminal violence being initiated by a certain group of people.
Sharma and other government officials set out to visit the villages to prepare a list of families of the victims.
Our talks were delayed. We dont blame anyone. But perhaps this was waiting to happen, said Shahnawaz,pradhan of Hussainpur Kalan.
He added,We had decided to fix a certain time for our community men and the Jats to collect their harvest and to travel in the area to avoid problems. Had the talks taken place,Wednesdays incident would never have occurred.
On Wednesday,Hussainpur Kalan,Khanpur and Mohammadpur Raisingh were demarcated,this time geographically,after fresh violence erupted in Muzaffarnagar. About 85 Muslim families from Mohammadpur Raisingh have since fled and settled in Hussainpur Kalan.
