Avinash Nair : Ahmedabad, Tue Feb 28 2012, 05:02 hrs
“Where and how to flee this area is on top of our minds,” says 60-year-old Zubeida Sheikh, a riot survivor still living at Naroda Patiya, where rioters left over 100 dead in this eastern locality of the city in 2002.
“We are hearing a lot of rumours, mainly about a possible bandh call given by some Hindu groups for tomorrow. We are scared as 300-odd families living in this area are surrounded by residential areas of Hindus,” says a frail looking Zubeida, who lost her husband in the 2002 Naroda Patiya massacre.
“But I do not have a place to flee to. I will continue to stick to this place as long as I live,” says the widow, soon realising her helplessness.
She is not the lone terrified soul here.
“Fearing trouble, a few families have already left the place. Even I am ready to leave by evening if tensions mount,” says Zeburnissa Nagori, who lives in a one-room accommodation with her teenage daughter.
Families are looking to take refuge with friends and relatives living in Vatva and Juhapura (that have Muslim ghettos).
Nazirkhan Pathan, who escaped the rioters in 2002 by hiding himself inside an underground water tank, says some members of the majority community still treat them with suspicion.
FULL TEXT AT: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/naroda-patiya-2012-fear-lingers-hope-lives/917689/
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