Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Indian Capital's Riot-Ravaged District Struggles to Pick Up Pieces

Anjana Pasricha

   NEW DELHI - A week after communal riots ravaged a district in the
   Indian capital, men sift through torched motorcycles to see if they can
   salvage anything to sell, and a group of Muslims sit despondently
   outside a charred showroom for auto rickshaws, while dozens of homes in
   inner lanes lie empty as Muslims flee in fear. Every few meters,
   paramilitary soldiers stand guard on the arterial road that runs
   through the densely populated working-class district.

   "Our shops were deliberately targeted while others were spared. We just
   ran to save our lives," said Rais Ahmed, owner of the auto rickshaw
   showroom as he watched a video showing a mob running down the street
   chanting "Jai Shri Ram," which translates into "hail the Hindu god
   Rama," now a Hindu nationalist slogan.

   Hundreds of Muslims have fled their homes in the aftermath of the worst
   Hindu-Muslim violence in decades in the Indian capital that erupted as
   Prime Minister Narenda Modi's government presses ahead with what
   critics call a Hindu-first agenda.

   As mobs armed with iron rods, stones, and gasoline bombs unleashed
   violence that claimed at least 46 lives, the brunt of the attacks
   appears to have been borne by Muslims, although both sides suffered the
   deadly consequences. Wounded men have recounted being beaten by Hindu
   mobs, sometimes as police looked on. A young Hindu man working with the
   Intelligence Bureau, a domestic intelligence agency, who was repeatedly
   stabbed was among the victims.

   There are, though, stories of how members of the two groups came to
   each other's rescue in neighborhoods where they have lived amicably for
   decades in close proximity.

   As the clashes escalated, Nawab Khan Mansuri's family found refuge at
   dead of night in the home of a Hindu neighbor, who also defied the
   mayhem on the streets to take his pregnant daughter-in-law to hospital.

   Mansuri found his home looted and his shops torched when he went back
   after the riots subsided.

   "I am left with nothing," he says despairingly. "We don't even have a
   change of clothes."

   In another neighborhood, Muslims and Hindus relate how they cooperated
   to protect themselves from rioting mobs, who they say were made up of
   "outsiders." In the past week, men from both communities have been
   guarding gates that lead into inner lanes.

   "We did not sleep for five nights. We took turns to stand at the
   gates," Rajesh Chowdhury said. "We used to sit together sipping tea at
   night as we watched out for anyone coming in," said Abbas Raza who
   lives in an adjoining lane.

   A few shops have begun opening their shutters as people struggle to
   resume their lives.

.