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Camps in Dhule full of people who are scared to return home

DHULE (MAHARASHTRA): Sixty-year-old Musa Sahebji Bagwan left as usual last Sunday morning to sell bananas at Gopal Nagar. He never returned. His son found him two days later after he heard that a body was found at Gopal Nagar. He was identified by a mark on his right hand.

The post mortem report says Musa died of head injuries. His son has sought refuge in a camp at the National Urdu High School on Chalisgaon road in Dhule. The camp has nearly 3,800 people and is run by Maulana Riaz Ahmed Gilani. Riot-affected people from various parts of the city as well as 10 to 15 villages in the vicinity are camping here since trouble broke out on October 5.

None of them ever wants to return home. Their houses have either been burnt or looted. Maulana Gilani says the camp will be run till people can be assured of a safe return.

Ayeshabi, who lives in a slum near the railway station, says she and her four children were brought to the camp in trucks by local councillor Satish Patode. “We were attacked in the night and by morning we were sure we would be dead,” Ayesha said. Women are living in terror at the camp. Haseenabi Pathan said she escaped with her three daughters. “The mob beat me up badly and I was terrified they would attack my children,” she said. Zakia Pinjari ran away when she saw the huge mob which was burning down homes. “I was alone at home and fled with the clothes on my back,” was all she could say. The slums near the railway station have a mixed population. The residents claim that only the Muslim homes were attacked and burnt.

In Moglai, which is 2 km from Dhule, police escorted the affected people to the camp. Khairunnissa says the mob looted their houses on Tuesday morning and they somehow escaped. About 10 to 12 houses were ransacked in Moglai. Residents said such a thing had never happened before, not even in the post Babri Masjid demolition riots in 1992.The main question these women are asking is how will they go back and resume their lives. They also allege that the police played an active part in the rioting, a charge that senior police officials deny. In Aksa Nagar, which is close to Gajanan Colony which was burnt badly, there were riots after Sunday. Niyamat Bi said that being one of the few Muslims in Aksa, her house was targeted by the mob.

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