As the heat of the summer made way for cool evening breeze at the Mecca Masjid, families flitted in and out under the ceremonial welcome arch.
As the moulvi’s call for Asr namaz reverberated, men from the surrounding areas trooped in, some holding their slippers to be kept in secure places. Inside, on the raised platform, a family sat on the black granite stone as a small child made faces. It appeared as if nothing has happened here. But ten years ago to the day, under a similar black granite platform, a few terrorists had placed pipe bombs timed with the Friday prayers. One of them blew up killing 11 people, five more died in police firing in the immediate aftermath.
Muhammad Moinuddin from Moghalpura was among the lucky ones. “I just ran. I didn’t think about anything except my family as soon as I heard the explosion. It was scary. I don’t want to think about that day,” says the small time trader.
“There was an atmosphere of fear. I was not allowed by the police to set up my perfume stall for nearly a month. As it was a Friday, I didn’t come here. My family was relieved that I was not there on that fateful day,” said Muhammad Omer, who has been setting up a perfume stall near the entrance of the Mecca Masjid for over 30 years.
The security scenario changed after the bomb blasts with more stringent vigil and policing. “The blast appears as if it happened a lifetime ago. But, it happened very much within our memory. It opened up the Government’s eyes to the need for higher vigilance in this 400-year-old religious place,” says Khadeer Siddiqui the Superintendent of Mecca Masjid.
“The Masjid is overhauling the security. We are installing more security cameras both inside and outside the Masjid,” informed Mr. Siddiqui. But, the bomb blast showed a different side of Hyderabad as there was no spillover of communal riots which had become routine in the earlier years. Within days of the blast, things were back to normal.
Now, except for the reassuring beep of the doorframe scanner and the routine riffling of purses and backpacks by the police, things have not changed. But, the scars will remain for the dozens of people who were injured and for those who lost their loved ones on one cruel day 10 years ago.
