RDRutherford

IN A few months, it will be five years since Shakil Bhai last heard the call of the muezzin from the mosque by the village pond. In a few months, it will be five years since the life of the gentle grocer and his community changed.On March 1, 2002, as religious fury raged through Gujarat and hundreds fell to daggers and bullets, Shakil’s family fled, bare foot, from their home in Sunderna, 75 km southeast of Ahmedabad. Rioters vandalised Shakil’s grocery shop and home, and burnt down his lucrative kerosene depot. The four minarets of the village mosque were smashed and the dargah, or mausoleum, of a locally revered priest was damaged. The dargah has since been repaired but the mosque remains without a head.

“Yes, there were massacres and there was looting, but one has to move on,” said Shakil, 26. “We have returned. But the vil lage elders said, ‘If you don’t compromise, you cannot stay here.’” Seated on a bag of flour in his renovated shop, he added, “Now there is no azaan (the call to prayers from mosques).” The grocer’s tale resonates with thousands of Gujarati Muslim families, especially in many of the 16 districts worst-hit by the 2002 riots.

Business-like Gujarat knows its dealmaking and give-and-take. Thousands of Muslims, who returned to Hindu-majori ty villages after the riots, are rebuilding their lives. But often they have to live on harsh terms.

In many villages, Muslims have given up the azaan. In others, they cannot openly sell meat and must observe festivals as low-key affairs. Most significantly a large number of , Muslims have had to withdraw criminal cases they had filed against fellow villagers, a necessary condition for their return.

Manibhai Patel, a 45-year-old villager, said, “The Muslims mind their business, we mind ours. No fighting. But we don’t often go towards their houses.” Gujarat has a history of communal riots, but the 2002 one was the most brutal, spilling over to many of the 18,000 villages.

“Even now the whole system is wrapped up in this compromise business,” said Preeta Jha, coordinator of Nyayagraha, a voluntary group. As HT discovered, deals are still under way, brokered by village heads and at times by local officials.