Walled City residents defer plans to travel across border

NEW DELHI: The war of rhetoric between India and Pakistan has affected the travel plans of several Muslims travelling across the border on both sides to visit extended families. Mansoor, a 57-year-old businessman (name changed), who has an army of relatives in Pakistan whom he usually meets once a year, now thinks it's best for both sides of the family to stay put, for the time being."A cousin married in Karachi lost her mother who lived in Delhi. She couldn't come for the funeral she was scared about war breaking out,'' he says.
His friend, Javed, is saddened that the developing bond of friendship between the two countries has snapped because of the terror unleashed by militants. "Because of them, our children will be victimized they won't get jobs in good companies or even admission in colleges,'' he says.
His niece, Uniza Wahid Khan, a 29-year-old post-doctoral research fellow at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, is in Delhi on her winter break. "I've decided not to go to Karachi right now to meet my phuphi (father's sister). That's a sad change of plans, because fear has set in and I don't know if I'll ever be able to meet my aunts and uncles again.'' She also discloses an embarrassment about being Muslim, back on campus: "It's more prominent among the Pakistani students; they are terrified to tell people where they're from.''
Javed's wife, Nuzhat Kausar, is equally distraught about the change in travel plans. "I was looking forward to being in Lahore around Christmas, but what if war breaks out and I can't come home?'' she asks.
Ghulam Shabir, a 45-year-old public school teacher, frets about the escalating tension between the two countries: "I couldn't go for my niece's wedding on December 16 dono mulkon mein pata nahin kya pak raha hai (God knows what's brewing between the two countries.)''
What also makes the community uncomfortable is the menacing look filled with suspicion. As the principal of a government school who didn't wish to be named, says, "Ajeeb nigahon ka rukh hai jo jayega nahin (The strange and wary looks won't go away anytime soon.)''
Businessmen in Ajmeri Gate rue the "khaufdaar mahaul'' (fearful environment) and "war fever''. Mansoor says, "Bahut zehar faila hua hai (The current state of affairs is venomous).'' He is worried that the community may get alienated. "You feel the mistrust everywhere in buses, in trains, in offices a Muslim name is enough to hold back a credit card application or even a driver's licence. It's worse after 26/11 we'll have to be very careful.''
Bitter about having to constantly prove his allegiance to the country that he considers to be his own, he says, "Whenever there is a terrorist attack, we are put under the scanner. When Babri Masjid was demolished or Gujarat burnt in 2002, were you treated any differently?''