Sitting in India, all they can do is pray

NEW DELHI: The small Iraqi communityin the Capital is numb and devastated. It has watched as thousands of bombsrained over Iraq. Hashim Mohammed, an MSc student in Jamia Millia,sums up the feeling of his 200-strong community here, ‘‘We arehelplessly watching innocent Iraqis dying.’’ He spent Friday nightat an STD booth trying to contact family members in Baghdad. He finally gotthrough to his brother on Saturday afternoon. ‘‘Theconnection was bad, but he told me that my family, including my aged mother andsister, was planning to stay put in Baghdad. He said all our cities were beingbombed and there was no place to seek refuge.’’ Iraq hasdistributed arms to almost every family there including old people. It has alsodistributed two months ration. ‘‘If the American forces captureBaghdad, the average citizen, will put up a fight,’’ he says.Hashim’s wife, Amina, is also concerned. ‘‘Myfather told me from Baghdad that the non-stop bombing on Friday resulted in over240 casualties. On Wednesday, four missiles landed close to my father’shouse. He lives in a civilian area with government offices located faraway,’’ she says with tears in her eyes. Saad Magid,principle of the Iraqi school here is worried about the fate of his children inBaghdad University. But he’s philosophical. ‘‘There are fivemillion Iraqis in Baghdad. Sitting here in Delhi, all my wife and I can do ispray.’’ He also points out that the indiscriminate bombing coulddestroy both the Karbala and Babylon. ‘‘Mesopotamia is the cradle ofworld civilisation.’’ Haitham Jaju, working in the IraqiEmbassy, hopes the US forces won’t attack the northern city of Mosul wherehis parents and brother live. ‘‘From Friday, Mosul has been indirect line of fire. The US forces first fire precision bombs and then napalmones. This was done in the Gulf War in ‘91 too.’’With telephone lines snapped between Mosul and New Delhi, Jaju willhave to wait for the war to end to learn the fate of his relatives.Political activist Ranjana Nirula, who returned from Baghdad last week,says she’s in touch with Hayfa Abdul Rehman, a senior member of the IraqiFederation of Women. ‘‘The people are very stoical.Rehman said she and her colleagues were working hard to provide humanitarianrelief to the public.’’