‘We are scared the camps will be attacked’

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">new delhi: ‘‘<span style="" font-style:="" italic="">unhone usko kat ke jala diya</span>. (they burnt him). he was trying to go back into the house where my mother was left behind, after trying to push us out through backlane. but they caught him and...,’’ said noorjehan yakoob khan (11) describing how her father was killed by a mod.the innocent face already wore a stoic look, like her 13-year-old brother pathan arif khan yakoob khan. the two were witness to the killing of their family in visnagar, mehsana district near ahmedabad. ‘‘we kept running and hid ourselves. when i went back to the house, i saw a heap of dead bodies, including that of my mother and grandmother," he added. the family had participated in a patel marriage in the neighbourhood only three days ago. the same people carried out the brutal killings. the children had travelled to delhi with their uncle yusuf khan pathan, who was the only other survivor from the family, along with 37 other riot victims from the shah alam camp in ahmedabad. the group of 40 reached delhi on friday morning to tell the rest of the country of the fears they are still living in. ‘‘this is my country too. if the government cannot protect us here, then it should kill us too,’’ said fatima bibi, who lost everything but the clothes that she had on, on the night that her colony was attacked. ‘‘it was late at night when they attacked us. people were running all over the place and when we told them to spare the children they directed us to a place where they had collected all the women and children and just when we thought it was safe there, they set the place on fire by hurling gas cylinders, petrol and acid which they had all brought along. i lost my children in front of my eyes,’’ she said, unable to speak beyond that as she broke down. ‘‘in 1973 i joined the army and retired in december 2000. on the night of april 3, i was away from my village, on duty at the ongc office where i work as a security supervisor now. most of the muslims had fled the village after godhra, since the atmosphere was scary for them. but they got us back by saying — we have been living together for 300 years so nothing will go wrong this time. when the people returned they attacked them. i lost 11 members of my family — three brothers, two sisters nieces, nephews and children — in one night and my mother is lying in coma at the civil hospital in ahmedabad. there’s a fire burning inside me today. we have no faith in the police and the army is being misled by them even now,’’ said ibrahimbhai ismailbhai ghachi. ‘‘we are scared that the camps will soon be attacked. and that’s why we are here to demand for president’s rule,’’ said aftab kadri an advocate, who has been living at the shah alam camp for over a month now. </div> </div>