Vadodara police commissioner Deepak Swarup said, "After three days, peace has finally made a comeback. This is what everybody wanted."
VADODARA: With army personnel holding fort at all sensitive flash points, Vadodara remained largely peaceful on Thursday. Though a bakery near Khanderao market was set on fire on the early hours of Thursday, the overall situation remained under control.
Vadodara police commissioner Deepak Swarup said, "After three days, peace has finally made a comeback. This is what everybody wanted." Special in charge of three sensitive police stations, IGP PC Thakur, said, "As a preventive measure, the police have arrested more than 80 persons and combing operations will continue in the night also."
All India Youth Congress chief and Gujarat in-charge Manish Tewari, who was in Vadodara on Thursday, criticised the police for their inaction. "Being a lawyer, I believe they did not follow the police manual and could have taken some other measures."
He said the Centre is deeply concerned over the current state of affairs in Gujarat and is keeping an eagle's eye on the overall situation in the state and the steps being taken by the state government to bring the situation under control. The Centre has granted extraordinary powers to the Army, deployed in Vadodara. Ten companies of the Army, deployed in the city were given the power to shoot if that was necessary to control any rioting mobs, official sources said.
For the Muslims in the city, there's a sense of betrayal. Not only have they lost a place of worship, they are uncertain about their future in the city.
"When we begged the police to help us, they told us to go to Pakistan. They left us at the mercy of the mobs," said a resident of Ajwa Road. Many from the minority community of Vadodara shied away from venturing out of their houses even after the curfew was relaxed.
Said 81-year-old advocate Mohamad Hanif, "I am the general secretary of the Gujarat state Jamit-e-ulma that opposed the partition of India and the formation of Pakistan. Although I have lived in Vadodara for a long time, I now feel unsafe here."
Hanif Lakdawala, a noted activist, says, "There is hatred in the hearts of the people, both Hindus and Muslims. We have the names of those who burnt Rafique alive and we know about the involvement of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal. But the culprits have not been arrested yet."
For Rafique's family, life will never be the same again. On Thursday, they buried his body in a far-away graveyard to avoid any more violent clashes as the entire locality is still boiling with communal passion. They claim that though they called the police control room for help, no one came forward. They also alleged that they were told to go to Pakistan to seek help. "Aren't we staying in India? Why should we go to Pakistan to seek help?" Rafique's mother asked.
(With inputs from Mauli Buch &Yashpal Parmar)
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