Agar koi tumhe gali de to tum uska jawab dua se do. Agar koi tumhe pathar maare to tum use kuch mat kaho” (If somebody curses you, pray for him. If somebody hurls a stone at you, don’t retaliate), was the message that emanated during Friday prayers from the mosque along the 66-feet Seelampur-Jaffrabad Road.
This very road had witnessed the violent riot in which four people had lost their lives. Friday’s namaz was closely watched by the jawans of the Delhi Police, Rapid Action Force and BSF. A nervous administration wanted to ensure that no trouble takes place again. And while there were prayers conducted for the deceased in more than a dozen local mosques, the situation remained under control.
However, there are several questions that still trouble the residents. People wonder if there were indeed elements in the crowd who had guns and had fired at the police. And then there is the larger question which affect all of them — the sealing.
Najab Ali offered the Friday namaz at the same place where he had seen the riot two days earlier. Ali earns a living by making cloth jackets. “Four people have died and now I don’t think the MCD will be able to press with its sealing drive. But if they do I will be in trouble as in the winters there is a good demand for my jackets,” he said, his three-year-old son Fardeen sitting on his shoulder.
Police officials, meanwhile, insisted that they had recovered .303 bullets from the spot which had been the provocation for the firing. “We will look at all the photographs and clipping in Television and Print media, as it might help us to identify the troublemakers,” said DCP Devesh Srivastva, as he made a trip on foot to the local mosque.
The police officials were much relieved after three of the four deceased had been buried in a Seemapuri graveyard. Police officials feared that if the bodies were carried in the area as per the traditional procession or janaaza it might raise tempers. The funerals were carried out with only close relatives of the deceased around.
After a peaceful Friday, the administration believes that Seelampur and Jaffrabad have bounced back to normalcy after those violent six hours. While the vital questions, who was responsible for the deaths and the future of the sealing drive linger on in the air.