Spent the day with @furquansid at the Babu Nagar camp and later at the Mustafabad camp.
Babu Nagar is a working class, area in Muslim dominated Mustafabad. People from neighbouring Shiv Vihar, which saw an obliteration of Muslim households, businesses and mosques, began arriving at the Quaba Masjid in Babu Nagar beginning Wednesday, 26 February 2020. 
Babu Nagar saw little violence. It was a safe heaven for most people who were targeted in the nearby Shiv Vihar. Yet, a school opposite the camp is occupied by personnel of the paramilitary. The school is shut down currently.
When we arrived we saw kids, volunteers and an elderly woman at the camp. The walls had art work of kids and some kids were occupied with Lego.
The camp is currently managed by a Delhi-based NGO. The person incharge, Poonam Rani, told us that there are currently between two and four families at the camp. ‘This is a transit camp for most people as they try and move to bigger camps, to houses of relatives and friends or...
...return to their villages,’ she said. ‘People are reluctant to stay here because most of us managing the camp are Hindus. There’s a deep and understandable distrust towards Hindus after the violence. Most children here are from the neighbourhood.’
The elderly woman at the camp was Sarbari Islamuddin. She was a resident of Prem Nagar in Shiv Vihar. The 68-year-old moved in with her son near Quba Masjid Saturday, 1 March. Long after major violence abated.
She was at the camp to get medicines for her chronic back ache. A volunteer at the camp brought her a pain relief oil and an ointment after she told the person of her hurting back. She fell down on her back five years ago after dogs chased her.
‘I left the house with just the clothes I was wearing. The only thing I have with me for identity is this,’ she said unfolding a piece of paper, a copy of her voter ID card.
Sarbari lived in the same house with her husband in Shiv Vihar on rent for the past 12 years. ‘Why should I lie. I won’t bad mouth my landlord. They kept me safe in the house till Saturday, when neighbours came asking them for the Muslims who rented the house...
...They told the neighbors that my husband and I left the house a month ago. Later that day they left us at a nearby mosque. We walked to my son’s house down the lane,’ she said. Her son is a tailor and her husband sold fruits on a push cart.
‘Fruits worth ₹30,000-₹40,000 rotted away as the violence hit. I’m scared. We can no longer hawk at the spot we used to. I’d never thought things would come to such a pass at this age.’
From Quba Masjid, we walked to a nearby business. Muhammad Wasil owns a multi-storied restaurant in the area. We wanted specific information about what happened in Babu Nagar. We weren't prepared for what he had to say.
This was one of the most painful conversations I’ve had in the past two weeks. 32-year-old restauranter is a broken man. He sat behind the cash counter as he spoke crying.
‘I’ve learnt one thing in the last two weeks that nothing matters. Not journalists. Not policemen. Everyone and everything is worthless. All that matters is Mr Modi. I can’t even call home my friends for Eid this time. They won’t come. They’ll say you’re Muslim...
...Is it my fault I’m Muslim? Everything is destroyed. Everything that came in sight was destroyed. You’re wasting your time. You’ll learn nothing. Should I look out for Hindu customers or my kids? My customer pays for my kids. Today, my friends...
... aren’t answering my phone because I’m Muslim. Everything is over. I’m scared in my own neighbourhood. I close at eight now. This shop used to remain open till one in the night. People were stripped to be identified by their religion...
...What ever harm did mosques do? Why were they desecrated? We pray for everyone, not just for Muslims, Hindus or Christians. Everyone knows who did what. But no one will speak. No one will tell you. FIRs are not being registered. Why?...
...Even cops are segregating us by religion. News flashed on Tuesday, 25 February that there was a curfew in the area. Violence raged here for 72hrs (three days). Our calls to police went unanswered. When arsonists realised they won’t be able to enter...
... Muslim majority neighbourhoods, they went with vengeance to target Muslims in mixed and Hindu majority neighbourhoods. We were scared despite being a Muslim majority neighbourhoods. Ask those who’ve lost their children what they are feeling...
...Has a politician’s child ever died in such violence. Why don’t politician’s children get killed in such violence? Why were people killed? What mistake did these people make? There’s no hearing here. No justice...
...My sisters who tied me a Rakhi will never come home for Eid now.’ At this point he began sobbing inconsolably. ‘Everything is destroyed. Is it my fault I was born into a Muslim household? They’ve destroyed everything.’
‘All that we hear in news are schools destroyed. What about the kids who were killed, shot at and abused? Kids were beaten up by the police in madrasas here. People have lived in these areas together for more than 35-years. Relationships were torched...
...How can outsiders come into these areas without locals collaborating? Our neighbourhoods were put under siege. Exits from Muslims neighbourhoods were blocked. They wanted to kill us all. How can these things happen without locals collaborating?’
...I don’t want to live here anymore. I want to make some money and leave this country. Cops were collaborating with the arsonists. Doctors were harassing Muslims. Mohan Nursing Home was used as a vantage to shoot at Muslims...’
...I thought doctors and policemen are educated. Is this what education leads to? Good thing, I’m uneducated. God knows what injustice I’d have committed if I were educated. We kept calling the police. Our calls went unanswered. They wanted to burn down Mustafabad...’
...Yesterday, a friend’s house was locked down by his neighbours in an affluent neighbourhood. They asked him to move Mustafabad or Pakistan. This is what the educated here are doing. This is what the educated are saying...
...I used to sell 300 chickens a day. I’m barely selling 15 today. I’d 28 people working here. Today, I’ve three. I called my friend’s sister. She told me everything is destroyed and not to call her ever again. What is my fault? Now, Muslims will be discriminated openly...
...Children of Muslims will be denied opportunities. Everyone’s future is ruined. People who returned to Shiv Vihar to collect their belongings were threatened by old men. Will our kids be ever safe anywhere? Till yesterday, we shared tea. Today there’s animosity...
...We were put under siege. Our exits were closed. My wife is pregnant. I was worried for her and my three-year-old daughter. I don’t trust anyone any more. I’m scared. People have lost their humanity.’
...I haven’t slept in days. People who broke bread together aren’t looking in the eyes today. Whatever happened to our brains? People work hard to earn a living, to pay for their kids, whoever will understand the pain of those who’ve lost their loved ones and their livelihoods?
It was getting dark and we wanted to visit the Mustafabad Eid Gaah before leaving the area. We saw a sorry plight yesterday. It rained. The displaced were in leaky tents, with soaking mattresses on the ground, exposed to cold winds.
It rained today also. We were hoping things might have improved. We were wrong by a mile. People were battling the cold. Kids and elders were walking around in the cold barefoot.
Some arrived barefoot at the camp. Others lost theirs in camps at transit. ‘We are alive today because I didn’t wait for my kids to get their clothes or footwear,’ Muhammad Raees told us.
I met Raees’ family day before. His 11-year-old daughter Salma is a mature and loving child. She took care of her younger brother and drew as I spoke with her parents day before.
Salma’s mother Baby Begum brought her oranges and Salma shared them with me
Baby has been fighting to get her and her kids footwear and clothes for the past three days. Their blankets got wet in the rain yesterday. Today she went around the neighbourhood asking for clothes, washed her undergarments and put them on wet.
‘There are clothes and footwear arriving from all over but there is nothing for the needy,’ Baby said. ‘Our mattresses and blankets are wet with rain. We’ve been asking for blankets. But no one is paying any heed to the needs of people here’
‘We are living dog’s life.’ Raees and Baby wanted to go out looking for houses to rent in the neighbourhood yesterday but couldn’t. ‘We didn’t go out today because it was cold in the day and later started raining,’ Baby said.
Like Salma, her elder sister Sayra too has been drawing to keep herself occupied.
People at the camp are paying the price for bureaucracy and bad organisation. The camp was set up and managed by locals till the Delhi government stepped in. ‘People are being sent from pillar to post for basic needs. When people go with needs they’re asked...
...to go speak with Amanatullah, who heads the Waqf Board. Politicians and celebrities come here only for photo ops,’ a local said. There’s a clear disconnect between the community and Delhi government’s relief efforts.
‘We’re trying to control the situation here. There is a lot of pilferage here. We’d a plan of opening another camp. We’ll do soon. I’ve a problem with the media. It is only highlighting the negative aspects here,’ Nishab Khan of the Waqf Board told us.
‘Since we took over and shoved out the locals, politics began. Now we’re turning them into volunteers. These are the teething problems rn. If you speak with individuals they will have grievances. But no one is highlighting why this happened...
...these people are not here by choice. They want to return home but are scared. Unless claim forms are verified nothing will happen. Orders were passed today for police to escort people to return home to verify damages. Hopefully, things will be better tomorrow,’ he said.
