As Delhi tries to recover from tragedy, families mourn loss of loved ones
NEW DELHI: In Babarpur's Kabir Nagar, the family of 27-year-old Ishtiyak Khan, who was killed in the violence, is in mourning. A few empty chairs and a gloomy sadness outside their house, were telling the tragedy, this family witnessed in the Delhi riots.
Father of two, Khan was out trying to save his family when the mob attacked their area. “They came with pistols and stones in their hands. We saw police standing and doing nothing,” said Arif, Khan's neighbour and best friend.
According to Arif, as the mob started pelting stones, men in the area blocked the streets. “We had to defend ourselves, or else they would have ruined our homes and burnt everything,” he said.
Sitiing opposite with Arif,
Khan's mother –Afeeza– was grieving the loss of her elder son.
“We have lost everything in these riots. My son is gone. His children are so small, what will happen to them now,” she asked while mourning. Khan has a two-year-old son and a six-year-old daughter. His wife was in mourning and not in a condition to talk.
In the same area, about four to five men died due to Delhi violence. The residents have blamed the government and the the hospital for negligence. “We took Ishtiyak to GTB somehow, as no ambulance was coming and on reaching the hospital, the doctor asked us to sit aside, while Ishtiyak took his last breath,” said Arif.
As the family continued to mourn his loved one, not far from Kabir Nagar, stood a man who had lost two sons.
Babu Khan was heartbroken as two of his sons –Amir Khan (30) and Hashim Ali (19) –had died in Delhi riots. The family buried the two bodies in the nearby graveyard.
The two were taken to GTB Hospital, where after the post mortem, Babu Khan first took the bodies to their home in Mustafabad, where Amir's two daughters aged 4 and 2 years, awaited their father's return.
The bodies were first kept at their home in Old Mustafabad, where thousands of people gathered to offer condolences to the family, and then began what Babu Khan called the most difficult journey of his life –carrying his two dead sons to the cemetery on his shoulder.
As the death toll keeps on increasing everyday, the aftermath of this violence has left people devastated and hopeless. Many have lost their loved ones, many have lost their houses and properties, others are afraid and trying to fix the broken pieces, which will be too hard to glue back.