By Niti Vishnu

It’s 9 am and 34-year-old Noorjehan Diwan of Ahmedabad is racing against time. As she finishes work in the kitchen, her mind is pre-occupied with the day’s schedule. She will join riot-affected people of 2002 to plan for a massive rally to commemorate five years since some of the worst sectarian violence in India ’s history.

More than 1,000 people, majority of them Muslims were killed in the communal violence that erupted after 59 persons, most of them Hindu religious volunteers who built the Ram Janambhoomi temple in Ayodhya at the site of the demolished Babri Mosque, were burnt alive on board S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express on February 27, 2002 in Godhra, Gujarat .

Five thousand Muslim families who fled their homes during the riots are still displaced, many living in makeshift camps, with no rehabilitation package in sight.

"Dange ko paanch saal pure hoye hai. Rally hai. Aana, (It’s been five years since the riots. There is a rally. Do come)" she tells riot-affected families in Guptanagar locality of Juhapura, the largest Muslim ghetto in Gujarat .

Riots changed it all

Noorjehan is one of the many Aman Pathiks (peace volunteers) working in Gujarat since the riots of 2002 with the ActionAid-backed peace collective Aman Samudaya. Coming from an orthodox Muslim family, Norrojehan, known affectionately among the riot victims as ‘Munnididi’ had hardly ventured out of the house. She used to cover her face under veil. But the riots changed it all.

Soon after the riots broke out she got to hear the heart-wrenching stories of survivors living in Juhapura relief camps, not far from her neighbourhood.

"A group of people had come to collect old clothes for riot victims. I went with them to the relief camps and saw the plight of the people. I decided then that I will work for them,” she says. Noorjehan came to know about Aman Samudaya through her friend Naseem.

It wasn’t easy. She had a six month old baby, her husband Hamid resisted and her brother-in-law a Maulana (religious leader) has severed all ties with her. "How can a woman of our house go out like this," said Norrojehan said, remembering her brother-in-law’s words.

With time and patience, husband Hamid begun to understand the importance of her peace work. After all, for six months of riots, his rickshaw was off the road. He now accompanies Noorjehan if meetings are late at night.

Noorjehan took riot victims to police stations and since the riots has helped over 67 victims to file First Information Reports (FIRs). "We had received training so I was not scared," she says.

Standing firm

Twenty-seven-year old Laxmi Parmar of Kalol in Panchmahals is a fellow peace volunteer. Like Noorjehan she faced resistance but this time it was upper caste Hindu community leaders that Laxmi had to contend with.

“They did not want me to join the peace initiative and questioned my motives. Even my brother objected saying that all the participants were Muslims.” But Laxmi stood firm. “I told them that I would go ahead and nobody will be able to stop me.”

Today, she works in Godhra and nearby areas among riot survivors. "I help Hindus understand that Muslims are like us. They too have one nose and two eyes. It is the same Sun that rises for them too. So why the difference?" she says.

For her friend, 38-year-old Bismillah Hussain Diwan, life has a new meaning since working with Aman Samudaya and riot victims. Her husband had married again when she was unable to conceive leaving her to stay with her parents. "Seeing people’s woes, I realised that I have hardly faced any trouble," she says.

The honorarium that she gets helps meet her parents’ expenses. "Now even my husband says that people have high regard for me," Bismillah says.

New lease of life

Nazima Yusufkhan Pathan (52) of Ahmedabad and Rashidabanu Abdulmunaf Ansari (38) of Godhra both feel lucky to have escaped from the riots with their lives. They both joined the peace volunteers while they were living in relief camps having fled the violence with their families.

A mother of two, Nazima, worked as a tutor before the riots broke out. She and her two sons spent days in relief camps after their house was looted and burnt. She quickly began working to help others in the same situation.

Five years on, she is happy that her efforts are helping women in her community to change for better. "They are increasingly getting aware about their rights. They have also started saving money," Nazima says proudly.

Rashidabanuand her husband had barely managed to escape when the rioters attacked their home on March 2, 2002. "We did not leave our house for three days – we thought we could stay put. But then there was no option," she says.

Like Nazima, she seized the opportunity to help other survivors in the relief camp where she was staying. "I always tell people of both communities that we should stay united so that events like 2002 never happen again," says Rashidabanuand.

Growing understanding

Shenaz Ansari is just 25. Pursuing her Masters in Social Work, she divides her time between her studies and her work with riot victims. In 2002 when final year graduation examinations were postponed because of the violence, she began working in the relief camps.

"It was an on-the-spot decision. I thought of going out and helping the victims. I felt bad watching on television the attitude of policemen. I somehow wished that there should be some power with us so that we could deal with the situation," she says.

Like other young women volunteers, her father initially resisted. "Going out and working was considered a taboo. I used to cover my face under veil before riots and I do so today when I enter my locality," Shenaz says.

She was never allowed to go for picnics. But today she is fighting for the rights of riot victims. "We are fighting for compensation – similar to that of anti-Sikh riots – for the riot victims. I also talk with the Dalits about how they were used against the Muslims. They have begun to understand," she says.

Back home, the family is also beginning to understand. They support her work now that she shares her day’s experience with them.