Mumbai: Since the police arrested five persons and picked up many for questioning for their suspected link with the Indian Mujahideen and possible involvement in the terror attacks in the country, Muslims at various quarters in the city have lived in fear.

The arrests by the police following "tip-offs" have put the Muslim community, particularly from the lower strata of the society, on tenterhooks. Family members of the arrested accused furiously claim that their kin are innocent and they have fallen prey to police "frame-ups".

The unfortunate fallout of this intangible fear and apprehension can be sensed among the residents of Kidwai Nagar, a ghetto in Wadala, dominated by Muslims.

Talks during lunch and tea-time breaks in these ghettos focus on the same theme: victimisation of the minority community. "I dont know when they will raid our house and pick up my sons and nephews and implicate them in false cases," said Mushtaqbhai Sheikh, 60,who runs a garment store in Kidwai Nagar, Wadala.

In the Muslim pockets of Kurla and Worli, which used to be dominated by former members of Simi, people look suspiciously each time a stranger walks by. "We are poor people. We struggle for two morsels everyday. We dont want to get under the police radar under any circumstances," said Sahabuddin Haider, a resident of Kurla.

Residents of these areas said every blast, anywhere in the country, triggers off the same chain reaction. The typical reaction of the police is to raid Muslim-dominated areas in the city in the name of combing operations that are conducted after a "specific tip-off".

"This time too, history will repeat itself. A dozen Muslims will be arrested, put behind bars, will languish in jail for a couple of years and then acquitted for lack of evidence.
However, the scar and humiliation will remain forever," said Sajjad Ghani, a resident of Byculla.

Once picked up by the police on "suspicion", the damage is done. "Even if you are let off within 24 hours, it damages your credibility forever," said a 36-year-old man, who was detained by the police after the July 11 serial train blasts and let off after two days.

"There is just no way to explain this to our neighbours. I dont want to justify this incident as I know that I did nothing wrong. But the society is unrelenting. I can feel it in the looks they exchange and in my interactions with my neighbours," he said.
Source : DNA