This Article is From Jul 03, 2009

Shattered by violence, united in grief

Shattered by violence, united in grief
Udaigiri:

There were fresh clashes on Thursday night at Udaigiri in Mysore in Karnataka where three people died in communal violence. Two people were stabbed overnight - they are now recovering in hospital.

Police have clamped prohibitory orders and special forces have been called in. But as the police try to bring the situation under control, the grief of families who lost those whom they loved is overpowering.

They may belong to different religions, but in their grief they are similar. Two women whose lives were shattered by one riot on a Thursday morning; Janakamma lost her husband, and Tirupathi and Munzira Banu, her only son 14-year-old Junaid Pasha, to communal clashes.

"They killed my son. You only have to give me justice," says Munzira Banu.

"Right before my eyes they pushed my husband into the drain and threw a huge stone on him," recalls Janakamma.

An incident in a mosque and the mob fury that followed left three dead, many stabbed and communities further divided in riot prone Udaigiri.

"Both Muslims and Hindus have been living harmoniously here for decades. It's only of late that they are being divided by political and religious forces, and extreme religious forces," says Dr Lakshminarayan, State Secretary, PUCL and human rights activist.

So, what is common between Tirupathi, the construction worker and young Junaid Pasha? Both were poor people trying to make a living and both lost their lives for no fault of theirs.

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