The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Mecca Masjid blast: horror still haunts the bereaved

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Thursday, May 15, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Mecca Masjid blast: horror still haunts the bereaved

J.S. Ifthekhar

As the first death anniversary draws near, kin of the victims struggle hard to erase memories

-PHOTO: K. RAMESH BABU

Terror-struck: The bereaved family members of the blast victims at Mohajireen basti behind the Mecca Masjid.

HYDERABAD: Nothing dries sooner than a tear, but the unseen scars still bleed. A year after tragedy struck, they are yet to pick up the threads of life. The whole thing runs like a videotape of horror in their minds. Blood-spattered bodies, benumbed crowds, wailing sirens of ambulances. And their own dear ones among the victims.

Riyaz Khan shudders to recall the tragic events of May 18 last year when his father, Yousuf Khan and his uncle, Shafeeq-ur-Rehman, died in the powerful blast in Mecca Masjid. They lived at the Mohajireen basti behind the mosque and had gone there to offer the Friday prayers. In fact they were already in a sombre mood as they carried the body of their close relative, Rehman Khan, to the mosque to offer ‘Namaz-e-Janaza’. But little did they know that their own funeral prayers would be offered soon.

“I was sitting inside the mosque and didn’t know what happened. After hearing the commotion as I came out I saw my father lying in a pool of blood. His left side was severely burnt and the eye ball had popped out”, recalls Riyaz Khan – tears welling up in his eyes.

As the first death anniversary draws near, there is a pall of gloom in their one room tenements in Mohajireen basti. It all seems just like yesterday.

The two bread earners gone, it had been a year of agony for them. They barely managed to subsist on the ex gratia given by the government. Though a job was promised, it was only two months ago that Shafeeq-ur-Rehman’s wife, Mehrunnisa got a sweeper’s job in the Government Maternity Hospital at Nayapul.

“I can’t explain how I struggled to bring up my two children,” sobs the young widow. She lives with her widowed sister, Zaibunnisa, in a tiny room. The latter makes lacquered bangles to supplement the income.

Riyaz Khan too has got an attender’s job at ITI Mallepally. During his spare time he does zari embroidery work along with his younger brothers to add-on to his salary. Have they been able to overcome the grief?

“No way. Every time I enter the Mecca Masjid the tragic event comes flooding back”, says Khan.

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