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Hindus adopt Muslim children orphaned in Gujarat violence
IANS
SURAT: Five-year-old Yunus does not yet understand what the tinkling of bells along with chanting of hymns in his new home is all about.
For him, morning began with his father Yasin Qureshi saying the ‘namaz’ prayer. That was until the communal rage in Gujarat changed his life forever.
Orphaned in the sectarian violence early this year, Yunus is one of the Muslim child survivors absorbed into a new home. And what is heartening in a state trying to piece together its shattered social fabric is that his adopted father is Bipin Shah, a Hindu cloth merchant.
Shah knows well that keeping a Muslim child in his house could invite trouble, especially from the fanatical fringe in Hindu society. But he is determined to bridge the divide and end the distrust that the February-May violence created in the state.
Madness gripped Gujarat in February-end following the torching of a train in the town of Godhra, about 180 km from state capital Gandhinagar, in which 58 passengers were killed, several among them activists of the hardline Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). The violence that erupted in its wake claimed at least 1,000 lives, mostly Muslim.
“I feel deeply pained for those killed in the violence. Though it is difficult to make up for the losses they suffered during the violence, I feel we members of the majority (Hindu) community owe a lot to them,” Shah told IANS in this diamond city.
The problem of orphaned children emerged in the aftermath of the carnage when NGOs began trying to provide the survivors succour and to rehabilitate them.
The Gujarat Public Welfare Committee (GPWC) and Gujarat Islami Relief Committee (IRC) set up temporary shelters for orphans.
“Initially we sheltered about 500 children orphaned in the violence. But later they were absorbed by their relatives,” said Afzal Memon, a member of the GPWC.
According to Memon, within a few months of violence most children were taken care of by other Muslim families or their relatives.
“But there were several children who had nowhere to go since their entire families were wiped out in the violence,” said IRC member Haji Umar Memon.
These children were mostly from Unjha town of Mehsana district and Dewgarh Baria in Panchmahals district and were aged between five and 12. Muslim philanthropists took many under their wing, but 12 children found a place in Hindu homes in Surat.
When Shah came to know about children who had lost their parents and relatives, he discussed the matter with his industrialist and merchant friends. They decided that each of them would adopt a child.
“I adopted Yunus with the precondition that his religious identity should remain intact. I wanted to show the religious bigots that a child belonging to a different faith could be brought up by a person from another faith,” said Shah.
He has decided to send Yunus to school and also to a ‘madrassa’, or Islamic seminary, so he can learn about his faith and maintain his religious identity.
Shah’s friends Suresh Thakkar, Vishvesh Patel, Sandeep Patel, Surendrabhai Parmar, Girish Dave and Vishnu Desai, all diamond merchants and jewellers, also decided to adopt a Muslim child each.
The new parents have a delicate task on their hands as the deep emotional wounds the violence inflicted on their adopted children have not even begun to heal.
Six months since the madness ebbed, Yunus is still traumatised.
“He cannot think of his religious identity, let alone his childhood. I want to take him to a child psychologist and have him treated,” said a worried Shah.
Hindus adopt Muslim orphan children
