Interfaith solidarity on display as people mourn loss of their kin
Agencies
Gul Mohammad had a flourishing footwear business until masked men armed with crude petrol bombs burnt down his shops during Delhi's worst violence in decades, shattering the harmony between Hindus and Muslims in the neighbourhood.
The Hindu-majority neighbourhood of Ashok Nagar on the northeast fringes of India's capital was once held up as an example of how people from different religious backgrounds could live side-by-side peacefully.
Now, it is rife with suspicion as locals traumatised by the violence that has killed at least 38 people and injured many said they were struggling to come to terms with what happened.
The violence broke out after protests against a citizenship law that critics say is anti-Muslim descended into battles between Hindus and Muslims on Monday and Tuesday.
In the wake of the violence, stories emerged of people beaten, stabbed or shot to death by mobs, but also of Hindu neighbours who offered refuge to their Muslim friends.
Goat farmer Anwar Chotu, 58, was dragged out of his home in Shiv Vihar, shot dead and his body thrown into a fire by rioters, his brother Mohammad Chotu told AFP.
Waiting outside the morgue to collect his body, Mohammad Chotu said he managed to stay alive after fleeing to his Hindu neighbour's home with his wife and five children.
"They gave us refuge and protected us even after some of the attackers banged on their door to check if they were hiding us," he said.
Bilkis, a mother-of-seven whose house in Ashok Nagar was also destroyed during the rampage, said her Hindu neighbours took in her family as she blamed outsiders for the mayhem.
"They (Hindu neighbours) gave us buckets of water to douse the fire. They also offered us tea," said Bilkis, who uses only one name.
Muslim residents of Ashok Nagar -- a poor, working-class neighbourhood crisscrossed by narrow alleys and open sewers -- said they had always felt welcomed.
But overwhelmed by grief over losing their homes and livelihoods, and believing they were targeted by mobs, some said they didn't know if they could trust their neighbours again.
"Our (Hindu) neighbours really tried to help us a lot. But at times like this, our faith gets shaken. We never ever imagined that something like this will ever happen," Mohammad Saleem told AFP.
Outside the morgue on Wednesday, Hindu and Muslim families waiting for the bodies of their loved ones to be released were united by one emotion -- grief.
There, Rohit Solanki was waiting for his brother's body, Rahul. He was shot in the neck on Monday evening as he left his home to go shopping.
The younger Solanki said that he has been living in Mustafabad, a Muslim-dominated area, all his life and also said he had never experienced any animosity between the Hindu and Muslim communities.
As Rahul's body was brought out on the stretcher from the mortuary, four of his friends in their 20s, including two women, broke down. They were inconsolable.
One, Mohammad Shahbaz Alam, cried and hugged his friend, Vikas, over the loss of Solanki.
"We were not just colleagues. We all were a family," Alam told Al Jazeera.
"In this Hindu-Muslim politics, we both lost a brother in Rahul [Solanki]," said Vikas, as tears rolled down his face.
"Nothing can be achieved through violence. It is just senseless and no-one is a winner here," Vinod Kumar, whose uncle Vir Bhan was shot dead during clashes on Monday, told AFP.
Agencies
Gul Mohammad had a flourishing footwear business until masked men armed with crude petrol bombs burnt down his shops during Delhi's worst violence in decades, shattering the harmony between Hindus and Muslims in the neighbourhood.
The Hindu-majority neighbourhood of Ashok Nagar on the northeast fringes of India's capital was once held up as an example of how people from different religious backgrounds could live side-by-side peacefully.
Now, it is rife with suspicion as locals traumatised by the violence that has killed at least 38 people and injured many said they were struggling to come to terms with what happened.
The violence broke out after protests against a citizenship law that critics say is anti-Muslim descended into battles between Hindus and Muslims on Monday and Tuesday.
In the wake of the violence, stories emerged of people beaten, stabbed or shot to death by mobs, but also of Hindu neighbours who offered refuge to their Muslim friends.
Goat farmer Anwar Chotu, 58, was dragged out of his home in Shiv Vihar, shot dead and his body thrown into a fire by rioters, his brother Mohammad Chotu told AFP.
Waiting outside the morgue to collect his body, Mohammad Chotu said he managed to stay alive after fleeing to his Hindu neighbour's home with his wife and five children.
"They gave us refuge and protected us even after some of the attackers banged on their door to check if they were hiding us," he said.
Bilkis, a mother-of-seven whose house in Ashok Nagar was also destroyed during the rampage, said her Hindu neighbours took in her family as she blamed outsiders for the mayhem.
"They (Hindu neighbours) gave us buckets of water to douse the fire. They also offered us tea," said Bilkis, who uses only one name.
Muslim residents of Ashok Nagar -- a poor, working-class neighbourhood crisscrossed by narrow alleys and open sewers -- said they had always felt welcomed.
But overwhelmed by grief over losing their homes and livelihoods, and believing they were targeted by mobs, some said they didn't know if they could trust their neighbours again.
"Our (Hindu) neighbours really tried to help us a lot. But at times like this, our faith gets shaken. We never ever imagined that something like this will ever happen," Mohammad Saleem told AFP.
Outside the morgue on Wednesday, Hindu and Muslim families waiting for the bodies of their loved ones to be released were united by one emotion -- grief.
There, Rohit Solanki was waiting for his brother's body, Rahul. He was shot in the neck on Monday evening as he left his home to go shopping.
The younger Solanki said that he has been living in Mustafabad, a Muslim-dominated area, all his life and also said he had never experienced any animosity between the Hindu and Muslim communities.
As Rahul's body was brought out on the stretcher from the mortuary, four of his friends in their 20s, including two women, broke down. They were inconsolable.
One, Mohammad Shahbaz Alam, cried and hugged his friend, Vikas, over the loss of Solanki.
"We were not just colleagues. We all were a family," Alam told Al Jazeera.
"In this Hindu-Muslim politics, we both lost a brother in Rahul [Solanki]," said Vikas, as tears rolled down his face.
"Nothing can be achieved through violence. It is just senseless and no-one is a winner here," Vinod Kumar, whose uncle Vir Bhan was shot dead during clashes on Monday, told AFP.