Nearly two weeks after multiple shops were vandalised and looted by a mob in Panipat on August 6 as violence in Nuh district spread to other parts of Haryana, several of the affected Muslim shop owners are struggling to make ends meet and even considering other livelihood options.
Mohd. Nihal, whose meat shop has remained closed since August 6, feels it’s time to look for a different job. “The meat business does not feel safe any more,” he said. He has been working as a daily wager to keep food on the plate for his family of three, but says most contractors don’t want to hire Muslims against the backdrop of several sarpanches issuing a call. “If communal violence doesn’t kill us today, the economic boycott will,” he said.
For Razi Ahmad, 18, from whose shop at Krishna Garden ₹50,000 was looted and biryani thrown on the street, has been finding it difficult to repay the loan taken to build the shop again.
Some such as Mohammad Ahtasham found courage to reopen after area residents assured safety. Held by the collar and forced by the mob to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’, the biryani seller was looted of ₹70,000. According to SP Panipat Ajit Singh Shekhawat, 15 people were rounded up earlier, of whom eight have been arrested.