By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,
Patna: Saddened with the sudden rise in communal violence across the country – Gujarat, Maharashtra, Assam, Orissa – some Muslim youths in Godhra get together and decide to set out on a cycle journey to Ajmer to pray for peace in their state and in the country.
Ironic but true that ambassadors of peace rose up in Godhra, the Gujarat city which witnessed burning of a train coach and its occupants on February 28, 2002 and thereafter the worst communal violence in the history of India wherein thousands of Muslims butchered across the state.
But now with this peace rally, people who have some hope from Indian secularism and its cultural pluralism have got more reasons to remain hopeful. None could have imagined that a peace rally will proceed from Godhra. Nothing but only the mystery of secularism can describe this enigmatic and ironical phenomenon.
Ambassadors of peace from Godhra
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi may not care to notice this love for peace but 13 Muslim boys from Godhra visited the Dargah of Sufi Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti in Ajmer to pray for peace and communal harmony in Gujarat as well as in India.
When the youths talked to their parents about the idea of visiting the Dargah their parents welcomed it and encouraged them to embark this journey for peace.
TwoCircles.net talked to the team which was led by Asif Khan Inayat Khan Pathan.
Son of Inayat Khan Pathan, Godhra president of RJD, Asif Khan is a painting contractor by profession. He told TCN about the journey for peace.
“Hindustan aur Gujarat ki shanti aur aman ke liye hum gaye the Khwaja Ghareeb Nawaz ki choukhat per Dua mangne ke liye (we visited the Dargah of Khwaja Ghareeb Nawaz to pray for peace and communal harmony in Gujarat and India),” he said.
He further informed that he and his friends were quite disturbed by the recent eruption of communal riots in Gujarat and different parts of India. They came together and thought of achieving peace through the route of faith.
He recalled that the people in Godhra were quite enthusiastic and appreciative about the peace journey. C.K. Rao, the former MLA of Congress inaugurated their cycle journey.
CK Rao, ex Congress MLA, flagging off the peace journey
TCN asked about the hardships and pain the journey entailed.
“Indeed there were hardships and difficulties. In fact long journey by bicycle becomes a bit more difficult. It was painful for us to drive bicycle throughout the day. During the nights we used to have pain in our bodies,” he added.
“But every pain becomes easy to bear once one is enthusiastic about a task and believes in it,” chips in Saffan Saith, member of the team.
How did the people receive them on their way to Ajmer?
“Everyone welcomed us was. They were quite appreciative of our journey,” informed Syed Iqbal Hussain, another member of the 13-memeber team.
Whoever met them gave them lots of respect, and requested them to visit their homes. They invited them to dinner and offered them their homes to take rest in the night and asked them to pray for them also, he added.
It was after six days of traveling by bicycle that they reached Ajmer.
They stayed in Ajmer for three days. It was quite a wonderful experience for them. People belonging to different religion, caste and class were there, pointed out Sultan Chakda, a student of 12th Class.
They prayed for the peace and communal harmony in the state and India. They also prayed that every citizen of India live here peacefully with love and brotherhood.
“We prayed for peace in the state and India and we are quite hopeful that Khwaja Ghareeb Nawaz will fulfill our prayers as nobody has ever returned from his wishes being unfulfilled from Khwaja Ghareeb Nawaz” pointed out Saffan, the team member with much confidence and faith.
When they returned to Godhra they were welcomed again and people congratulated them on the successful journey.
Other members of the team were Sarfarz Pathan, Pathan Noushad Khan, Pathan Haseeb Khan, Farooq Chakda, Toufiq Mistri, Raqib Mistri, Altaf malik, Mahmood Patel and Pathan Mazhar Khan.
Hope their prayers are fulfilled because it is not only their prayer but that of whole India that the country remain peace and progressive.
[Photos courtsey to Ismail Zabha, a local journalist from Godhra]