By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: Today is the third Friday after the bloody Friday in New Delhi’s Jamia Nagar where a shootout claimed lives of two suspected terrorists and a Delhi police officer. To gauge the mood and feel the atmosphere today I visited the street which witnessed the encounter.
As soon as I entered the Batla House lane where is the spot of the encounter, I found a sense of gloom palpable in the atmosphere. Even three weeks after the event the air was heavy giving a clue that something unpleasant has happened there in the recent past.
The lane, half of which goes along the northern wall of the Khalilullah Masjid, is 12 feet wide and has some shops on either side, though basically it’s a residential area. There are a number of multi-storied buildings also.
While going through the lane I had a feeling like I was passing through a curfew-bound area as I saw very few people passing by me. Most of the shops in the lane which has now world famous or infamous House No. L-18 were closed. The densely populated lane once lively and shining was presenting a deserted look. Movement of people in the lane has come down drastically, for fear or somewhat, after the encounter which has now gained the importance of a national issue shaking the base of the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre.
It was on September 19 when the Special Cell sleuths of the Delhi Police successfully gunned down Atif (24) and Sajid (17) whom the police first described as the suspected terrorists and later as the masterminds of all serials blasts in the recent past in the country and Atif as the chief of shadowy terrorist organization Indian Mujahideen. The encounter also claimed the life of Delhi Police Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma. As no bullet was found in Sharma’s body because he was shot from the close range, huge speculation and doubts were heaped by locals, intellectuals and human rights activists on the police version of the encounter. They said it was fake.
While a week ago people celebrated Eid peacefully but normalcy is still an illusion. It is yet to reach in full to the area, particularly to the lane. This was the first and last observation one can have while in the area.
People feel it safe to remain indoor, shops are not opening properly and some are closed since the day, says Rais, who works in an outlet of an electricity supplier company, pointing towards the closed shops. His outlet is a few feet from L-18.
When I neared the house I found half a dozen policemen sitting in the parking lot of the building while one sitting outside on the road. Fully sure of the failure I requested the policemen to allow me to have a look at the flat. They gave me the same reply which I have got at least four times since the day of the encounter. The policemen do not allow in anyone except those residing in the apartment.
As the police are still deployed at the house watching the public movement, Rais was not willing to talk much.
No one knows, not even the policemen, how long the situation will remain so.