What led to the fresh violence in Muzaffarnagar

Muzaffarnagar: Aas Mohammad, 28, from Mohammadpur Raisingh village is living along with a dozen other members of his family at a school in the neighbouring village of Hussainpur Kalan in western Uttar Pradesh for two months now. Ever since one person died in his village last month during the communal clashes in Muzaffarnagar, where nearly 50 people were killed, the farmer shifted his base.

Mohammadpur Raisingh is a Jat-dominated village and around a hundred Muslims from the area have taken shelter in Hussainpur Kalan since the clashes in September.  Though there was relative calm in the area, Aas Mohammad did not return.

Matters took a turn for the worse on Wednesday when three Muslims from Hussainpur were killed by villagers from Mohammadpur. Aas Mohammad now says the flicker of hope has also now died.

"I have left my land, my house, everything behind. I cannot even go to my field to work. Few Times that I went, there was firing. The Jat villagers even accused me of firing at them and have registered a false case," he said.

This recent case of firing that Aas Mohammad is accused of has further strained ties between the two villages, which are barely 3 kms away from each other.

An arrangement was made mid-October between the two villages - farmers from Mohammadpur Raisingh will work in their fields in the morning, and the displaced Muslim farmers, who have their fields in the same area, will work in the afternoon. But that rule was flouted on Wednesday.

Rajender from Mohammadpur went to work on his field in the evening, when he came across a group of men from Hussainpur. In the altercation that followed, three men from Hussainpur died. Rajender and seven others, from Mohammadpur, were arrested on charges of murdering them.

Post mortem report has shown that each victim received a bullet injury, besides injuries from sharp weapons. However, no guns have been recovered from the eight accused men. Police say the guns could be with the other seven accused men, who since Wednesday's violence, are absconding. The cops are awaiting a ballistics report which will reveal the type of gun that was used.

 
Villagers from Mohammadpur, who think the deaths were an encounter, and not communal clash, say they wanted to bring about a peace process to restore confidence among Muslims so that they can return. But both villages now agree that process has destabilised.

Virendra, a village elder from Mohammadpur says, " We tried to talk to the Muslims through the ADM. There was supposed to be a meeting on Sunday."

But those from Hussainpur giving refuge to Muslims from Mohammadpur say that now it seems near impossible. 

Shahnawaz, village chief of Hussainpur, says, "We had sheltered 2200 Muslims from several villages. Around a thousand have gone back to their villages as well. But a hundred odd people from Mohammadpur have been left behind. Now it seems difficult. People were already scared. Even we don't have the confidence to send them back now."

A public meeting was organized by khap leaders at Mohammadpur today and it was decided that they will talk to Muslim leaders at a meeting on November 6 to repair the ties between the Jats and Muslims in Muzaffarnagar, who seem to be caught in a cycle of violence.