In The Heart Of Hate

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Elsewhere in Ahmadabad, Congress Party politician Ahsan Jafri gave shelter to fellow Muslims in his home, part of a 16-house Muslim colony. When the mob came, Jafri fired his revolver, injuring a few attackers. Furious, the crowd tore into the colony, dragging out the residents and setting them ablaze. Jafri and his family died. In the Hindu mob was a schoolboy, Roshan, 12. From a safe distance, he claimed, he saw Jafri's daughters being stripped and raped. He sounded frightened but admiring. When he grew up, would he do that? "Maybe not rape," he said thoughtfully, "but I would kill Muslims when they have to be punished."

Prime Minister Vajpayee has since announced that in the future pilgrims will be stopped from reaching Ayodhya and workers banned from erecting a new temple there. Hindu extremists vowed that they were undeterred. In Ahmadabad, 1,300 Indian soldiers patrolled uneasy streets. The Muslim girl Afsana awoke in a hospital, with burns so severe she could not lie on her back. "Where will I go now?" she asked. "I had such a big family, and all of them are dead. I just wish I had someone to live for."