Gujarat Muslims fear Hindu backlash after bombings

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

AHMEDABAD, India (AFP) — With the city of Ahmedabad hit by blasts claimed by a little-known Islamist group, the spectre of a fresh outbreak of communal violence or revenge attacks on Muslims is at the forefront of concerns.

After serial bombings killed dozens of people Muslim housewife Tahira Bi hopes history will not repeat itself in India's western state of Gujarat, where memories of Hindu rage are still fresh.

"I first saw Hindu-Muslim riots when I was 10 years old. Then again in 2002. I have no fear any more," Bi said at her home in the communally-sensitive Naroda-Patiya residential area, where many Muslims were killed in riots six years ago.

"How long are we going to live scared and running, like cats and dogs? What has to happen will happen, but we...