Click to play videoAhemdabad: It's nearly 10 years since the Godhra riots took place and while the probe has taken several twists and turns, the big question remains - have the victims moved on?
Aashka Bagwan was two months old when her father Jamil was shot dead by the police during the 2002 riot. Today it's not revenge or a quest for justice that drives ten year old Aashka's life. Instead it's a quest for education. Aashka dreams of becoming a doctor. "I like my school very much and I want to study and be a doctor," she says.
Her mother Frazana has moved on from the tragedy of 2002 which left her widowed. Initially she was filled with rage but that anger has been channeled to fuel her mission in life, to get Aashka and her three other children educated. "I just wish that my children get a good education and grow up to be respectable people," she says.
Thousands of poor Muslim families, the worst hit in the riots have turned to modern education as security in a tense environment. Literacy levels in the community has risen from 69 to 76 per cent in a decade and the number of charitable trusts running modern schools like this one has risen from 200 to 800.
Asif Pathan, Principal, Crescent School, says, "We have thought about the requirements of these children ten to fifteen years from now and are planning their education accordingly."
Activists say the drive for education is succesfull despite the state's apathy to providing schools in Muslim ghettos like Ahmedabad's Jhuapura. There are only 3 government run schools and it's the 24 charitable schools that fuel modern education.
Hanif Lakdawala, social activist, says, "The government is doing precious little for the community, it has taken upon itself the responsibility. It has raised its own resources. In a way, it has thrown back a challenge at the communal forces, saying you cannot destroy us."
While on one hand, the community's thrust for quality modern education is paying huge dividends. It's also ensuring that radical elements are kept away from the mainstream.
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