Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh is on edge, after the police revealed that the alleged terrorists in Friday's encounter were from there. The terror accusations have affected the lives of both Muslim and non-Muslim students in the area.
Sudan Chauhan has got mail, and money from his labourer son in Dubai. Everyday such money keeps the hearth going in almost every home in Azamgarh.
Against popular belief, more Hindus than Muslims are out working as migrant labourers. The number runs into lakhs. That brings in nearly 25 crores every month.
Iqbal Ahmed was 13 when he left Sanjarpur for Singapore. "There was nothing here. People went out, earned and that helped people study. Go to Malaysia, Cambodia or Vietnam, you will find somebody from Azamgarh."
The exodus started nearly 100 years ago. Girmitia labourers went to Surinam and the Malay islands. Post independence Bombay became the hot destination. Some from here took to crime and started recruiting from Azamgarh. Azamgarh started figuring in national crime records.
The pace of migration was and is triggered by lack of opportunities. There are no hospitals and professional training institutes in Azamgarh. Of the 200-odd educational institutions, most are madarsas, and there's just one proper college.
So, students head for big cities, for computer and English-speaking courses -- just like Saif who was arrested in Delhi last week for alleged terror links.
Shahdab, Saif's father, says: "If my son is guilty, I will not forgive him."
Nearly 10-lakh men in Azamgarh have no jobs. The zari trade is dying. Crime offers an escape route. So over the years, Azamgarh ignored its tag of town-of-bad boys.
Now, some of its young men figure as terror suspects. Old men with wise eyes admit that a not so progressive interpretation of the religion, and Godhra, Babri Masjid, India's proximity to the US are pushing some to radicalism. Boys are angry and they feel isolated.
Salman Sultan, a reader in local Shibli College, says: There is a problem. Like, boys were made to stage protest marches against the cartoonist who showed dishonor to Prophet Mohammed."
To add to the burden of life, vested interests bring in videotapes of Osama's speeches, Gujarat riots, inciting pamphlets -- raising the feeling of persecution.
Suleman Haider, a resident, adds: "If Government does all this, won't terrorism be on a rise?"
Sudan Chauhan has got mail, and money from his labourer son in Dubai. Everyday such money keeps the hearth going in almost every home in Azamgarh.
Against popular belief, more Hindus than Muslims are out working as migrant labourers. The number runs into lakhs. That brings in nearly 25 crores every month.
Iqbal Ahmed was 13 when he left Sanjarpur for Singapore. "There was nothing here. People went out, earned and that helped people study. Go to Malaysia, Cambodia or Vietnam, you will find somebody from Azamgarh."
The exodus started nearly 100 years ago. Girmitia labourers went to Surinam and the Malay islands. Post independence Bombay became the hot destination. Some from here took to crime and started recruiting from Azamgarh. Azamgarh started figuring in national crime records.
The pace of migration was and is triggered by lack of opportunities. There are no hospitals and professional training institutes in Azamgarh. Of the 200-odd educational institutions, most are madarsas, and there's just one proper college.
So, students head for big cities, for computer and English-speaking courses -- just like Saif who was arrested in Delhi last week for alleged terror links.
Shahdab, Saif's father, says: "If my son is guilty, I will not forgive him."
Nearly 10-lakh men in Azamgarh have no jobs. The zari trade is dying. Crime offers an escape route. So over the years, Azamgarh ignored its tag of town-of-bad boys.
Now, some of its young men figure as terror suspects. Old men with wise eyes admit that a not so progressive interpretation of the religion, and Godhra, Babri Masjid, India's proximity to the US are pushing some to radicalism. Boys are angry and they feel isolated.
Salman Sultan, a reader in local Shibli College, says: There is a problem. Like, boys were made to stage protest marches against the cartoonist who showed dishonor to Prophet Mohammed."
To add to the burden of life, vested interests bring in videotapes of Osama's speeches, Gujarat riots, inciting pamphlets -- raising the feeling of persecution.
Suleman Haider, a resident, adds: "If Government does all this, won't terrorism be on a rise?"
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