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LIFE AFTER BLASTS

Inam Ahmed, From London

Britain at racial crossroads
Nilmoni Singh's experience in London is not counted among the 1,200. One warm night, while he was standing by the road waiting for a bus, a car slowed down, and somebody threw an ice cream on him, although it did not hit him. Before the car pulled away, the youngsters in it yelled: "Go back you Paki." Nilmoni, a Monipuri Bangladeshi, did not bother to report it to the police.
But Mohammad Mahmood's experience in Cambridge is recorded among the 1,200 race and faith hate incidents reported to the police since the 7/7 bombings. On the day of July 7, his neighbour, a white man, came out and started threatening him with dire consequences.
"He came to my shop and threw
abuses at me," said Mahmood, who runs a supermarket, Nasreen Dar on Histon Road. "He approached me in a threatening way. He might have hit me if I had not locked the door." Later, police arrested the white man.
Things like this have been happening, in ones or twos, in Britain since the day everything changed and the Asian and Muslim communities feel a deep sense of insecurity.
A new announcement yesterday by the transport police that they will target 'specific ethnic groups' in hunt for terrorists have further fuelled their anxiety. The race relationship in this country of multiculturalism today stands at a crossroad. Once the racists used to use "Paki" as an abuse, now they use "Muslim."
Asians say they feel uneasy while
travelling on the tube as they often find somebody giving a cold stare, an unlikely behaviour for London tube travellers, who would pull out a book and start reading to avoid eye contacts with others.
But then at Euston station yesterday, a white young man lent his hand to an old Pakistani woman trying to carry a trolley too heavy for her frail health. The man carried the trolley all the way outside the station, put it down and politely said: "Have a nice time, cheers," before walking away, carrying with him the strength of London.
But the Euston incident does not get circulated in the media. It is the news of abuses and attacks that get
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the attention, and the tension rises. Among the Asian communities, mainly Bangladeshis and Pakistanis, the news and rumours travel fast, sometimes taking inflated proportions.
"Just the other day, they pushed down a Musllim woman wearing a hizab from the bus," said Sadik Ali of Essex. "I have heard it."
Ripon buts in: "Near Finsbury Park, they tried to pull away the hizab of another woman."
At Brick Lane mosque, two policemen appeared the other afternoon. The rumour spread that police are blocking Muslims from religious gatherings. The fact: one group of Bangladeshis of the locality called the police fearing some resistance from the opponents in holding a meeting. This was completely a result ofinner'politics'.
"The other day, I was shopping at Romford Road," said Sadik of Red Bridge. "Suddenly a tall man with a long beard and in white robes appeared carrying a rucksack. At his sight, people just scampered away as if a cat has landed on a flock of pigeons. This is the situation now."
But then at Victoria station, two black-bearded men in robes and caps were travelling and the passengers, predominantly whites, kept their eyes turned away.
Aminul, another Bangladeshi, said he now takes extra care while getting in or down from the car. He does not want to be caught unprepared by any gang.
"I feel I have lost my confidence after the incidents," said Aminul. "I feel vulnerable. The other day, police cordoned off my area and I was taking home medicine for my sick daughter. I did not dare to ask the police officer to let me go. I feel I can be an easy target anytime both by police and terrorists."
The death of Jean Menezez, the Brazilian man at Stockwell station, has spread more fear among Asians.
"Why did they shoot eight shots at Jean when one shot was enough to kill him?" asked Muhibur. "One shot was enough to kill him. The remaining seven were hate bullets. Police are racists."
Moazzem is looking for a job and finds it extremely difficult. "People often tell me 'why you want to do a job here? Go back to your country'. Their body language has changed, I can feel."
The situation, as it unfolds, seems to be very disappointing for the Muslims here, the majority of whom feel that the London attacks were against Islam's teachings and they condemn them. A Guardian poll, which many Muslims don't subscribe to, showed that two-thirds of Muslims have considered going back to their countries of origin.
The Pakistani's reaction to the attacks is somewhat different; whenever they are asked to comment on the bombings, they get defensive.
"Is there any proof that these attacks were carried out by Pakistani born British?" asked a bearded Pakistan born Muslim after the Johr prayers at Madina Mosque at Cambridge. "It is only suspected that they did it, but not proven."
The conspiracy theory has taken a strong foothold among them. "It is a Jew plot to corner the Muslims in Europe," said Shakil Imam, a university student of Luton. "They want to divide Muslims into moderate and extremist blocks so that to get the favour of the West, everybody will turn a blind eye to the West's foreign policy."
And the Pakistanis feel insecure too and from that feeling they seem to be more withdrawn within their own shell.
But the identity of the bombers has another meaning for the Bangladeshis.
"We are lucky that so far no Bangladeshis have been found involved in the terrorist attack," said Syed Zakir of Luton. "Now we have to campaign vigorously that Bangladeshis are peace loving people."
David Tucker, superintendent of police of the National Tension Team of the Association of Chief Police Officer, said after 7/7 there had been a spike in
low level race crimes, which makes people scared.
"Such events will make the Muslims withdraw from the mainstream society and that will fulfil the aim of the terrorists," he told The Daily Star. "It's gonna take a long time to rebuild the confidence of everybody."
The situation is now giving rise to multi-dimensional reactions from different quarters. For example, Dr Charles Tannock, member of the European Parliament and a Tory influential member, likes to blame the whole problem of extremism on Britain multi-culturalism.
"Because of the politics of multiculturalism, the British people are not prepared to criticise extremism," he told The Daily Star. "Some people were unwilling to come down too hard on the extremists as they though it will hurt some communities."
On the contrary, many Bangladeshis feel that multiculturalism is Britain's main strength and they do not want to equate it with tolerating the extremists.
"The hate preachers have been sheltered here and the government did not take action against them despite their activities," said Shafiullah, a Londoner. "Who stopped them from doing it and now the government's policy has put the whole Asian community at risk. It is unacceptable."