JUST over a month after Kamal Ansari was arrested in connection with the Mumbai blasts, it’s clear that Basopatti market has changed forever. Not only for Shahidunnisa, Ansari’s 50-year-old widowed mother, but for all the Muslim families who have lived here for as long as they care to remember.

“The looks we get from the Hindus are scary, their comments are provocative,” says Mohammad Zahir, Ansari’s neighbour. “Some, who mingled freely with us, now say things like Muslims can never be faithful to the country.”

Investigating agencies are reported to have got little out of Ansari, but for this village, the act of arrest was enough. Ramchandra Sahu, a young shopkeeper, responds immediately when this reporter seeks directions. “Woh jo atankwadi yahan se pakraya (The terrorist who was arrested from here)?” he asks, and then proceeds to trot out all kinds of tales about Ansari’s “links” with Pakistani terrorists.

For the five Muslim families who live in Basopatti, it is this readiness to condemn that is the most frightening. “We are completely outnumbered here. Should something happen, we will be wiped out,” whispers Shahidunnisa.

The fear factor extends beyond the village, into the region bordering Nepal, where the Muslim population is substantial. In Malmal, eight km from Basopatti, it is accentuated by the memory of the arrest of Khalid Sheikh.

Sheikh was picked up by the Mumbai police’s Anti-Terrorist Squad the same day as Ansari. Now Muslim-dominated Malmal wonders if the association will work against its sons, who commonly move to Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad in search of jobs as labour.

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