Mohammad Ashraf is headed back. His dream of finding a home away from the violence of Kashmir lasted just three days. Now bearing one uncle injured in the blast at Gaffar Market, Karol Bagh, and carrying the body of another, the 21-year-old is returning to Anantnag.

However, if his dream lies shattered among the debris of Gaffar Market, what stands strong is a 10-year-old faith born in these very bylanes. The Rs 25,000 required for the rickshawpuller to make his way back home have been put together by the Beadonpura Handloom Traders’ Association. His uncles transported goods for handloom traders, and they have been by Ashraf’s side since the blast.

It was 10 years ago that Ashraf’s maternal uncles Farooq, then 27, and Narim, 35, came to Delhi to earn a living. They became rickshawpullers at Beadonpura. It was only three days ago that Ashraf joined them. Now, Narim is dead and Farooq is in the surgery ward of Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.

The Kashmiris form a crucial backbone at Gaffar Market, and for the traders of Beadonpura, words like Hindu-Muslim violence or the clashes over Amarnath mean nothing.

“These men have been working with us for 10 years and we had absolute faith in them. We have never thought about their religion,” says Praveen Gupta of Mahajan traders. “The fact that we gave these men our goods worth thousands of rupees speaks for itself. They are one of us,” says Hemant Punyani of Swastik Emporium.

Gupta and Punyani were with Ashraf all morning at the Lady Hardinge Medical College mortuary, where Narim’s body is kept.

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