Lucknow: The love and care showered by the residents of Lucknow on the Kashmiri dry fruit seller Abdul Salaam has restored the faith that there is no place of hatred in the city.
After being thrashed by the goons of a self-proclaimed religious and patriotic outfit of history sheeters, Abdul Salaam, the 29 years old dry fruit seller has been receiving love and warmth from all corners of the society.
Salaam, who is the father of two children, said that he still has pain in the head owing to the beatings by the saffron clad men on Wednesday, March 6, but he holds nothing in his heart after entire Lucknow came to help him.
“I would like to thank Seema ji who visited me first and consoled me. She assured me that we Kashmiris are safe in the city and no one will be able to harm us now,” he said.
Looking at his six months old child Umar, Salaam said that there is a lot power in love. He said, “After being beaten the only thing that revolved in my mind was that there is no place for Kashmiris in the world but I was wrong. Lucknow is a second home for us now and every person of this city is treating me as their own family member. This incident will not stop me from coming to Lucknow and I will come here every year. I am also going to increase my stay here in the city for one more month.”
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“When she came to know about the unfortunate incident, my wife wanted us to leave Lucknow immediately. But she was stopped by our landlady who made sure that we are safe in the house we have rented. We were left with no money, but our neighbours came forward to ensure that everything is available for us. People of Lucknow also crowdfunded for us. Many people came forward with donations and one of them even gave me Rs 10,000 without telling her name. I have been able to sell more dry fruits after this incident,” he said.
“Allah ne jo bhi kiya accha kiya. Har baat ke peeche kuch na kuch accha hota hai. Ye ghatna nahi durghatna thi aur mai ise bhool chuka hu. Thoda sa dar biwi ke dil me hai lekin wo bhi khatam ho jayega. (Whatever God has done is for the good. Everything that happens has a reason behind it. This was not any other incident but a mishap. I have forgotten about it now. My wife is still scared but that will pass too),” Salaam said.
Salaam further added that he has been coming to Lucknow with his brother since he was just 16 years old and this was the first time, that he or any Kashmiri was attacked in Lucknow in the name of being Kashmiri.
He said, “We never saw Kashmir as a safe land. There is beauty but that comes with a threat to life. I have now found that Lucknow is the safest place on Earth.”
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Seema Rana, the district general secretary of All India Democratic Women Association (AIDWA) said that it is the duty of every Indian to protect Kashmiri people from getting beaten or assaulted or harassed.
“People should understand that Kashmir is an integral part of India and it is our responsibility to protect our fellow countrymen. In solidarity with these people (victims), we called them to our event on the International Women’s Day and urged everyone to buy products from them. This proved a successful attempt to bring them back to life again,” she said.
Salaam, Naik Mustaq and other Kashmiri street vendors like them are now back to selling their products at the same place where they were subjected to assault following the Pulwama terror attack on CRPF convoy in which at least 40 personnel were killed.
Due to the swift action of the police, all the accused were arrested and sent to jail. The district administration has given Salaam a financial aid of Rs 20,000 for medical treatment and to help him start his business again.
