Voices from Pandarava village, Panchmahal district: one of the worst atrocities reported is from the village of Pandarava, where according to some reports 100 people were killed. The official figure is 21. There was no way to confirm the number. But the delegation met the survivors... in the Civil Hospital, Godhra. From their accounts it would appear that a mob of adivasis were trucked in by the sarpanch of the village. They surrounded Muslim houses, burnt and attacked the inhabitants. There was Sakina Bibi Sayyad, who looked about 65... She had sword wounds on her breasts, both hands and neck. She was cut up by the attackers when she was trying to save her sons... She knew nothing of the fate of her five sons and three daughters whom others fear dead . Yusufbhai from the same village was lying on his hospital bed with his small children, unable to speak. The mob that attacked their houses pushed an iron rod into his mouth.... His wound is still bleeding... Fatima Bibi Shaikh and Fatima Bibi, wife of Irshad, also from the same village are both in the hospital with severe injuries caused by cuts from swords. They too were trying to save their husbands. The latter's husband was killed. Zohra saw her husband Ayub and mother-in-law Amina killed before her eyes. I tried to save them, she cries, holding out her arm broken in several places by Thakeras and the sarpanch, Jaswant Patel. A child Moin, just 5 years old, barely escaped being killed lies injured in the hospital. The people from the village who were in the hospital, looking after their injured family members, told us that they were attacked in their homes by many villagers, including Thakeras. Some of them escaped and spent the night in the fields. They returned to the village in the morning and found more than a hundred homes had been burnt and they fear that nearly a hundred people may have been killed... From the testimonies of the survivors, the violence in the villages seem to have followed the same pattern. Some people in the village, along with outsiders who came in trucks, attacked all Muslim houses. In many of the areas, those trucked in were adivasis. The survivors could not understand the involvement of adivasis. We have never had any tension with them earlier, they said. In the camp, Mohommad Ishtiaq from Mora village told us that there are 115 Muslim and 500 Hindu houses in his village. He said that on March 1 after the namaaz, a crowd of a hundred or so, of whom about 50 were from the village, attacked them but they were able to offer some resistance and they went away. At 8 pm a much bigger crowd came and burnt 23 houses. An hour later, the deputy superintendent of police came to the village. They begged him for help but he left. Nor did he send the police. As a result the village faced two more attacks; one at 2 in the morning and again the next day. This was when the delegation heard of the use of explosives. 'They used something which blew up our houses.' They said, 'You should be happy that we are only burning your houses.' Trucks, shops and agricultural implements belonging to the Muslims were destroyed. About 250 of them took shelter in the masjid and another 116 in Haji Ishaq's house. Two thirds were women and children. They were all brought to the camp by the Border Security Force. This testimony gave an indication that the attacks were also geared towards wiping out all traces of Muslim property so that it could more easily be occupied. We also met Ghani Bhai from the same village at the camp. He said that on the evening of March 27, he was in Limkheda where some attacks were made. His motor-cycle was burnt but he was able to go back to his village. At 2 am, about 70 houses in his village were burnt. The next day, the burning started at 8 am and continued all day till 10 pm. All the inhabitants tried to escape. Some found shelter with Bijalbhai Damor. B and her family were also there he said. The taluka panchayat sarpanch, Lallubhai Parmar, sheltered another 80 people who were brought safely to the camp. Clearly, unlike many of the local politicians who either led the mobs or remained silent, these two leaders played an important role in saving the victims. to be concluded