HUB city`s Hindu locality in the lanes off Laasi Road is dark with fear.

Last week on Tuesday, Vijay, 24, a shopkeeper in Resham Gali, was accused of blasphemy by an enraged mob.

He was taken into police custody, presented before the sessions court and quietly sent to jail.

On that f ateful day, Vijay had received an offensive photograph in a WhatsApp group.

According to Chanda Ram, an elder of the community, the image came with a voice message replete with expletives for Hindus. It urged allrecipients to spread it far and wide to deter the circulation of odious content that could cause communal conflict.

`This was sent from Karachi to over 58 people in Lasbela, including Muslims. On impulse, [Vijay] forwarded it to another group on the message service,` rues Ram.

As one heard the message, the mission seemed as stark as this tragedya trap for uneducated minorities, and thereby hangs a tale.

The alacrity, shown by an incensed pack as it descended on his store, was unusual. `Within 30 minutes of the message, there was mayhem in the market; armed boys went wild.

As luck would have it, the boy had closed for the day and gone to a barber.

Another bereft senior, Krishna, elaborates that they did hunt Vijay down and began to bludgeon him with sticks and weapons.

He also speaks of one of the few incidents where mob execution was pulled to pieces.

`We are grateful that the police arrived in time. Amid tear gas and shelling, they took him away or he would be in shreds.

Krishna describes the scene as a snippet of the backlash witnessed after the demolition of Babri Masjid in India.

`There were some 1,000 people but hardly a 100 belonged to Hub. It was a horde of extortionists, miscreants and gangsters. Here, we have all lived as one for decades.

Ram adds that while SHO Attaullah Nomani, DSP Jan Mohammad Khoso and ADC Tariq Mengal did not escape the blows, a 13-year-old boy perished inthenerceexchange.

Hub spent the next day in nightly silence. In Vijay`s home, his young wife, two toddlers and siblings were distraught but oblivious to the aftermath of a blasphemy charge. They awoke to a dark future on Thursday morning. His elder brother returned to open their shop and seven boys turned up to pummel a physically impaired man. The landlord then cleared out all items to halt a hapless family`s sustenance.

Vijay`s small clan has since been moved to an undisclosed town.

Surprisingly, the community sees a hero in the new SHO, dubbed SHO Dabangg, who they claim is fearless and impartial.

`He has allocated security to all four Hindu and Sikh worship places and to our areas,` says Chanda Ram.

Butin person, the slender,inarticulate SHO Attaullah Nomani has little in common with his image.

`[Vijay] is in judicial remand as we found the offensive image in his mobile. There is no voice message with it. We are investigating the origin of the photo,` is his blankresponse.

He also believes that the affected f amily is still in Hub, and claims to be unaware of the assault on Vijay`s brother and of the shop`s closure.

Nomani expects a community deadened with fright to register a complaint.

When asked about future prospects of a routine life for the young family, he says `This is my first blasphemy case. I can`t say. The challan is under Sections 295-A and 295-C.

The Hindu community knows well that these sections and a lack of axiomatic evidence in blasphemy cases, repress legal aid. Lives are in the balance in jail and af ter acquittal.

As maintained by older residents of Hub, new settlers stirred recent clashes to dominate money-spinning centres. Incidentally, the majority of the mob reportedly comprised supporters of migrants.

The furore, however, was led by Saleem Shahzad Solangi, joint secretary of the PML-N youth wing, who, unmoved by Vijay`s pleas and explanation, went ahead with filing the FIR. At daybreak, Solangi took off for Jhal Magsi.

SHO Nomani denies the popular allegation of a migrant ascendancy and is noncommittal about Solangi`s political af filiation.

When informed that the Hindu community`s hopes for a fair settlement hinged on him, his reaction is saddening.

`I hope their praise doesn`t turn Muslims against me.

Conversely, police sources say that, if reported, the brutality inflicted on the victim`s brother and subsequent closure of his outlet can go a long way for Vijay. The incident can bring suspicions of a conspiracy into focus.

Both Krishna and Chanda Ram say that Solangi`s was the sole political influence. `Even Maulana Abdul Qadir Qasmi, president JUI-F, Lasbela district, has expressed immense support for us.

Cut to Resham Gali where Vijay was last seen. Far from silken, a dark, taut alley is saturated with sweat and fumes, unstirred by the calamity.

At the end of a gory week in Hub, the shutter on Vijay`s more spacious shop, near the market entrance, seemed like an allegory for his fate.

* Some names have been changed to protect identities