Naseeb Mohammad Shaikh did not allow her incalculable personal loss and grief to overwhelm her social conscience-if she lost her family to the 2002 Gujarat riots, so did thousands of others.

Naseeb Mohammad Shaikh lost 11 members of the family she had married into, and 14 members of her parents' families during the 2002 Gujarat riots. Since then, she has been a prime initiator of peace and communal harmony, leading the fight for rights for the minority communities in and around Gujarat's Kalol region. At last count, she was fighting 37 cases of atrocities, including ones by the police.

Naseeb Mohammad Shaikh is from a well-off Muslim landowning family whose life was torn asunder by the 2002 Gujarat communal riot: 11 members of the family she had married into and 14 members of her parents' families were slaughtered. Her daughter was brutally raped in front of her relatives before being killed. Naseeb, who escaped death, was left with her son and social ostracism, and has since lived in a rehabilitation colony in Kalol. Soon after the event, Naseeb joined the social organization Sewa for six months, during which time she traveled around villages in the vicinity to work with riot-affected women and children. Finding nothing constructive coming out of her efforts, she then joined Aman Samuday, an organization propelling people toward peace and communal harmony. Moving from village to village, Naseeb spread the message of peace, justice, communal harmony, and a common humanity. Of significance was her campaign against a local Muslim cleric who ran a relief camp: Naseeb mobilized a small army of women to rally against him and demand their rights. She has since then campaigned for the rights of Dalits in nearby villages, and of other minority communities through her peace committee initiative. At last count, she was fighting 37 cases of atrocities, including ones by the police. She is a regular at forums that discuss injustices relating to the 2002 Godhra conflagration. Naseeb recently participated in an international peace conference in New Delhi, where she spoke on the violation of the human rights of marginalized societies in the villages of Gujarat.

Aman Samuday