One of Delhi's oldest Sunday markets, called Chor Bazaar or Thieves Market, which has been in existence since Moghul times behind the historical Red Fort, has been closed due to security reasons. The result - a couple of thousand people in the Indian capital are now unemployed.

Like the walled city, the weekly bazaar was steeped in history. It came into existence during the reign of one of the last Moghul rulers.

The bazaar was a veritable treasure trove where you could find almost everything from a needle to a second hand computer. And most things were sold at rates far below the market rate.

Shut down since August after Lieutenant Governor of Delhi State ordered its closure, the area, vacated by the hawkers, has since been fortified with a stone wall and is being developed into a theme park for the children.

The bazaar, due to its strategic location and bustling crowd of buyers and hawkers, was feared to have become a security threat to the Red Fort. Its displacement was under consideration since the fort was raided by a group of terrorists from the Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant outfit from Jammu and Kashmir, earlier this year.

The terrorists had escaped after jumping from a broken wall of the fort. They had shot dead about five people including some army personnel before they made their escape.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (North District) Sanjay Beniwal, however, attributed the winding up of the bazaar to the development of the park.

"Primarily it has been done to develop the theme park," he said adding that it was 'unrealistic' to connect it with the shootout. Beniwal told Gulf News that the government was planning to give alternative place to the displaced hawkers.

But a union of the bazaar's hawkers, the Old Edward Park Association, claimed they had heard nothing about a new venue. The Association's General Secretary, Ashwini Sharma has challenged the hawkers' displacement in Delhi High Court.

According to him, the court recently asked the Lieutenant Governor and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Commissioner to look into the hawkers' grievances.

The bazaar had 1,167 licensed, with at least a half of it illegal, hawkers operating from the open space behind the Red Fort. Almost all of them traded in second-hand or used consumer goods.

This was the reason why the bazaar was also known as the poor man's market. From old clothes to second-hand tyres to weightlifting instruments to carpets – almost everything was available cheap, if you could bargain.

The closure of the bazaar has caused distress to the hawkers and their consumers. Mohammed Shirazuddin, a carpet dealer, complained that the local police constables had become brutal with them after the LG ordered the closure.