MANDI/SHIMLA :
HINDU groups held a protest
march in Himachal Pradesh’s
Mandi on Friday demanding
the demolition of an unauthorised portion of a mosque
in the town and tried to force
their way towards the structure, forcing police to use water
cannons to control the situation.
In Mandi, raising slogans of
“Jai Shri Ram”, the protesters
initially held a march in the
Mandi market area and sat on
a dharna at Seri manch. Later,
they made attempts to proceed
towards the mosque but were
stopped by police, who used
water cannons to disperse
them.
The management committee of the Jail Road mosque in
Mandi was on Friday served a
notice by the Municipal
Corporation to remove the portion built on encroached land
within 30 days. According to the
notice, the mosque stands on
232 sq m of land while the
approval granted was just for
45 sq m.
This came a day after members of the Muslim community demolished an unauthorised
portion of the mosque on their
own. Members of the Muslim
community had on Thursday
demolished a portion of the
mosque in Mandi, saying it was a wall that was encroaching
on Government land.
Police, meanwhile, have
gathered call details records
of people who instigated
Wednesday’s protest in
Shimlatodemolishanunauthorisedportionofamosque
at Sanjauli. On Wednesday,
sixpolicepersonnelandfour
protestorswereinjuredafter
policebatonchargedtheagitators and used water cannons when they broke the
barricades and reached the
vicinity of the mosque. CM
Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu
appealedtothepeopleofthe
State to maintain peace and
brotherhood.
“I appeal to everyone to
maintain peace and make
no provocative statements.
Noone is allowed to take the
law into their hands. We
respect everyone. The land
ofHimachalrespectsallreligions,” Sukhu said after an
all-party meeting in Shimla.
The protests in Mandi
came just two days after
Shimla saw protesters gathered on a call by Hindu
groups clashing with security personnel during a
demonstration to press for
the demolition of an illegal
portionofthemosqueinthe
Sanjauli area. Protests by
Hindugroupsagainstthedisputed structure in the
SanjaulimosquekeptShimla
on the boil since last week.
But ades and pelting stones
aspoliceusedwatercannons
andbatons todispersethem
somethingunheard of in the
cosmopolitan town. 8 FIRs
have been registered against
more than 50 people
involved in the protests in
Shimla, police said.