Kumar Bahukhandi
Mandi /Shimla : Hindu groups held a protest march in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi on Friday September 13 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 September 13 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 meter of land while the approval granted was just for 45 sq meter . 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 September 12 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 Shimla to demolish anunauthorised portion of a mosque at Sanjauli. On Wednesday Sepyember 11, six police personnel and four protestors were injured after police bat on charged the agitators and used water cannons when they broke the barricades and reached the vicinity of the mosque. CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu appealed to the people of the State to maintain peace and brotherhood. “I appeal to everyone to maintain peace and make no provocative statements.
No one is allowed to take the law into their hands. We respect everyone. The land of Himachal respects all religions,” 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 portion of the mosque in the Sanjauli area. Protests by Hindu groups against the disputed structure in the Sanjauli mosque kept Shimla on the boil since last week. But ades and pelting stones as police used water cannons and batons to disperse them some thing unheard of in the cosmopolitan town. 8 FIRs have been registered against more than 50 people involved in the protests in Shimla, police said.
