Mosque matters: The deadly race for imam

1 killed in dispute involving rivals over selection of local imam.

FAISALABAD:

A man was killed during cross firing between rival gangs over a dispute over the selection of a local imam on Sunday.

According to police officials, a man was shot and killed in the crossfire over a dispute regarding the selection of a local prayer leader in Chak No311-JB of the Gojra tehsil. “The issue has been pending for a while and tensions were mounting between both groups. Each of the groups has been pushing for their own candidate,” said Gojra resident Kashif Sultan.

According to locals in the area, the feud between rival groups led by Rehman Jatt and Muhammad Jatt began during the bid for nominating an imam for the Jam-i-Masjid Tajdar-e-Madina two days ago. Police officials said that they had received notice of several fights in this regard. “We received calls from the two gangs involved in minor skirmishes and we had issued a warning but then they took the matter further on Saturday evening,” said Saddar Police Station House Officer (SHO) Imran Warraich, adding “Now a man is dead and we are searching for the accused.

Both groups have already been involved in a series of altercations and police officials said that they had left the matter up to the panchayat. “There have been at least seven different panchayat’s organised to resolve the selection of the imam but that did not put an end to the dispute,” Warraich said. “The real problem has been that the candidates are from opposing factions. One is a barelvi and the other is a deobandi practitioner. This has split the groups backing them and the issue became very heightened. I was threatened by members of Muhammad Jatt’s gang to support the bid for his candidate,” said Altaf Khan.

The last panchayat, convened on Friday afternoon, shortlisted two candidates for the position but this did not solve the problem. “The panchayat selected Hafiz Maqsood Ahmad and Mohsin Ali Shah as finalists but that does not solve the problem. Ahmad is a deobandi and Shah is a barelvi, the opinion was still divided,” said Khan.

“I have nothing to do with any of this. I didn’t even know I was in the running for the position. I am a man of Allah and I don’t care for their recognition,” Hafiz Maqsood Ahmad told police. Shah said that he was not involved in any race for Imam. “The position has been open for nearly a month but no one can decide the mosques allegiance and who should take the position,” he added.

By Saturday, no agreement could be worked out and both rival groups opened indiscriminate fire. Police officials were called to the scene and recovered Muhammad Ramzan, who had been injured in the crossfire. Ramzan was transported to the Civil Hospital but succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. Doctors said that Ramzan had suffered three separate bullet injuries and four other men had also been injured during the encounter.

Sadar Gojra Police has registered a case on the complaint of the father of the deceased Mehmood Ahmad against Qamar Abbas, Waheed Abbas, Zaman Ali, Iftikhar Ali, Shafaqat Ali, Ateeq-ur-Rehman, Babar Ali, Muhammad Sarwar, Noor Muhammad and six other unknown persons on charge of firing and killing Muhmmad Ramzan. Police officials said that they were searching for the accused but they had no leads to their location. Police have taken both candidates for imam in for questioning.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20^th, 2011.