Raja Bazaar tragedy: Taleemul Quran madrassa reopens after three years

RAWALPINDI: The Taleemul Quran Madrassa, which was burnt down during the 2013 riots in Raja Bazaar, reopened on Thursday.

A clash over harassment of a mourning procession during Muharram on November 15, 2013, had resulted in the destruction of the seminary, the adjoining mosque and the market.

The clash had spiralled into a riot that left eight people dead and forced the administration to impose a curfew for the first time in the city’s history.

Inaugurating the reconstructed building of the seminary on Thursday, speakers called for sectarian harmony, tolerance and national unity, especially in the face of Indian aggression.

A number of prominent religious leaders were present for the inauguration of the new building including Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Yousaf, Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Sirajul Haq, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl chief Maulana Fazalur Rehman.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 30^th, 2016.