Arson: Miscreants set Haripur shrine on fire

Police clueless about culprits but register case with blasphemy section

HARIPUR: Unidentified miscreants set fire to a shrine of a sufi saint in Kot Najibullah, police stated on Friday.

Sohrab, caretaker of the shrine of Pir Sahib Ghazi in Muhallah Katha, told police on Thursday evening that some unidentified people had entered the shrine and set it ablaze.

The fire spread quickly, destroying the main atrium of the shrine. A covering inscribed with Quranic verses placed over the grave of the saint, and two copies of the Holy Quran were also gutted in the blaze.

According to police, as the flames rose up in the night sky, locals rushed to the shrine and extinguished the fire with water on self-help basis since there is no fire brigade in the area. They managed to put the fire out and prevented it from spreading to neighbouring houses.

Police, on Sohrab’s complaint, registered a criminal case against unidentified miscreants. Interestingly, Section 295-B of the Pakistan Penal Code (blasphemy) has been included in the FIR.

While a case was registered, police remain clueless about the arsonists.

Meanwhile, local Sunni Tehreek leader, Qari Abdul Khaliq, condemned the act of torching the shrine and termed it a conspiracy to spark sectarian tension in the area as it hurt the sentiments of the Braveli sect.

Locals, however, were critical of the security measures at the shrine. Manzoor Ahmed a resident of Kot Najibullah, said that devotees, especially women, used to visit the shrine but its desecration exposed the poor security at such places. He demanded that the government should address vulnerability of such shrines which dot the region.

Musarat Bibi, another frequent visitor to the shrine, condemned the arson.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2016.