LEAs avert potential clash

Emotions had flared up over controversial posts on social media

HYDRABAD:

The law enforcement agencies (LEAs) averted a potential clash over a religious issue between two groups of local communities in Hyderabad late on Friday. The Hyderabad Deputy Commissioner Fuad Ghaffar Soomro, SSP Abdul Salam Shaikh and officials of Rangers rushed to Hashmat Bano Town in the limits of Pinyari police station to control the situation.

No arrests were made but LEAs made the people who had taken to the streets return to their homes. The local leaders and influential people also coordinated with the LEAs to diffuse the tension.

The Pinyari police lodged an FIR on a complaint of Hafiz Abdul Wahid on Saturday, nominating a young man Asad Shaikh and two unknown persons under sections 298/A, 504 and 34 of Pakistan Penal Code. Shaikh was also later arrested and produced before a judicial magistrate who sent him to jail on 14-day judicial remand.

The complainant claimed that he reached out to Shaikh after reading his posts against a companion of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) on his Whatsapp status and his Facebook to make him realise his mistake and to remove the posts. However, Shaikh allegedly misbehaved with Wahid and later went to his mosque with two unknown persons where they misbehaved with Pesh Imam Qari Yaqoob.

The Hyderabad police and Rangers also carried out a joint flag march on Saturday. Dozens of vehicles of law enforcement agencies participated in the march which passed through important roads, intersections and areas of the district. SSP Shaikh also held a meeting with the commanders of Rangers including Colonel Suleman and Colonel Yasir Qasim, according to the police spokesman.

The meeting discussed the strategy of maintaining law and order in the event of any conflict situation which may arise following the Friday night's incident. The police spokesman also denied an unsubstantiated information circulating on the social media which stated that three lives have been lost in a clash in Hyderabad. He said the Liaquat University Hospital has denied receiving any dead body of a slain person during the last 24 hours.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd, 2021.