Raising sectarian slogans: Police register case against ASWJ members
Police could not stop 3,000-plus ASWJ conference participants from shouting sectarian slogans.
ISLAMABAD:
The city administration and police did everything to restrain the followers and supporters of Ahl-e-Sunnat-Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) from taking any violent step during Friday’s conference in Aabpara marking the death anniversary of Maulana Azam Tariq, the founder of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan.
Unfortunately, the police could not stop 3,000-plus ASWJ conference participants from shouting sectarian slogans. According to Ashfaq Waheedi of the Shia Ulema Council (SUC), “The participants chanted such slogans many times during the conference”. “We have video evidence of this, which we have already provided to the police,” he told The Express Tribune.
The SUC moved an application in the Aabpara Police Station for registration of a blasphemy case under Section 295-A of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) against ASWJ chief Maulana Ahmed Ludhianvi, Khadim Hussain Dhillon and some unknown members of ASWJ for raising anti-Shia slogans.
“They dishonoured our sect, which amounts to blasphemy,” said Waheedi, adding that the police were not registering an FIR on their complaint.
Dozens of council supporters and activists gathered outside the police station and raised slogans, vowing “not to move until the FIR was registered”.
The Aabpara Police said they were consulting the police’s legal branch for advice as the two main accused in the application — Ludhianvi and Dhillon — were not directly involved in the act. Also, they were trying to determine if any of the blasphemy sections of the law were applicable.
Later, a case under PPC Section 188 and the Amplifier Act was registered. The crowd that had assembled outside Aabpara Police Station dispersed soon after.
A day earlier, Ludhianvi had said that he wanted the Sajjad Ali Shah case reopened, adding that “We will support measures to resolve Shia-Sunni conflict.”
Published in The Express Tribune, October 7th, 2012.
The city administration and police did everything to restrain the followers and supporters of Ahl-e-Sunnat-Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) from taking any violent step during Friday’s conference in Aabpara marking the death anniversary of Maulana Azam Tariq, the founder of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan.
Unfortunately, the police could not stop 3,000-plus ASWJ conference participants from shouting sectarian slogans. According to Ashfaq Waheedi of the Shia Ulema Council (SUC), “The participants chanted such slogans many times during the conference”. “We have video evidence of this, which we have already provided to the police,” he told The Express Tribune.
The SUC moved an application in the Aabpara Police Station for registration of a blasphemy case under Section 295-A of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) against ASWJ chief Maulana Ahmed Ludhianvi, Khadim Hussain Dhillon and some unknown members of ASWJ for raising anti-Shia slogans.
“They dishonoured our sect, which amounts to blasphemy,” said Waheedi, adding that the police were not registering an FIR on their complaint.
Dozens of council supporters and activists gathered outside the police station and raised slogans, vowing “not to move until the FIR was registered”.
The Aabpara Police said they were consulting the police’s legal branch for advice as the two main accused in the application — Ludhianvi and Dhillon — were not directly involved in the act. Also, they were trying to determine if any of the blasphemy sections of the law were applicable.
Later, a case under PPC Section 188 and the Amplifier Act was registered. The crowd that had assembled outside Aabpara Police Station dispersed soon after.
A day earlier, Ludhianvi had said that he wanted the Sajjad Ali Shah case reopened, adding that “We will support measures to resolve Shia-Sunni conflict.”
Published in The Express Tribune, October 7th, 2012.