Walls divide: After day-long closure, Bari Imam shrine reopens for public

Attempts by administration to demolish grave walls brought devotees of two sects face-to-face.

ISLAMABAD: The city administration opened the Bari Imam shrine for the public on Wednesday evening after it was closed the previous day to avert a possible law-and-order situation.

The situation turned ugly on Tuesday, when some of the devotees stopped labourers and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration officials from tearing down the existing boundary wall around the grave.

“Under the new design of the shrine, the grave was supposed to be placed on an elevated platform and to meet the requirement, the expanded edges of the grave had to be removed,” said an official, adding that this was rejected by some devotees.

The issue divided the devotees along sectarian lines. Devotees from the Ahle Sunnat school were of the view that the original grave could be lifted to ground level to allow for work on the new design, but devotees from the Shia community were adamant that the grave remained in the same position while other work was carried out.

On Tuesday, when labourers started trimming the edges of the grave, Shia devotees disrupted the work and shouted slogans against the administration.

They said that they would not allow anyone to desecrate the grave by demolishing the boundary wall, prompting the city administration to seal the shrine at 6pm.

Police were also called in to cope with the possible law-and-order situation.

“A group of devotees remained present in front of shrine all night,” said Naveed Khan, who runs a flower shop outside the shrine. He said that heavy contingents of police reached the spot on Wednesday morning and remained there until the shrine was opened for the public.

The Shia devotees also reportedly obtained a stay order from a local court against the demolition of the grave walls.

Secretariat Police Station Assistant Sub Inspector Salim Raza confirmed that the police had been deployed at the shrine. He claimed that devotees of both the sects have shown their consent to sit on the table to resolve the issue amicably.

Meanwhile, CDA Engineering Member Sanaullah Aman was not familiar with the issue. He said around 90 per cent of work on Phase-I of the Bari Imam Complex project had been completed.

Phase-I includes construction of the shrine building, its courtyard and a minaret. Construction started in 2008 but has faced numerous stoppages due to paucity of funds.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 9^th, 2014.