More Ahl-e-Hadith men held in blasphemy case

Four accused of defiling the Holy Quran taken into custody.


Rana Tanveer October 22, 2010

LAHORE: Batapur police, under pressure from zealous clerics, arrested yet more Ahl-e-Hadith members on Thursday, accusing them of defiling the Holy Quran, The Express Tribune has learnt. This time around a prayer leader and three teenagers have been taken into custody.

Ahl-e-Hadith members told The Express Tribune, on Thursday, that the police had been detaining Qari Muhammad Aslam for the past three days.

They said the measures taken by the police against them were due to the unjust demands of the complainants and local clerics of Ahl-e-Sunnat, the other denomination in the area.

Ahl-e-Hadith Mosque Committee member Rai Sarfaraz Ahmed told The Tribune that we are facing the wrath of the police and their Ahl-e-Sunnat neighbours who were trying to implicate them in a blasphemy case.

He said that whenever they had gone to the police station seeking release of Qari Aslam, the investigation in-charge Inspector Aftab Hashmi had sought another day.

A judicial magistrate, on Wednesday, extended the physical remand of the three already accused of burning the pages of the Holy Quran for two more days. They have been under physical remand for the past six days.

Abid Hassan Butt, brother of accused Shahid Butt, said the police had raided their house to arrest his 14-year-old nephew Sami. He said the police were taking direction from the Ahl-e-Sunnat clerics and arresting people at their behest.

Complainant Ahsan Nazim said that police were making more arrests to complete the investigation. He said that the three suspects had carried many volumes of the Holy Quran and had taken it to Shahid Butt’s store where they had torn the holy book and burnt it.

Hafiz Siddique, a member of the ‘Action Committee’, formed by Ahl-e-Sunnat clerics of the area to bring the culprits to justice, told The Express Tribune that they only wanted due action against the culprits.

He warned that if the police tried to favour the accused, the Quran-loving people of the area would be impossible to restrain and the responsibility for this unrest would rest with the police.

DSP Muhammad Riaz, told The Express Tribune that he had only called Qari Aslam to the police station for questioning. He said they had never detained him. Hashmi, however, denied arresting or summoning Qari Aslam to the police station. He said investigation was in progress and more people were likely to be questioned.

The inspector denied that being a Shiite he was biased against the Ahl-e-Hadith community.

Local Ahl-e-Sunnat leaders and other people of Jallo Mor accused Shahid Butt and two others of burning pages of the Holy Quran and got an FIR registered against them.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22nd, 2010.

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