Two people died and more than a dozen sustained injuries on Saturday when a dispute over a piece of land sparked communal clashes between Muslim and Sikh communities in the Saharanpur district of Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP).
The dispute broke out when members of one of the communities started construction on the land between two places of worship, including a Gurdwara, in the Qutub Sheikh area of the city. The dispute later took a communal turn.
According to the BBC Urdu, angry mobs from both the communities resorted to violence and there were reports of a large number of incendiary incidents. The police used rubber bullets to disperse rioters. According to the police, around 12 people were arrested following the riots. Some 20 men, including police personnel, were injured, while some Indian news channels reported two fatalities.
Saharanpur’s senior police official Rajesh Panday said authorities had imposed curfew in the precincts of five police stations, including the Qutub Sheikh area.
Meanwhile Indian Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh called up UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and asked him to take steps to ensure communal harmony in the state.
UP Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan said an additional contingent of security forces was sent to the area while Clause 144 had been invoked.
The situation is also tense in the neighbouring Muradabad district, where the issue of removal of loudspeakers from a Hindu temple has triggered tension. Peace marches are being held in the city while some Hindu organisations want to organise a grand meeting on the question.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 27th, 2014.
COMMENTS (9)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
@zaid hamid:
@Bilal Khan
Bilal bhai the Sikh community has always been in small size, starting from Mughal ruling era in India. But with Guru's grace we have always fought with courage against huge communities. We always may have not won the battles but our opponents are enough to speak the way we fight and respond. So don't feel proud on your religions majority. Personally, i am not aginst any religion, i respect all of them. But what the facts are should be accepted, instead of blindly fighting based on your majority.
@Bilal Khan do you even know that we Muslims are a big Majority if we compare with Sikhs in india.
I suspect an outside third hand - I mean forces outside the country .
India must enforce laws much better if the nation wants to excel. The country is the world largest democracy but, there are constant conflicts.
Another Isreal.. Another Palestines.. Another Nethanyahu..
Great.. India is shining..
@WB: Indian Laws are not applicable to Indian Muslims and Kashmiri non-muslims. It is the mistakes of non-muslims who don't believe in two nation theory and support islamization and special status for Indian muslims after partition.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SecularisminIndia
ET please publish this. I'm trying my best to be polite and not use any offensive language. In the past, I have been called a Muslim hater whenever I told the truth that most riots in India are started by Mulsims.
Pakistani Muslims find it very very offensive that I am telling the truth. TRUTH is offensive to Pakistanis.
However. I will not accuse anyone in this. I will just state the facts and will ask a multiple choice question from honest Pakistanis.
The site where the sikhs want to build a Gurdwara, Muslims claimed that 10 years ago, there existed a mosque.
The issue went to court and the court gave the land to Sikhs.
When Sikhs wanted to start the construction, after having been cleared by the Supreme Court, the cowardly Akilesh Yadav's government made a request to wait until the election is over to earn Muslim votes.
But Sikhs had the land legally and no one could stop them. They started the constructions and Muslims gathered in a mob and the riots started.
I will not accuse the Muslims of breaking law and violently starting a riot. But, I will ask the educated Pakistanis. Please read more reports about the incident and tell me whose fault is it? A) Sikhs B) Muslims
This has been done to malign Islam by RAW.