HYDERABAD, 18 October — A powerful Muslim political party in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has threatened to launch a stir over the government’s inaction in ordering a probe into the alleged desecration of a mosque here by police last Friday.
Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi met the state Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and demanded the suspension of the police officials who entered the Makkah Mosque with their shoes on, fired teargas shells and beat up worshipers inside the mosque.
Owaisi claimed that the presence of policemen near the mosque and the video-recording that was being made during the Friday prayers had incensed the worshipers and the police had then used this as an excuse to enter the mosque. He warned of an agitation if a probe was not ordered.
At least 75 people, including 50 policemen, were injured when a protest against US attacks on Afghanistan degenerated into violent clashes with the police last Friday. Additional commissioner of police Aravind Rao and deputy commissioner of police Umapathi were among the policemen injured as the mob resorted to heavy stone throwing at the historic mosque, located near the Charminar. About 10 vehicles were also damaged.
The police lobbed teargas shells, resorted to a baton charge and used water cannons to disperse the rampaging mob. Officials said the police also lobbed a large number of teargas shells into the sprawling courtyard of the mosque to flush out people who had stayed behind after the prayers.
Owaisi told Naidu that several anti-US demonstrations had taken place across the country last Friday but it was only in Hyderabad that the police resorted to force and had desecrated a mosque.
Following the incidents, Owaisi alleged, the police had been harassing Muslim youth by arresting them and releasing them only after the payment of a bribe. He claimed that the police had demanded 5,000 rupees each for the release of those arrested. A delegation of prominent Muslim religious leaders also met Governor C. Rangarajan and submitted a memorandum contending that the recent ban on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and the police action at the Makkah Mosque were part of a conspiracy to defame Muslims.
