PUNE, 25 November 2007 — Sporadic incidents of stone pelting were reported from some parts of the city on Friday as 3,000 agitated Muslims took out a protest march to the headquarters of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) voicing their anger at the demolition of illegal portions of the centuries-old Gani Baba Mosque located in the northern suburb of Pune in the Gultekdi area.
Few shops and vehicles near the PMC headquarters in Shivajinagar were damaged despite heavy police deployment during the march. A large number of women carried posters in the regional language Marathi and Urdu condemning the PMC action. Anti-riot police squads were deployed in front of the PMC building and barricades were raised at all entry points, as some protesters attempted to break the police cordon. The protesters than pelted stones at the police and hurled empty water bottles in the PMC lawns.
Speakers got up on a make shift podium to condemn the civic action, while the crowds continued to shout slogans. The speakers said the Muslim community lacked a strong leader who could take up their issues.
Badshah Syed, a member of the Save Gani Baba Masjid Committee, alleged that the civic body was targeting the community’s religious places and demanded the suspension of those officers responsible for the demolition of the illegal structures surrounding the mosque in a night operation.
“It is the PMC which is responsible for creating this law and order problem in the city,” he alleged and said the night action without any intimation had angered the Muslim community.
A delegation of the Muslims which later met the city Mayor Rajlaxmi Bhonsale and PMC Commissioner Pravinsinh Pardeshi along with city president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Anil Bhosale said that the Muslims were not against the Bombay High Court verdict which ordered the demolition of the illegal structure of the mosque, but the manner PMC went about implementing the court order. “They should have intimated the trustees of the mosque,” the delegation said.
“In this encroachment drive the authorities not only hurt the religious sentiments but desecrated the Holy Qur’an and other religious books,” they said, adding, as corrective measures, the PMC should give permission to raise the demolished structure.
Though the situation in the troubled area is reported to be calm, two legislators from the Congress, Ramesh Bagwe and Dr. M.A. Aziz, former chairman of the State Waqf Board met Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh late Friday night in Nagpur and Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister R.R. Patil and apprised them of the demolition. “They are extremely unhappy with the handling of the whole issue by the PMC,” Bagwe said.
