20 August 2004	Friday	03 Rajab 1425

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FAISALABAD, Aug 19: Alleged Al Qaeda activist Qari Noor Muhammad, who died in police custody on Wednesday, was buried here on Thursday amid tension and unprecedented security.

A religious activist and a police constable suffered injuries when mourners clashed with police near the Gulberg police station.

Armed commandos were deployed along the route of the funeral procession and at petrol pumps, business establishments and important places. A call given by the local MMA leadership for a protest strike drew a poor response and except the cloth market, all other business centres remained open. Shops and markets along the route of the procession opened when mourners dispersed after the burial.

Police later arrested an armed guard of local religious leader Zahid Mehmood Qasmi. Earlier, the local police handed over the body of Qari Noor to his relatives and religious leaders after getting it released from the mortuary of the Allied Hospital in the morning.

The body was taken to Jamia Masjid Mubari amid tight security. Qari Noor had served as Khateeb of the mosque for over two decades and he had been arrested from here on Friday.

Meanwhile, MMA's city president Maulana Muhammad Obaidullah, who had been detained along with Qari Noor, was released by police on Thursday morning. Talking to newsmen, he alleged that he had been tortured during interrogation by some agency personnel.

Another person who had been arrested in the Friday raid was also released. He is Mohammad Imdaduddin, an Afghan national. Maulana Obaidullah said that Imdaduddin had been residing in the country legally for several years.