10 December 2004	Friday	27 Shawwal 1425

PESHAWAR, Dec 9: Maulana Mohammad Shoaib, the prayer leader of the Shoba Bazaar mosque who was removed from the mosque by local traders, has asked the provincial government to help him get back the possession of the mosque and threatened to use force if the government did not do it.

"If the MMA government failed to help me getting possession of the mosque within 24 hours, my workers will take possession by force and the government will be responsible for all the consequences," Maulana Shoaib said at a press conference here on Thursday.

He said that allegations levelled by the traders of the Shoba Bazaar against him were false and fabricated. "I have property dispute with some of the traders and I have won a case against them in the court after which they occupied the mosque," he said.

The Maulana said his father, Maulana Mohammad Amir Zaman, took the land on 99 years lease from the Cantonment Board for the construction of the mosque and a Darul Uloom in 1966, saying he had legal documents to prove about this claim.

The place of the mosque and Darul Uloom had been leased out in the name of the seven-member Khyber Masjid Committee which holds its annual meetings and police verify their names every year, he said.

He said an association of traders of the Shoba Bazaar was formed in 1973 which had nothing to do with the management and affairs of the mosque. MMA chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad is the patron-in-chief of the Darul Uloom and he had assured 'me of his full cooperation' but the provincial government was taking no action against those who had desecrated the mosque, he said.

Maulana Shoaib alleged that some local leaders of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) local leaders were behind the attack on the mosque and his house adjacent to it. The armed traders in the presence of police raided the mosque and the house and they were still occupying it, he said.

He said he suspected that the traders had taken away thousands of rupees of cash and gold ornaments from his house. Accompanied by his supporters and leaders of the Bajaur Qaumi Ittehad, he said police were not registering an FIR against the accused despite written complaints made to the Capital City Police Chief, Masood Paracha.

The chief of the Bajaur Qaumi Ittehad, Ziarat Gul, said on the occasion that the traders had disgraced women of the Maulana and occupied the mosque and the house and 'we have all right' to use any means to reoccupy the mosque if the government failed to do so.

TRADERS: On Wednesday, the Anjuman-i-Tajiran warned the government against supporting the prayer leader of the Shoba Bazaar mosque. Speaking at a news conference here at the press club, Auto Mobile Association General Secretary Pervez Ahmad said it was the duty of the government to provide security to traders and the mosque in Shoba Bazaar as Maulana Shoaib had threatened to occupy it by force.

The traders were not responsible for the protection of the mosque, especially at night. The threatening language used by the Maulana, he said had sent a wave of resentment among the local shopkeepers.

"We have asked the government for safeguard measures for the mosque and putting brakes on the Maulana to stop him from hurling threats on the local businessmen," the association chief said.

Angered by the threats of the Maulana, the shopkeepers gathered at the mosque on Dec 6. They held a protest demonstration after which Maulana Shoaib was compelled to leave the mosque, he recalled.

He alleged that the Maulana was a corrupt person and had occupied the mosque by force. The management of the mosque was now under the control of a 12-member committee, which would launch developmental work, including renovation of the mosque, he added.

Despite the repeated calls made for the removal of the prayer leader, the government remained silent over the issue for fear of being drawn into controversy, he said.

He further said that the Peshawar district nazim, Mohammad Azam Afridi, and the DCO had constituted a committee some time back, but that totally failed to resolve the matter.

Shaukat Ali Khan, Vice-President of the traders' association, speaking on the occasion, appealed to the government to take necessary action in this regard.