MUZAFFARABAD, June 11: Angry youths set on fire the huge set-up of a religious organisation here on Monday after a boy was shot dead and two others were wounded, allegedly by people belonging to the outfit, police and witnesses said.
Police officials told Dawn they had arrested over a dozen activists of Jamaat ud Dawa (JUD) Pakistan, including the one who had allegedly shot dead Adnan Shah, 17.
However, the officials refused to provide details, asserting that they were busy in restoring order to the area.
Residents of Pajgran village told Dawn that some of them had handed over possession of a piece of land, along the right bank of a tributary of river Neelum, to the JUD after the Oct 2005 earthquake on humanitarian grounds so that a temporary set-up could be established there.
But, they added, the JUD initiated efforts to permanently occupy the land under cover of a so-called lease despite opposition by the landowner.
Khalid Zaidi, one of the residents, said that both sides were engaged in talks for over a week to sort out the issue but the situation got worse on Monday afternoon after two residents were allegedly whisked away by JUD cadres to their warehouse and tortured over a petty dispute.
Some people staged a demonstration against the alleged torture and during the ensuing clash between the two sides three people were injured, one of them dying in Abbas Institute of Medical Sciences.
The death sparked violent protests by the residents of Pajgran village, who had assembled on the scene and started ransacking the JUD infrastructure, including a health facility, prefab residences, a mosque and some warehouses.
