MANSEHRA, July 30: The first meeting of the local peace committees was marred by rumpus here on Monday when a member from Shinkiyari union council used harsh language against the clerics and students of Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa.

“We send our children to madressahs to learn holy Quran and seek the knowledge of Islam, but they are given training on how to carry out terrorist attacks and use bombs and kalashnikovs,” sources quoted the member as saying.

Some participants, including clerics and seminary students, tried to attack the speaker, Dr Mohammad Ayub, when he said that the madressah had promoted extremism and terrorism, the sources said.

The committees have been constituted in 59 union councils and 12 police stations to maintain law and order in the wake of attacks on offices and officials of NGOs in the district.

Angry clerics and students chanted slogans of ‘ulema zindabad’ and asked District Nazim Sardar Muhammad Yousaf to expel Dr Ayub from the meeting and the peace committee.