FAISALABAD, Jan 21: Batala Colony police have registered a case against at least 55 mourners on charges of damaging public property, disgracing a mosque, resorting to aerial firing and disrupting peace and tranquillity in Fateh Abad area when they were not allowed to take out an Ashura procession on Sunday, sources told Dawn.

The police later sealed the FIR, 32 of 2008, lodged under various sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). However, no arrest has been reported so far.

Around 3,000 mourners wanted to take out a Zuljinnah procession from the residence of Saqlain Shah, alias Shehzade Shah, in Fateh Abad but the district administration stopped them from doing so. The officials obstructed the procession’s path by installing pickets and barricades fearing any clash between rival sects.

According to sources, representatives of mourners tried to convince the administration that they had been taking out the procession for years peacefully, but the administration did not budge from their position and disallowed them which infuriated hundreds of mourners who had arrived there from various parts of the city. They later started pelting stones on government vehicles and nearby shops.

Sources said that some rival sect activists also retaliated while demanding action against assailants.

The Sunni Tehrik activists also staged a demonstration on Monday to protest Sunday’s what they called “hooliganism”. Local shopkeepers shut their shops for an hour to press the administration for action against perpetrators and later they threw traffic out of gear while chanting slogans against the police.

The protesters dispersed when the police assured them that the suspects would be arrested within next three days.

Sources said that the police later booked Saqlain Shah, Zeshan Haider, Hussnain Shah, Ali and Iqbal, alias Bala, and 50 others under Section 7 of the ATA, 295-A, 148, 149, 188, 324 and 440 of the PPC and sealed the FIR.

According to sources, Batala Colony policemen had strictly been told not to reveal any information regarding the accused.