ISLAMABAD: The capital administration has banned the entry of 10 Ulema in Islamabad during Muharram, considering them a threat to peace in the city.

Similarly, the administrations of a number of districts in Punjab also informed the capital administration and police that they had put a ban on the entry of 15 clerics, who lived in Islamabad.

Earlier, the capital police’s Special Branch identified the clerics who allegedly spread religious and sectarian hatred in the city besides hurting the religious sentiments of their rival sects in the past.

The Special Branch also reported that some of the clerics used to came to the federal capital from different parts of the country. Some of them were also booked in different cases lodged with the police stations of the capital for their involvement in fanning religious and sectarian hatred.

The Special Branch in a report mentioned the names of 10 clerics and sent it to the deputy commissioner Islamabad office with a request to ban their entry in the capital.

However, sources in the local administration and the police said the report deliberately ignored a number of religious figures even though cases had been registered against them for spreading religious hatred in the capital. Their names were not included in the list because the police and the local administration always sought their help in case of any law and order situation in the city, they added.

Last year, a religious figure was approached for assistance to maintain sectarian peace in the capital. The cleric reached Islamabad even though the capital administration had put a ban on his entry.

In a notification, the deputy commissioner Islamabad banned the entry of the clerics on Tuesday.

The clerics are: Khateeb Jamia Masjid Amna Rawalpindi and Ameer Shabab-i-Islam Mohammad Hanif Qureshi, Khateeb Masjid Al-Furqani Rawalpindi Maulana Abdul Majeed Nadeem, ex-president Sipah-i-Sahaba Punjab chapter Maulana Abdul Khaliq Rehmani, deputy secretary general Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat (ASWJ) Maulana Masoodur Rehan Usmani, secretary general ASWJ Dr Khadim Hussain Dhillon, Maulana Yousuf Rizvi of Sargodha, Khateeb Imambargah Hassan, Rawalpindi, Allama Muzaffar Hassan Najfi, Allama Jafar Jatoi of Lahore, Zakir Syed Maqbool Hassan, Chakwal, and Allama Ghazanfar Abbas Taunsavi, Bahawalpur.

Policemen deployed at the checkpoints at the entrance of the capital city have been informed about the details of the Ulema and given their details to arrest them if they tried to enter Islamabad.

The officials said different district administrations of.

Published in Dawn, October 29th , 2014