RAWALPINDI, Nov 18: When the curfew was lifted after 54 hours at 6am on Monday, normality began to return to the city. However, it proved short-lived as rumour mongers created tension again.

With the curfew gone at the start of the week, traders opened their outlets, public transport appeared on the roads and all government and private offices started functioning.

Soon afterwards, hundreds of seminary students, including those from Islamabad’s Lal Masjid and the Taleemul Quran Madressah in Raja Bazaar, gathered at Fawara Chowk to offer in-absentia the funeral prayers of those who had been killed during the Ashura violence and whose bodies were sent to their native towns.

As soon as they offered the funeral prayers, rumours spread that the local administration had found three more bodies in the rubble of the mosque and the Taleemul Quran seminary where the clash occurred on Friday.

The seminary students, numbering over 300, rushed towards the mosque located a few yards away from the Fawara Chowk.

On the way, the angry students started burning old tyres and chanted slogans against the government and the other community.

In the meantime, the scared traders on Iqbal Road, Liaquat Road, Raja Bazaar, Narankari Bazaar, Kashmiri Bazaar and City Saddar Road pulled down their shutters.

The police officials deployed at the square informed their highups about the situation and the local administration called the army.

The troops immediately reached the spot and cordoned off the area around Col Maqbool Hussain Imambargah on College Road. It took two hours for the law enforcement agencies to control the situation.

Though the movement of the seminary students was limited to the road from Raja Bazaar to Taleemul Quran seminary, their number swelled as students from Dhoke Dalal, Pirwadhai and other areas also joined them.

However, the army did not allow them to enter the damaged market.

The army also removed the trucks selling edible items at controlled rates to the people in the curfew-affected areas on the instruction of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

Talking to Dawn, Mohammad Osama, a seminary student from Lal Masjid, said he had come to offer funeral prayers after receiving a message from his friends.

“We got confirmed reports that there were more bodies in the damaged mosque. We are waiting to help the administration retrieve the bodies,” he said.

Nasir Hussain, a student of Taleemul Quran, said he had come to offer funeral prayers and also got a message about more bodies.

He said the bodies were being concealed from the students while the media was not highlighting the issue.

Mohammad Furqan, another student, said he had come from Pirwadhai after receiving information about the bodies.

He said students wearing red caps were from Lal Masjid while those with white ones were from Madressah Taleemul Quran. The students wearing other caps were from other seminaries, he added.

Meanwhile, traders in the area seemed perturbed over the situation.

“I have no option but to go home to save my life,” said Mohammad Jawad, a shopkeeper in front of Raja Bazaar parking plaza.

Mohammad Akbar, a shopkeeper on Iqbal Road, said there could be no business in such a tense situation.

In Saddar, shops and banks were also closed after news spread about renewed tension. However, the police and army deployed on Bank Road informed them that there was no curfew. After this, the market reopened.

Zafar Ahmed, a shopkeeper at Saddar, said he had opened the shop after the traders got assurance from the police.

Mohammad Naseem, a shopkeeper at Kashmir Road, said they closed their shops after receiving news about the tension on their mobile phones. However, the trader association assured them that the situation was under control.

He said when the traders pulled down their shutters and were standing on footpaths, some police officials asked them to open the shops.

District Coordination Officer Sajid Zafar Dal was not available for comments despite repeated attempts. In reply to a written message, he stated: “I am in a meeting and not able to talk.”

Another senior official of the city government told Dawn that curfew would not be imposed in the city again.

Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah informed mediapersons during a press conference at Punjab House that with the help of religious scholars the government had brought the situation under control.