HYDERABAD: More than 30 activists of the proscribed Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) were booked under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code and Anti-Terrorism Act following a minor clash between them and some participants in the Ashura procession at Gharibabad Chowk on Saturday.

A couple of ASWJ activists received knife and club injuries.

According to police and party sources, ASWJ activists had taken out a procession from Nasim Nagar Chowk to Salawat Masjid in the Market area to mark Ashura and had converged on a seminary, Madressah Arabia Quwwatul Islam, at Gharibabad Chowk.

However, when they tried to proceed to the mosque, police and Rangers personnel blocked their way near Qasim Chowk and asked them to disperse because the main procession of Shia mourners was about to pass through the same place on its return.

ASWJ spokesman in Hyderabad Muharram Din Farooqui said that most participants in his party’s procession dispersed peacefully. However, some others who had to return home via the Shia procession route came across the mourners just outside the seminary. “There were slogans raised by both sides which provoked an altercation leading to a clash,” area residents and police said, adding that sticks, stones and knives were used by the two sides. The law enforcement agencies personnel quickly intervened to bring the situation under control.

The ASWJ spokesman claimed arrest of 16 party activists, including Saeed Jadoon and Hafiz Waliullah Haidri, and three other followers. A police official said that an FIR (68/2015) was registered against Mr Jadoon and 30 other suspects.

Soon after the clash, ASWJ activists held protest sit-ins at Qasim Chowk and near the Hyderabad jail demanding release of all those arrested during the clash.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2015

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