SHEIKHUPURA, June 19: Tension mounted in Khanqah Dogran and adjoining areas on Sunday, as several nazims, naib nazims and councillors in urban and rural areas tendered their resignation as a protest against inclusion of areas in Nankana Sahib district.

Talking to journalists, Safdarabad Nazim Samdani and Naib Nazim Sardar Asif Dogar said more officials in their town and Khanqah Dogran would quit if the Punjab government did not withdraw the decision of including the two localities in the new district.

Meanwhile, people from all walks of life criticized police for the fire incident. They said the policemen had entered a mosque with their shoes on to baton-charge the protesting people. They said the police should be brought to book for desecration.

Saying that suspension of an SHO was not enough, they demanded that the authorities should take action against the officials involved in the incident.

Meanwhile, MNA Sahibzada Jalil Ahmad Sharqpuri and MPA Rao Jehanzeb Qavi Khan have held the Punjab government responsible for violence.

They said in a statement that the government did not bother to take parliamentarians into confidence before taking any decision about Nankana Sahib’s upgradation.

They suggested that the government should not include new areas in the jurisdiction of Nankana Sahib. Nor should Sharqpur and Factory Area be made part of the new district, they added.

Cases: Meanwhile, Khanqah Dogran police on Sunday registered cases against another dozens of protesters for setting ablaze a police station and residential quarters.

According to a handout issued by the DPO office, scores of demonstrators, led by former PPP MPA Mian Mushtaq Dogar, had brought traffic to a standstill on Saturday.

It further alleged that protesters had been asked to refrain from blocking the road, but the mob pelted stones and resorted to aerial fire which prompted the police to take action.