MULTAN: The district administration claims to have averted sectarian unrest after ‘negotiation’ over the issue of leading prayers at Jamia Masjid, General Bus Stand (GBS), on Tuesday night.

Tension erupted a few days ago when a cleric and his supporters stopped a prayer leader of a different sect from leading prayers in the mosque. This led to an exchange of word between the two groups and a team of the district administration led by Deputy Commissioner Aamer Khattak and police mediated between them. It was decided that both sects would conduct the prayers separately until the resolution of the issue.

On Jan 28 last, two days after the decision, a minor clash took place between the two groups. Subsequently, a meeting of the District Intelligence Committee (DIC) was held in which it was decided that the mosque would be sealed and the contract of the prayer leader who was responsible for the unrest be terminated and the mosque run according to the previous practice.

Tension escalated when former federal minister Maulana Hamid Saeed Kazmi, along with his followers, reached the mosque to perform Friday prayers. Instead of entering the mosque, they performed the prayers outside the sealed mosque.

Mr Kazmi told this correspondent that the mosque was inaugurated by his father Ahmed Saeed Kazmi and his brother Arshad Saeed Kazmi worked here as khateeb for decades. He said the prayer leader who was stopped was actually accommodated to avoid clash despite the fact that he misstated his credentials. And he was asked to go after retirement and replaced with another prayer leader.

He said the DC stopped the appointment of the new prayer leader by succumbing to the pressure.

“The day the clash took place we were requested by the DC to leave the mosque and come next day to avoid any further clash; however, the mosque was sealed when we reached the next day,” he said.

The GBS administrator said the issue had been solved and it had been decided that the mosque would be run according to the previous practice. “The mosque will be unsealed soon,” he added.

Sources said the cleric was recently appointed prayer leader on the direction of Deputy Commissioner Aamer Khattak. The mosque was constructed by the Municipal Corporation and later handed over to the district administration after the category of the GBS was upgraded to ‘B’.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2020