MANSEHRA, July 14: Over 100 clerics and students of various seminaries have been booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act and 15 of them arrested on charges of ransacking and setting ablaze the offices of local and foreign NGOs in some areas of Battagram and Allai towns during protests against the Lal Masjid operation, official sources told Dawn.

The offices of NGOs in Gazikot Township, Battagram and Allai remained closed on Saturday. Despite the deployment of army troops, majority of NGOs have wound up their offices in the sensitive areas fearing further attacks.

“The government has failed to provide security to NGOs staff and most of the local and foreign NGOs had shifted their offices from Battagram and Allai even before the Lal Masjid operation was carried out. Clerics and hardliners have been threatening the women staff of the NGOs for quite some time, but the government and law-enforcement agencies have done nothing to stop them,” said an official of the NGO.

The sources said the district administration of Mansehra had deployed heavy contingent of the Frontier Constabulary and police in and around the Gazikot Township where most of the NGO offices were located.

The angry protesters had ransacked the offices of NGOs and the Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority just after the government launched the operation against Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa.

Police sources said the situation in Battagram and Allai was under control after the authorities had taken extra measures to maintain law and order in the areas.