PESHAWAR, April 241: Religious leaders and clerics of Nowshera have held the local police responsible for the death of Ashiq Nabi, accused of blasphemy, it is learnt. The Ulema, who held a meeting on Friday to consider the situation arising out of the killing of Ashiq by a mob, denied the police claim that angry villagers had killed Ashiq Nabi who had allegedly desecrated the Holy Quran during a quarrel with his wife.

They said that police had killed the accused and were now pressurizing the ulema to issue a decree that they had pronounced death as punishment for the accused.

The meeting called upon the government to initiate an inquiry against the police.

The Ittehad-i-Ulema meeting held at the Spin-Khak village in Nowshera was attended among others by Maulana Ismail,

Qari Faridullah Shah, Hafiz Fazle Khaliq, Qazi Mohammad Ishaq, Maulana Farid Gul, Hafiz Mir Taj and Asif Luqman Qazi.

Nowshera SP Mazharul Haq, when contacted, rejected the clerics’ claim. He said the accused had already died by the time the police reached the place.