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KOHAT, Dec 19: Police sealed a worship place of Ahmedis which was briefly taken over on Sunday by activists of Aalmi Majlis Tahaffuz-i-Khatm Nabuwat (AMTKN) after proclaiming it a mosque.
A case under Section 5 of the Maintenance of Public Order was registered by the district administration after a representative of Ahmedi community, Col (retd) Ameer Mohammad Khan, lodged a report against the religious leaders for occupying a religious place of Ahmedis.DCO Sahidullah Khan could not be reached despite several attempts.
The complainant was also not available.
“We were detained by police for five hours after a case was registered against us. We have summoned a grand jirga of religious and political parties of Kohat on Dec 21, after which a strike will be observed on Dec 24. We will also approach a court to get the possession of the place,” said former MNA Javed Ibraheem Paracha.
He said that Maulvi Abdul Janan, Jamil Ahmed Paracha of JUI-F, Asif Qasmi of the banned Jaish-i-Muhammad and Javed Paracha were detained by police and later released on the orders of higher authorities.
Mohammad Ali, the chief of AMTKN, said that they had offered prayers in the mosque after it was handed over to them by the daughter of Abdul Qudoos, who is the wife of retired commissioner Aslam Khan who were Muslims.
“The district administration has also allowed us to take over the place for converting it into a mosque when we told the officials that the daughter of the real owner of the place has no objection to it. But the administration and Ahmedis have backed out from their statements after one of her relatives registered case in the city police station,” he said.
Police said that Col (retd) Ameer lodged a report against the occupation of the place by the AMTKN after the place was sealed.
The in-charge of the city police station said no decision had been made as yet for arresting the activists of AMTKN.
He denied that police had taken the four religious leaders into custody.
The mosque was vacated by Ahmedis after they were declared as non Muslims in 1974.
The first prayer was offered in it by a former MNA from Kohat, the late Maulvi Naimatullah, but later the place was declared a disputed property and closed in 1975.
The Khans of Bahadar Kot area claim the place as their property.
A group of clerics, headed by AMTKN Amir Maulana Mohammad Ali, demolished one of its walls and entered it in the presence of police.
The place remained occupied for several hours and afternoon and evening prayers were offered there for the first time in 30 years.
