PESHAWAR, Dec 26: Five police officials and at least ten students belonging to the Bara tehsil were injured in a clash between followers of a tribal religious leader and city police during a protest demonstration in Pishtakhara on Sunday.

Eyewitnesses and police officials said that supporters of Mufti Munir Shakir - who is at loggerheads with Pir Saifur Rehman, another religious leader in Bara tehsil - came on several buses intent on staging a protest demonstration in front of the Peshawar Press Club.

Most of Mufti Munir’s followers were students of Bara tribal region of Khyber Agency and they wanted to put pressure on NWFP Governor Commander Khalilur Rehman to expel Pir Saifur Rehman from the area, accusing him of creating religious disharmony.

But the supporters of the Pir accuse the Mufti of fanning sectarianism in the tribal region. Both the clerics have been using illegal FM radio stations for spreading their religious thoughts among the tribal people.

The Sunday’s demonstration was stopped by the city police at the Fayyaz Khalil intersection on Bara and Ring Road. The police erected barricades to stop the followers of Mufti Munir and, on resistance, fired teargas shells.

The demonstrators pelted the police with stones and injured Senior Superintendent of Police (operation) Saeed Wazir, Pishtakhara police SHO and three constables, police officials said.

Ten students also suffered injuries when the police baton-charged the protesters.