KL Report
SRINAGAR
Scores of people staged a protest in Chowgam Qazigund against police for booking the Imam of the area under Public Safety Act.
Reports said that Imam Jamia Masjid Chowgam Qazigund, Hafiz, Syed Kifayat from Dhandal Doda was arrested by police for his alleged role in instigating people against Kishtwar communal violence.
People said that Imam is innocent and he was targeted on the behest of few political workers having affiliation with the ruling party. “We demand his immediate release as he is innocent. The day Chowgam witnessed protests against communal violence in Kishtwar area, Imam Hafiz Kifatyat had gone to his native village in Doda. He is innocent and has nothing to do with all these protests,” Hafiz Abdul Rehman Ashrafi of Darul Aloom Syed Almarsuleen told CNS.
Reports said that Imam has been booked for instigating people to protest and indulge in stone pelting. A police official told CNS that Imam Kifayat goaded people in Chowgam and soon after his arrival in the area, “we arrested him and slapped PSA on him,” he said adding that he was booked vide FIR number 152/2013 under section 147,148,149,295,307,336 and 427. “We have shifted him to Khutwa Jail,” he said.
People of Chowgam warned that Imam would not be released they would start an agitation against the police.
