M A I N   N E W S

Maulvi held for sedition
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, Jan 11—The arrest of a maulvi for allegedly distributing recorded speeches of the freed militant, Maulana Masood Azhar, has alarmed the police and the intelligence agencies.

On a tip off, the police arrested a Bihari labourer from Taragarh area near Palampur. According to the police, he was caught with cassettes given to him by the maulvi of the station mosque in Yol cantonment for recording.

The two cassettes “Jehad” and “Babri Masjid Ki Pukar”, contain provocative speeches by Maulana Masood Azhar. The police has arrested the maulvi, Muhammad Oash Ahmed, who belongs to Bhagalpur in Bihar and the labourer, Muhammad Zamir, of Goda under Sections 124-A and 153-A, IPC.

The case has been registered on the charge of sedition and for trying to create illwill among communities.

According to the police, though the mosque is in an Army area, the maulvi had been there since 1993. The cassettes are reported to have been recorded after the demolition of Babri Masjid. The speeches of Masood Azhar are regarding the “atrocities” being committed on the Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir and the denial of religious freedom for Muslims.

The cassettes warn that with the help of Harkat-Ul-Mujahideen, 3,000 temples in India would be blown up.

Concern has been expressed on the swelling population of Muslims from Jammu and Kashmir in Kangra and Jammu areas before. The police had arrested a Harkat-Ul-Ansar militant from a remote area in Baijnath in 1998 and another posing as an Army officer.

Intelligence agencies had pointed out that there was no check on Kashmiri shawl vendors and others who were coming in large number from Anantnag and Baramlla areas.

The police has no record of those coming here from the Kashmir valley though such persons are supposed to get themselves registered with the local police. The procedure is not being followed.