Shimla markets shut in protest over mosque row

Commercial establishments were closed in many parts of the Himachal Pradesh capital on Thursday in support of protesters who have been demanding the demolition of illegal portions of a mosque in the densely populated Sanjauli area.

However, state-run transport and private buses and trains were plying. Government offices and educational institutions were also functioning normally.

The shutdown call from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. was given after scores of protesters, who were demanding the demolition of illegal portions of a mosque, took to the streets and clashed with the police on Wednesday, breaking barricades during the protest.

Most of the private hotels, restaurants and shops were shut as the trade unions participated in the shutdown.

Shimla Beopar Mandal president Sanjeev Thakur said there was a complete shutdown in the town as the traders joined the protest.

A spokesperson for the state police said that six police personnel were injured in separate incidents at Sanjauli on Wednesday.

While five of them received initial medical treatment and were subsequently discharged from the hospital, one woman constable remains admitted at the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital (IGMCH).

She has sustained a fracture in the lumbar vertebrae and is currently undergoing treatment, said the spokesperson.

Reports indicate that Shimla-like tension is also prevailing in Mandi and Bilaspur towns, where Hindu outfits have been demanding the demolition of unauthorised mosques that have been mushrooming up in recent years.

The outfits argue that the population of the Muslims in the state is less than two per cent of the total population of over 68 lakh and question the funds they are getting to set up places of worship at several places.

A day earlier, carrying the Tricolour and raising slogans like ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and ‘Hindu Ekta Zindabad', the protesters, largely locals, marched towards Sanjauli to lodge their protest and demand the demolition of a portion of the five-floor mosque.

Police had to use mild lathi-charge and water cannons to disperse the crowds as they tried to remove the barricades at the Dhalli tunnel. Later, they staged a sit-in protest, blocking the road leading to Sanjauli and dispersed.

“Our only demand is demolition of the unauthorised disputed structure and to protect the demography of the state,” said a protester.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has appealed to the people not to give the issue a political colour and to maintain law and order.

What is the dispute all about?

Hindu organisations have been demanding the demolition of unauthorised constructions in the mosque and the registration of outsiders coming to Himachal Pradesh.

The protesters have also been demanding that the antecedents of local Muslims be verified by the police as they suspect some of them to be Rohingyas or Bangladeshis.

The Shimla Municipal Corporation Commissioner's court on Saturday heard the matter relating to illegal portions of the mosque and listed it for the next hearing on October 5.

It asked the Waqf Board and the mosque committee to explain how it became a five-storey structure from just one floor earlier.