Shimla mosque panel starts razing illegal part

The demolition of an illegal portion of a mosque at Sanjauli in Shimla has started. Following the orders of the Shimla Municipal Commissioner’s court to demolish the top three floors of the mosque, which were found illegal, the Sanjauli Masjid Committee started the demolition today.

Waqf gives go-ahead

We have received the go-ahead from the Waqf Board. Accordingly, we have hired labourers for the demolition. Latif Mohammed, Masjid committee chief

“We have received the go-ahead from the Waqf Board. Accordingly, we have hired labourers for the demolition,” said Latif Mohammed, president of the committee, while overseeing the demolition process. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said it was probably the first example where the minority community was demolishing the illegal structure itself to maintain communal harmony and brotherhood in the state. “People of all religions live here with respect, and people of all religions and caste have the right to work in the state,” the CM said.

The communal tension that the city and the state witnessed over the past two months started from the Sanjauli mosque. Local residents alleged that most part of the mosque was illegal and the Shimla Municipal Corporation had been dragging the case for over a decade.

Gradually, the issue snowballed into a larger controversy and the protest against illegal constructions in mosques and lack of verification of migrants spread to other parts of the state as well.

Incidentally, the Sanjauli Masjid Committee had offered to demolish the illegal portion of the mosque on its own on September 12, a day after the majority community held a protest in Sanjauli over the issue.

“We had made the offer to restore communal harmony and sustain brotherhood. And today, we have started the demolition with the same objectives in mind,” said Latif Mohammed.

Even as the committee has stared the demolition, a separate minority group had announced that it would challenge the MC court’s demolition order in the High Court. “You can’t stop anyone from going to the court. As far as the committee is concerned, we stand by what we had said,” said Latif Mohammed. He, however, feared that the committee might not be able to pull down all three floors within two months due to a financial crunch.

“We will get no financial help either from the government or the Waqf Board to raze the illegal floors. We are making the expenditure from our own pocket at the moment. We may not be able to complete the work within the given time frame due to a shortage of funds,” he said.

“People do give money for construction, but no one gives donations for demolishing a structure, especially if it’s a religious one,” he said.