Protesters in Srinagar denounce India for attack on shrine
Srinagar, June 07 (KMS): In occupied Kashmir, in continuation of their conspiracies to divide the Kashmiris along political, regional and sectarian lines, Indian secret agencies, in a latest bid, tried to set on fire a revered shrine in Srinagar to pitch one community against another in the territory.
The residents of Sajadabad locality in Chattabal area of Srinagar on Saturday, however, foiled the attempt by a masked man backed by the Indian agencies to set afire a local shrine with the sole aim of trigging a sectarian divide among the Kahsmiri communities.
The masked man lobbed a petrol bomb at the Chattabal shrine at around 12.45 in the night when people in the locality were mostly asleep. “However, the bomb exploded in the compound causing no damage to the shrine. A motorbike parked there was damaged, they said. “I woke up after hearing the blast, said Sajjad Ahmad Wani, an eyewitness who lives adjacent to the shrine. “I saw the man climbing the gate of the shrine after hurling the bomb. But he hastily retreated after I raised an alarm”, Wani said. “If the shrine had caught fire, dozens of houses adjacent to it would have been reduced to ashes. And more so, when majority of the people in the locality were asleep,” Wani added.
Another resident, who insisted not to be named, said that it was a sinister design aimed at creating a sectarian divide. “This is a first such incident in our locality when someone tried to fan sectarian divide. We have always had a cordial relationship with members of majority community. We have laughed and cried together in good and bad times,” he added.
People from various social and religious backgrounds visited the spot and condemned the act.
Ittehadul Muslimeen President Maulana Masroor in a statement while strongly condemning the attack called it a vicious attempt to fan the flames of hatred and create a sectarian discord. Referring to the hidden hands he said, “First, they attacked a temple, then a mosque at Alipora followed by an Islamic centre at Habbakadal with petrol bombs now they targeted the shrine at Chattabal. So this pattern makes it clear that attempts to divide the people and to sow seeds of discord among the religious communities in Kashmir have already been started.” He asked people to remain cautious and stay united against communal forces.
Pairwaan-e-Wilayat Chief, Maualana Sibt Shabbir Qumi in a statement in Srinagar also strongly condemned the incident. He urged people as well as religious scholars to get united to expose such elements. He termed it a part of conspiracy to distract the attention of the Kashmiri people from their cherished goal.
Tehreek-e-Wahdat-e-Islami, in a statement while denouncing the incident said Indian agencies are trying their hard to flare tensions between various sects to sabotage the uprising against Indian illegal rule. It maintained that these agencies in a bid to avenge people and divert their attentions from the sacred cause of freedom are trying hard to provoke people against each another. For this purpose, it said, they have activated their stooges and agents to weaken the freedom movement by stoking sectarian strife and discord in the territory. It said that people should not fall prey to the Indian wicked designs and they need to forge unity, keep close vigil and take every measure to make New Delhi’s sinister designs a failure.
Anti-India protest demonstration was held at Chattabal in Srinagar against an attack on a Muslim shrine by Indian secret agents in disguise. Speakers on the occasion said that India was involved in such heinous acts to stroke sectarian division in the territory.