No Word from Army on Kashmir Mosque Provocation as Officer Out
The army and the police have not given any official statement on the allegations that their soldiers had entered two mosques in Pulwama in south Kashmir on Saturday and forced the worshippers to chant “Jai Shri Ram” but sources in the security forces confirmed on Monday that an officer had been shifted from duty for his alleged role.
The allegations by the villagers have been echoed by several Kashmiri politicians, including three former chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti, Omar Abdullah and Ghulam NabiAzad. The leaders have demanded a probe into the incident.
A security official said an “officer” had been shifted out of the area and removed from operational duty. But the source did not reveal the officer’s name or rank.
Altaf Ahmad Bhat, the chairman of a civil society group in Zaddora village and who claimed to be an eyewitness, had said on Sunday that senior army officers had apologised to the villagers.
Bhat had added that the officers had told the villagers that a major allegedly involved in the incident had been shifted.
“A new major who has taken over visited our village today and expressed regrets about the incident in front of a crowd. That happened on the lawns of my house. Several police officers were accompanying him. There was, in fact, a small protest here after which they came. The media, however, was not allowed to come inside," Bhat told TheTelegraph on Monday.
“I told them that we have never seen such an incident before and it should never happen again,” he added.
The villagers said that the officers assured them that the matter was being investigated and action would be taken.
The Muttahida Majlis-e-Ulama (MMU), an apex body of Islamic organisations based in Srinagar, issued a statement expressing “serious concern” over the alleged incident and condemned it. The MMU said the silence maintained by the authorities was unacceptable.
The alleged incident comes amid the growing Islamophobic air in the south Asian country that hosts over 200 million Muslims.
Source: Agencies
