Ejaz Mehmood
Minchinabad
At least 14 persons were injured in a clash between members of two schools of thought erupted over ‘the right to lead prayers’ in a local mosque here in Bhutto Colony on Saturday. The police had to intervene and sealed off the mosque to avert any future clash.
As per detail, there was tension between two schools of thoughts over “who had the right to lead the prayers and manage the affairs of the mosque.” However, the situation turned violent after Fajr Prayers on Saturday as approximately 300 people from one sect took control of the mosque and insisted that “leading prayers was their right.” However, the group refused to accept the decision which led to the clash.
Source said that members of both the groups attacked each other with stones and bricks at around 6am in the morning. Resultantly 14 persons identified as Muhammad Asif, Aamir Sohail, Muhammad Ammar, Saeed Ahmad, Muhammad Jameel, Muhammad Ismael, Abdul Waheed, Muhammad Umar, Alam Ali, Muhammad Akram, Zahid Ali, Muhammad Ishfaq, Allah Ditta and Ghulam Mohiuddin were injured.
In the meantime persons from one of the groups also resorted to aerial firing. On information, the police and Elite Force commandos rushed to the scene to control the situation.
The injured were shifted to the THQ Hospital where they were stated to be in stable condition but the condition one Ghulam Mohiuddin is stated to be critical and he was later shifted to DHQ Hospital Bahawalnagar
Meanwhile, Police SHO Nadeem Iqbal and DSP Shaikh Abid Akhtar held negotiations with the leaders of both groups and evacuated the mosque to avert any further clash.
Later, both groups filed complaints for registration of case against each other with the police.