India Tomorrow
SRINAGAR–A major row has erupted after army troops allegedly barged into a mosque in Pulwama and forced worshippers to chant “Jai Shri Ram” and “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”.
A posse of Rashtriya Riffles led by a Major rank officer barged into the mosques at Zadoora village and forced the muezzin and worshipers to chant “Jai Shri Ram”.
“Shocked to hear about army troops from 50 RR storming into a mosque at Pulwama & forcing Muslims inside to chant ‘Jai Shree Ram’. Such a move when @AmitShah is here & that too ahead of the yatra is simply an act of provocation. Request @RgGhai to immediately set up a probe,” Mehbooba Mufti, former J&K chief minister, tweeted.
“Reports of security force personnel entering a mosque in Zadoora in Pulwama are deeply distressing. It’s bad enough they entered but then forcing people to chant slogans like “Jai Shree Ram”, as reported by the locals there, is unacceptable. I hope @rajnathsingh ji will issue instructions for these reports to be investigated in a timely & transparent manner,” Omar Abdullah, another former chief minister, tweeted.
Altaf Ahmad Bhat, the chairman of a civil society group in Zaddora village and who described himself as an eyewitness, was quoted by different media outlets saying senior army officers on Sunday apologized to the villagers and informed them that the major allegedly involved in the incident had been removed.
Bhat said the soldiers visited the site around 2 am on Saturday and asked him to summon some residents, including his younger brother Javed Ahmad, a government teacher. “It was pitch dark. They sealed all the roads, knocked on my door, and asked me to get these men as the officer wanted to meet them. I went to their homes and took them, including my brother, along, although their families were reluctant,” he was quoted as saying.
“Sometime later, I heard their cries. I felt that they were being beaten. I protested and raised some slogans but they (the soldiers) warned me to keep quiet. What I learnt later was that they (the soldiers) were telling them to open the doors of the mosque and chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans. They (the residents) apparently refused to open the mosque (for this) but were thrashed. I saw them (the soldiers) trampling on the head of my brother. He seemed to be telling them that he would chant the slogans outside the mosque but not inside.”
Muttahida Majlis-e-Ulama (MMU), an apex body of clerics, expressed serious concern and strongly condemned the incident that took place in Masjid Sharief of Zadoora in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, on the night of June 23 and 24, wherein the personnel of the Army’s 50 Battalion Rashtriya Rifles harassed the local people and beat up some residents forcing them to raise non-Muslim slogans from the mosque.
In a statement, the MMU said the silence maintained by the authorities in this regard is unacceptable. It asked them to clarify their position in this regard as the religious sentiments of Muslims of J&K have been badly hurt and people are shocked.
The MMU expressed concern over the fact that the government-backed institutions in Jammu and Kashmir are increasingly interfering with the management and working of mosques, shrines, imambaras, and other religious institutions.
