Lucknow : Simmering resentment among the Shia community over certain decisions taken by UP urban development and waqf minister Mohammad Azam Khan led to violent clash in Lucknow on Friday July 2,5 in which at least one person was killed and nearly a dozen injured. The protest was led by the Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawwad who has been agitating for a long time against the alleged attempts by Azam Khan to disband and re-constitute the Shia Waqf Board and dispose its properties.
Unconfirmed reports said a policeman injured seriously in the clash had also succumbed to his injuries. A large number of Shia devotees had come out on the road after the alvida namaz on the last Friday of Ramzan, and, led by Maulana Jalbe Jawwad, moved in a procession towards the centre of the city in an attempt to reach the chief minister’s residence. Incidentally the procession moved through an alternative route avoiding to pass in front of a mosque from where a large number of Sunni Muslims also come out after offering their namaz.
The slogan-shouting Shias were stopped at the Martyrs’ Memorial at Shaheed Smarak on the banks of the Gomti river, where the police had erected barricades to stop them from proceeding further. A very strong contingent of police had been deployed at this spot. The crowd was shouting slogans against Azam Khan and were demanding an end to alleged corruption in the Waqf Board. The protestors clashed with the police and resorted to brick-batting. The police then initiated a lathi-charge on them and tried to push them back. The agitated crowd also set a police vehicle and three motor cycles on fire and also attacked the mediapersons, damaging the cameras of two news channel teams.
More than a dozen men, including a few religious leaders, women and some policemen, were injured in the lathicharge.
Ratan Mani Lal
