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| February 21, 2006 | Tuesday | Muharram 22, 1427 |
22 booked for burning churches, school
SUKKUR, Feb 20: Police have registered cases against 22 people on charges of setting fire to two churches and a school building during protests in Sukkur following reports of desecration of the Holy Quran.
Three cases have been registered in which the 22 people have been named as accused. At least 600 unidentified people have also been nominated in the cases, a senior police official said.
He said that Irfan Gill, a Muslim who had converted from Christianity a few years ago, had burned some pages of the Holy Book and tried to blame his father-in-law, a Christian, with whom he had a property dispute.
Irfan was produced before the anti-terrorism court which remanded him to five-day police custody for interrogation.
Ten other accused were also produced before the court on charges of indulging in incidents of vandalism at different places. The court also remanded them to police custody for five days. They are Iftikhar Pathan, Sajjid, Iftikhar Hussain, Hussain Bux, Naeemullah, Raziullah, Haider Ali, Rizwan, Faisal and Nauman.
Seven people namely Mohammad Faheem, Arsalaan, Ghulam Mustafa, Mohammad Ayub, Imran, Nasir and Badaruddin have been booked on charges of setting fire to the Saviour’s Church.
An FIR was registered against Mohammad Taufeeq, Shakeel Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Ameer and Mohammad Siddiq on charges of setting ablaze St Mary’s High School.
All the accused booked in the cases were produced in the anti-terrorism court-II, Sukkur, which remanded them to five-day police custody.
Strike: A complete strike was observed in Sukkur, Rohri, Kandhra and Bagarji for the second day on Monday in protest against alleged desecration of the Holy Quran.
All bazaars and business centres remained closed. Traffic was thin on the roads. All educational institutions also remained closed.
Rangers and police personnel patrolled the city to avert any untoward incident. Security personnel were also deployed around churches and Christian schools.
Members of the Christian community held police responsible for the burning of Saviour’s Church, St. Mary’s Church and the a Diocesan school hostel.
They said the churches were located near the DIG office but police failed to stop the assailants, and added that police moved about six hours after the incidents of violence and attacks.
A ministerial committee formed by the Sindh chief minister met delegations of Ulema and Christian community and officials of police and local administration.
The five-member committee comprises Sindh Home Minister Rauf Siddiqui, Irrigation Minister Nadir Akmal Leghari, Health Minister Shabbir Qaimkhani, Minister Mir Manzoor Panhwar and adviser to the Sindh Chief Minister Waseem Akhtar.
Talking to newsmen, Mr Siddiqui said the government had formed judicial as well as ministerial committees to probe into the incidents, and added that police officials found guilty of negligence would be taken to task.
He said that Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad had constituted a high-level judicial committee headed by a high court judge.
The minister termed the incident a conspiracy and said that clues had been found and the responsible people would be brought to book soon. He said the government was responsible for protecting the lives and property of the minorities.
Bishop Rafiq Masih and Bishop Max visited the churches and discussed the issue with community members.
The bishops also met the ministerial team and the IG police, Sindh.
The ministerial team and the IG Sindh assured them that police officials found negligent would be severely dealt with.
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