BADIN: More than two dozen people were rounded up following a clash between police and a group of devotees at the shrine of Saint Saman Shah, situated a few kilometres from Pangrio town, on Friday.

The concluding ceremonies of the three-day urs were under way when police intervened and ordered all people present there to leave the shrine within two hours for security reasons.

While most of the devotees started leaving the shrine, some of them defied the police order which compelled the police to use force. After failing to get people out of the shrine by applying baton-charge, the police fired shots into the air to scare them away.

Police picked up an unspecified number of devotees and later rounded up about two dozen other people including six women dancers, and a few suspects whom they described as ‘anti-social elements’.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2016