Sufi shrine fire: Cops round up suspects for questioning

Ishfaq Tantry

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, December 2

The Jammu and Kashmir Police have rounded-up around a dozen suspects as part of its probe in a mysterious fire at a revered Sufi shrine in south Kashmir’s Tral sub-district during the intervening night of November 25 and 26, which had triggered anguish among the residents of the Valley at a time when uncertainty continues in the region following the abrogation of Article 370.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police, who are investigating the case, have already registered an FIR into the incident and also other incidents in the same area, in which many other religious places, including mosques, were targeted by unidentified miscreants on November 17.

While a magisterial probe is already on into these incidents, involving targeting Sufi Shrine and mosques, the J&K Police have also constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the matter, which is headed by an SDPO-rank officer.

“The investigation into the matter is on. We have rounded-up 8 to 12 suspects for questioning,” a senior police officer said. He said they were following many leads and the investigators were hopeful to crack the case. The officer, however, refused to share further details.

The mysterious fire incident targeting a Sufi shrine was reported from Kunsarbal (Krusbal) Mohalla in the old township of Tral, in which “miscreants” had set ablaze a shrine adjacent to a local mosque on the intervening night of November 25 and 26. The revered shrine named after Sufi preacher Hazrat Mir Mohamad Hamdani is stated to house the relicts of Hazrat Abu Bakr, one of the close companions of Prophet Muhammad.

Though police are tight-lipped about the motives behind the targeting of the shrine, sources reveal the miscreants had also pasted a “mischievous” poster at one of the gates of the shrine to “arouse passions”, adding that the locals of the areas “displayed tremendous maturity” by keeping their patience and not taking law and order in their hands.

Earlier on November 17, there were also alleged incidents of desecration of the Holy Quran, damage to mosques and shrines at Dadsara, Amirabad and Sangrama areas of Tral and also an attempt to set a mosque on fire at Amirabad.