By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
New Delhi :Â With the express order issued by a colonel to vacate immediately, the over 200-year old Al-Habeebya or Basant Nagar Wali Masjid situated at national highway No. 8 in Vasant Range Colony here is under threat of being wiped off the face of the earth, a front-page report published in Urdu daily Rashtriya Sahara said here Tuesday.
Muslims offer five-time daily prayers as well as the Friday Prayers in this mosque. All necessary documents related to this mosque are available with Delhi Waqf Board, the report adds.
According to the Imam of the mosque Muhammad Jafar, Col. Mina Dutta along with over one hundred military jawans entered the mosque with their shoes on at about quarter past 3 p.m. on June 23.
The Colonel asked the Imam to vacate the mosque within 24 hours, saying that the land on which the mosque stands belongs to the military.
Muhammad Jafar says that Col. Dutta forced him to put his signature on a piece of paper which he did under compulsion. The Imam's wife was also forced to put her signature but she refused to do so saying she was illiterate. Then the father-in-law of the Imam, Ayoob Khan, 60, was told to put his thumb impression on the paper. Meanwhile, someone from the Imam's residence dialled 100 to call the police, knowing which the colonel along with his jawans left the place, threatening the Imam of dire consequences.
Soon after the incident the Imam filed a First Information Report (FIR) with Delhi Cantonment Police Station and also informed the functionaries of Delhi Waqf Board.
Later, a complaint was filed with Deputy Police Commissioner of South West Delhi, and Union Minister for Defence A.K. Antony, Lt. Governor Tajendra Khanna, Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit and Delhi Waqf Board chairman Chaudhry Mateen Ahmad have been also urged to make their intervention to protect the mosque.