By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net
New Delhi: The demolition of a Mosque in Jangpura area of South Delhi on Wednesday morning, triggered huge wave of protest in nearby areas including Nizamuddin and Old Delhi. According to the local MLA, Tarvinder Singh Marwah, three people have already died and several injured in police firing and lathi charge till now, although a senior police official of Hazrat Nizamuddin police station rejected the MLA’s claim, saying no body got seriously injured.
The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) demolished the mosque, terming it as “illegal” but the thousands of protesting local people that included Hindus also said that the mosque was very much legal as it was on the land of Delhi Waqf Board.
The situation now has become inflammable and has the potential to spread to other parts of Delhi. For instance all shops in Old Delhi were closed the entire day today, as a mark of protest. Thousands of people were on the street protesting against what they called as “an attack on the religious freedom of the city,” and “an attempt to disturb the communal harmony of an area famous for the tomb of Nizamuddin Aulia. Nizamuddin is one of the oldest parts of Delhi which has witnessed thousands of years of history. The area has also the tomb of famous Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib.
Sensing the urgency of the situation, Chief Minister of Delhi Shiela Dixit, was supposed to chair an urgent meeting tonight with the DDA authorities and local representatives.
From L to R: Local MLAs, Asif Mohammad Khan and Tarvinder Singh Marwah (sitting) with the protesters
“Not only that mosque was legal but add to that no body had any problem with that mosque except land mafia which is in nexus with the corrupt DDA officials, who forged the document and demolished the holy structure,” said Mr. Marwah while sitting on a peaceful protest in front of Hazrat Nizamuddin police station.
Talking to TwoCircles.net, Md. Tahir, a local resident said that people had been praying in that mosque since last 25 years. The land record number of that mosque was 665/20242024, as mentioned in the Waqf documents.
According to the local residents of Nizamuddin, the mosque was demolished before 6 in the morning itself, so much so that when people came to perform fajr prayer, the structure of the mosque had already been demolished. Local residents tried several times to reach the site of demolition and perform prayer but every time police lathi charged and in some cases as per the eye witnesses, fired bullets on the protesting crowd.
Political representatives like MLAs were angry also at the fact that the mosque was demolished without any warning or information and no democratic representative was taken into confidence before something like this was done.
Local resident performing prayer in front of the police station protesting against “illegal action”
As a mark of protest against this “illegal action,” the protesting crowd had been performing prayers in front of the Hazrat Nizamuddin police station. According to Mr. Marwah, names of those who got killed in the police firing are, Alauddin (28), s/o Mujahid (resident of Hazrat Nizamuddin), Khaleel, s/o Ali Khaleel (resident of Okhla), Salman Khursheed (28) s/o Jasmeen Khursheed (resident of Hazrat Nizamuddin).
Political leaders like Brinda Karat, and local MLAs like Shoaib Iqbal, Asif Mohammad Khan and Choudhary Mateen talked to the protesters and appealed to them to maintain peace.
The crowd demanded from the Delhi government to rebuild the mosque and hand it over to them and take action against the erring officials who ordered firing on the crowd, including registering FIR against the concerned officials allegedly responsible for the death of three innocent civilians. If the CM of Delhi doesn’t accept their demands they will be meeting the Home Minister tomorrow morning, said Asif Mohammad Khan, MLA from Jamia Nagar who was present at the site of protest.