PESHAWAR: Tension deepened as thousands of people turned up on Friday to protest against the district administration’s alleged bid to demolish Speen Jumaat on the main University Road, which is one of the prominent mosques of the provincial metropolis.
The people were charged. However, the members of Tahaffuz-e-Speen Jumaat Committee managed to keep them calm and confined within the premises of the spiraling mosque.
Despite the fact that the protest gathering was held inside the mosque, so huge was the rush of the people that the dual carriage eight-lane road outside the place of worship remained blocked for hours. The gathering was addressed by the members of the committee for the protection of the mosque.
They included former ministers Amanullah Haqqani, convener of the committee, Kashif Azam Chishti, Hafiz Hashmat Khan, former members of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Arbab Atifur Rahman and Yaseen Khan Khalil, Arbab Mohammad Tahir, Arbab Khizer Hayat Khan, Maulana Ataul Haq Darvesh and others.
The speakers rejected the district administration’s stand on the building’s poor condition.
They said that the district administration was bent on demolishing the mosque and constructing a shopping plaza on the site. The speakers said that the people were aware of the designs of the district administration and they would render every sacrifice to protect the mosque.
Deputy Commissioner Shafiullah posted a video message on social media, urging the people to support the administration in demolishing and restructuring the mosque for their own benefit.
He alleged that certain people were “misleading the people” that the administration was going to demolish the mosque. He rejected the allegation as false.
The official said that the district administration managed to get inspected the building of the mosque through Peshawar Development Authority and Communication and Works Department. Both, he said, termed the mosque too dangerous to be used.
“People come for offering prayers and some 60 students are boarding in the mosque and any untoward happening may result in serious eventuality,” the deputy commissioner said.
Therefore, he added, the administration has decided to seal the mosque in the first phase. Then it would be demolished and a new mosque constructed on the site. The most startling point in his message was that some 40 feet of the mosque came under encroachment, which would be used for road widening and a multi-storey mosque would be constructed on the remaining space.
The members of the committee, on the other hand, rejected the
claim of the deputy commission as baseless.
They alleged that the official had changed his earlier version wherein he had declared that a plaza having two basements for parking, shops and some floors specified for the mosque would be constructed on the site. The old video message of the deputy commissioner was shared with this reporter wherein the official had made the announcement. Talking to The News, Kashif Azam Chishti rejected the deputy commissioner’s claim about encroachment as baseless.
He said that the map of the mosque had been duly approved by the then Peshawar Municipal Corporation in 1982, adding the mosque had been constructed in line with the bapproved map. “So how can he say that the land has encroached?” he stressed.
Kashif Azam Chishti said that the map and related documents were there and anybody could check them.
About the building, he said that if the district administration really had any proof of the problem with the strength of the building, he should produce the proof and they would discuss it.
“We have decided to hire the best engineers and building experts who would inspect and check the building of the mosque and if there is any issue, we will settle it in line with the recommendations of the experts. But we will never allow anyone to seal or demolish the mosque,” he stressed.
Kashif Azam Chishti said that the people of the area had an emotional attachment to the mosque. “I don’t know why the commissioner and deputy commissioner were playing with the fire,” he asked. He said the committee would call another meeting for Monday wherein the future line of action would be decided.
Kashif Azam Chishti rejected the possibility of holding talks with the district administration as he alleged that a delegation of elders of the area had called on the commissioner a week earlier and the officer had allegedly misbehaved with them. “Who would agree to hold talks with such an arrogant official? “ he questioned.
The matter came to the limelight when a contractor with a map visited the mosque some 10 days back with the plan to demolish the mosque and construct a new structure on the site. This sparked resentment among the local people who launched a campaign for the protection of the mosque irrespective of any political affiliations. This is the reason that representation of all the political parties can be seen on the committee for the protection of the mosque.
