Shimla mosque dispute: VHP leaders, ex-councillors among those booked for violent protest
Shimla (PTI): VHP leaders, former councillors and chief of panchayats were among 50 people booked for violence during a protest that was held here last week demanding the demolition of an illegal portion of a mosque in the Sanjauli area, police said on Sunday.
Protesters clashed with security personnel on September 11, breaking barricades and pelting stones as police used water cannons and batons to disperse them. About 10 people, including police and women, were injured.
Call detail records of people who instigated the protest have been gathered and more cases will be registered, the Superintendent of Police of Shimla Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi told the PTI.
"There is CCTV footage, video and photograph evidence of people carrying stones in their hands that were thrown at officers on duty," the officer said.
The 50 people who police identified and registered eight cases so far include leaders of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), panchayat chiefs and their deputies, former councillors and shopkeepers, besides people from Chopal and Theog, officials said.
The protesters have been booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 196 (1) (promoting enmity on basis of religion); 196(2) (offence at place of worship); 189 (unlawful assembly); 126(2) (wrongful restraint); 61(2) (criminal conspiracy and assault); 353 (2) (spreading false information on religion); 223 (disobeying orders of public servants; and 132 (assaulting public servant).
"It was a pre-planned protest to disturb the peace. Those who provoked the whole incident on social media have been identified and their act and conduct endorse how they participated in the crime," the SP said.
"In a video, a person was seen standing on a tempo and provoking the people to break the prohibitory order under section 163 of Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). We did not receive any application seeking permission to protest," he said.
The SP said two police personnel sustained serious injuries, with one on the back and another on the head, and those guilty of it would be dealt with strictly as per the law.
Amid tension in Shimla over the Sanjauli mosque issue, a Muslim welfare committee last Thursday offered to demolish the unauthorised part while members of the community themselves pulled down a wall of a mosque in government land in Mandi.
A delegation of the welfare committee during a representation to Shimla Municipal Commissioner Bhupendra Attri said Muslims living in the locality are permanent residents of Himachal Pradesh and it was taking the step to preserve harmony and brotherhood.
"We have sought permission from the Shimla municipal commissioner to demolish the unauthorised part of the mosque situated in Sanjauli," member of the welfare committee Mufti Mohammad Shafi Kasmi said.
Members of the Dev Bhoomi Sangarh Committee who had given the protest call against the unauthorised construction in the mosque welcomed the move.
"We welcome the move of the Muslim community and would be the first to hug them for taking this initiative in the larger interest," member of the samiti Vijay Sharma had said.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
