A memo was delivered to Bhupender Kumar Attri, the commissioner of the Shimla Municipal Corporation, on Thursday by representatives of the Muslim Welfare Committee. They requested that the unauthorised section of the Sanjauli structure be sealed off by the civic body, stating that they would demolish that portion of the building per a court order. This panel consists of the Imam of the mosque as well as members of the Waqf board and the mosque management committee. A committee delegation approached Bhupendra Attri and asked to speak with him. They stated that Muslims residing in the area are Himachal Pradesh residents and that the committee was acting to uphold peace and unity.
Muslim Welfare Committee delivering the memo
A welfare committee member named Mufti Mohammad Shafi Kasmi said, “We have requested permission from the Shimla municipal commissioner to demolish the unauthorised part of the mosque situated in Sanjauli.”
“There is no pressure on us; we have been living here for decades, and this decision has been taken as a Himachali,” said the Imam of the Sanjauli mosque. We want to live in harmony, and brotherhood should be the winner.”
Attri confirmed that he had received the statement. Members of the Dev Bhoomi Sangarh Committee, who had called for a protest against the unauthorised construction inside the mosque, praised the action.
“We applaud the Muslim community’s action and are the first to congratulate them for taking this step for the greater good,” Samiti member Vijay Sharma stated.
This comes a day after demonstrators in Shimla’s Sanjauli area, demanding the demolition of an illegal section of a mosque, clashed with security personnel on Wednesday, smashing barricades and throwing stones at them while police used charged water cannons and batons to scatter them. Ten or so people were hurt, including women and police. The government is closely monitoring all developments and is extremely concerned about the situation’s escalation, according to Himachal Pradesh Minister Vikramaditya Singh.
“We have spoken with party president Mallikarjun Kharge and party in-charge Rajiv Shukla, and we are in contact with the central leadership. They are also concerned that the law and order situation has not gotten worse,” he stated.
Hundreds of demonstrators assembled at Sabzi Mandi Dhalli, shouting “Jai Shri Ram” and “Hindu Ekta Zindabad,” and they marched towards Sanjauli market while disobeying prohibition orders and disregarding official warnings. As another crowd gathered at Sanjauli Chowk, they broke down barricades that had been erected near the Dhalli tunnel. Police batons charged and used water cannons to scatter the demonstrators as they gathered in response to calls from certain Hindu groups, broke through a second barricade near the mosque, and entered Sanjauli. Police set up a barricade near the mosque once more and arrested a few protestors, including Hindu Jagran Manch secretary Kamal Gautam, but the demonstrators would not go and kept chanting anti-administration slogans.
When the fighting broke out, students in Sanjauli, Dhalli, and the surrounding areas were stuck in their classrooms. Although the administration was aware of the demonstration, residents expressed their anger for not directing the schools to stay closed for the day. They claimed that several school administrators were waiting on district administration instructions before sending the kids back home.
Read about the Shimla Protests
