AMIDST Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav’s appeals for peace, following the Shia-Sunni clash on Sunday, the police have filed an FIR that is likely to widen the rift between the two sects. Laying the blame squarely on the Shias, the FIR says they ‘‘conspired’’ to ‘‘create a riot’’.
Express Newsline has obtained possession of a copy of the FIR which states: ‘‘The accused named Parvez, Sanam and Haider, who are Shias, alongwith 100-125 members of the Shia community, conspired together and armed themselves with weapons to create a riot in Ramganj area of Thakurganj in Old Lucknow from 10.30 am to 11 am on February 20.’’
It adds: ‘‘The Shias resorted to stone-pelting, mouthed obscenties and threatened Sunnis with life. The Shias then looted and burnt down shops and houses of Sunnis, and when some peace-loving persons tried to pacify them, the three named accused shot dead three Sunnis and greviously injured some others.’’
The FIR was lodged at Old Lucknow’s Thakurganj police station on the night of February 20. ‘‘Without the FIR, it was not possible to conduct the post-mortem of the three dead. So the FIR was lodged on the complaint of one Mohammad Khalid, a Sunni,’’ said District Magistrate Aradhana Shukla.
‘‘Obviously, he would have potrayed only the version of the Sunnis. The riot was sparked by both sides, although it was the Shias who opened fire. A magisterial enquiry ordered into the incident will probe the issue in more detail,’’ she added, conceding that ‘‘more care could have been taken with the language of the FIR... I will personally check the matter.’’
However, SSP Navniet Sekera shrugged off any blame. ‘‘We only lodged the report the complainant gave us. If we had not recorded his version the way he narrated it, there would have been allegations of the police department’s partisan role.’’ On a more coniliatory note, he added: ‘‘We are open to lodging a counter-FIR from the Shia side as well. But there has been no complainant yet from that side.’’
Meanwhile, as the indefinite curfew in Old Lucknow continued for the third day today, the DM and SSP led a flag-march in Hussainabad.
With all the three accused and their families absconding, the police today pasted notices on the locked doors of their homes and shops for seizing their properties. While Parvez has a confectionary shop, Sanam helps at his father’s clinic adjoining Parvez’s shop. Haider does needlework at the next shop.
It was Parvez who allegedly pulled out a .315 bore gun and shot dead three persons and seriously injured two others. All the dead were Sunnis. However, eye-witnesses claimed that Parvez took that action after a mob doused his house and shop with petrol and threatened to burn his 12-member family alive. The shutters of his shop have been burnt down.
‘‘It was a panic reaction by Parvez. He pulled out the gun and caused the casualties. The stone-pelting, which both sides had been carrying on, would not have caused such damage otherwise,’’ admitted Shukla.
The trouble started when a Shia Tazia procession entered a Sunni locality while proceeding towards the Chhota Imambara on Sunday. With the procession raising Muharram slogans, the Sunnis came out of their houses and objected. The arguments gave way to stone-pelting, and the ensuing violence.