Piqued over the peace prayers at the local Jamia Masjid in non-descript hamlet of Danwakote in Rajouri district, militants last night abducted and slit the throat of the Imam of the mosque, sparking off a huge protest demonstration in the area.
Sources said today morning, hundreds of villagers from Danwakote and its adjoining areas came out on the streets to protest the killing of Moulvi Mohammad Bashir, the head priest of the Jamia Masjid mosque.
This is for the first time in the area that a religious preacher has been killed by militants.
According to villagers, at 8:30 pm last night, some unidentified gunmen barged into the house of Bashir and abducted him and another villager Khalil Ahmad at gunpoint.
After taking them a kilometer away, militants released Ahmad, but slit throat of Bashir, whose body was spotted by villagers.
Demanding visit of human rights organisation to the area, protesters said, “The killing of Imam has exposed the militants’ claim of carrying out jehad and their so-called sympathy with Muslims of the area.”
S.A. Mujtaba, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Rajouri, pacified the agitated villagers.
Khalil Ahmad was in a state of shock. He said from the dress and the chaste Punjabi language that gunmen spoke, it seemed that they were from Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Imam was laid to rest with full religious honours in the evening.
A month ago, killing of village numberdar, Mohammad Hussein, in Shahdara Sharief area had also ignited people, who took to roads.
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