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Pune Muslims deride ‘attack on right to worship’

Muslim protest against the stay on constructing a new building at a masjid in Deccan area.

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DNA CorrespondentThe All-Pune Masjid Action Committee (APMAC) held a massive protest outside the office of the district collector on Friday to protest against what they termed as the state government’s attack on their right to worship.

The protest was organised to highlight the state government’s stay on the building of a refurbished building at the historic Haji Mekkeshah Masjid at Deccan Gymkhana corner last year.

Zahid Shiekh, president of APMAC, cited how the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) had twice sanctioned the plans for the new building at the present site of the 200-year-old mosque.

“The state home department stayed the permission citing a government resolution (GR) of 2009, which directed the state government to stall permission to religious structures, which might be a source of law and order problem for the neighbourhood,’’ he said.

Sheikh pointed out that there was never a problem of law and order in the neighbourhood of the mosque in the last 200 years.

“The district court had also given a similar judgment in 1998. Hence, all such objections are spurious,’’ he said.

More than 5,000 people had gathered at the district collectorate, with leaders from the Congress and Republican Party of India (RPI) addressing the gathering.

Sheikh pointed out how the said GR is being used to stall the construction of mosques across the state.

“In Pune alone, construction of nine mosques is pending,’’ he said. This was a direct attack on the right to worship of the Muslim community, he added.

A memorandum was presented to the district collector by the APMAC demanding withdrawal of the stay issued by the home ministry.

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