Haryana: Three days after namaz row, villagers say all is well now

The village, with a population of around 4000, is located barely 10 km from Uttar Pradesh’s border, is dominated by Hindus. There are only 10 Muslim families living in the village since Partition. A few Christian families are also settled in the village and a church is being constructed.

“This is the first time such an incident has happened. Peace and harmony had always prevailed in our village,” says Yakub Ali, a blacksmith.

“We reached a compromise as the village panchayat was held and both the sides gave in writing that the village’s peace and harmony would not be disrupted”, Yakub told The Indian Express. However, he added, “Yesterday, a slanderous video was uploaded by somebody on Facebook. In the video, villagers were passing inflammatory remarks at Muslims inviting reactions from the viewers. We have informed the police about it”, Ali added.

“There is a temple and gurdwara in the village, where loudspeakers are used in morning and evening hours. Nobody objects to high volume there. There are some miscreants who incited a group of youth to disrupt namaz. Police know about those people”, Ali said.

Imam of the mosque, Ahmad Ashfaq, said, “Nearly two months ago, a villager who was apparently drunk asked me to remove the loudspeaker from the mosque. He also used foul language. But I took it lightly.”

Recalling the Wednesday’s incident, a 14-year-old boy, Mohammad Usama, who has come to the village from Uttar Pradesh to deliver a religious lecture, said, “It was scary… the manner in which 15-20 persons entered the mosque, went to the rooftop and damaged loudspeakers.”

Haryana DGP BS Sandhu, said, “I have learnt that a compromise has been reached between the two parties.”
Village’s sarpanch Harbhajan Singh, said, “Peace prevails in the village. It was an unfortunate incident”. Former sarpanch, Pintu Naik, said, “They [Muslims] have agreed to use loudspeakers at low volume”.

“Police officers told us that they will deploy security cover in the village. But, we assured the police that peace and harmony will not be disrupted at any cost. Out of six named in the FIR, police had caught three the same night. But after the compromise, the youths were released”, Harbhajan Singh told The Indian Express.