QUR’ĀN DESECRATION TRIGGERS PROTESTS IN VALLEY

An alleged desecration of the Qur’ān triggered massive protests in Bandipore on Jun 16. The police picked up ten persons for questioning and also put restriction on civilian movement to prevent the protests from spreading. Villagers alleged that on Friday evening some drunk labourers of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) entered a local mosque at Tragbal village on the Bandipore-Gurez road and damaged the Qur’ān and other religious books kept there. “We have registered a case under Section 295 (desecration of religious places),” Nisar Ahmad, Station House Officer Bandipore told reporters. “We have arrested 10 non-local labourers. But because of the disturbance in law and order, we didn’t get time to question them.”