By TNN
Dehradun: In a turnaround from its earlier stance, the Uttarkashi district administration, which had earlier declared a decades-old mosque to be ‘legal with valid documents’, said on Friday that the structure was ‘disputed’ and granted permission to a right-wing group, which has been claiming that the decades-old mosque is illegal, to hold a mahapanchayat on the issue.
This came even as a string of officials, including the SP, were summarily transferred amidst claims that this was done at the behest of right-wing group members who had met CM Pushkar Singh Dhami on the issue.
The mahapanchayat, to be held at Ramleela Ground, about 250m from the mosque on Sunday, was being allowed “subject to conditions that the participants will not indulge in hate speech or any action promoting enmity between communities and not carry firearms, sharp weapons, inflammable material, sticks, or any other items that could disrupt law and order,” a statement by the district administration said.
Earlier, the district administration, in a press release issued by Bhatwari SDM Mukesh Chand Ramola, had confirmed the mosque’s registration with the Muslim Waqf Board and its documentation in land records dating back to 1983 under the then Uttar Pradesh government. However, on Friday, the administration describing the mosque as a “disputed structure” took many by surprise.
This story was originally published in timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Read the full story here.
