Islamic group protest against police
About 200 supporters of Pakistan’s largest Islamic group, Jamaat-e-Islami, rallied in the capital of Pakistan’s portion of Kashmir today to protest against the detention of a group member in a police raid a day earlier.
The briefly blocked traffic in Muzaffarabad’s main street while chanting slogans against the police and carrying signs reading “We want peace, not commandos".
About two dozen policemen wielding rifles and sticks looked on, but there was no violence and the protest ended after about half an hour.
Police today picked up Shamsher Khan during a raid on a relief camp for quake survivors run by Jamaat-e-Islami, but freed him after about five hours, said Atta Ullah, deputy chief of police in Muzaffarabad.
Ullah said the raid was carried out to check on a tip that there were weapons and munitions at the Jamaat-e-Islami camp.
However, nothing was seized and Khan was released without charge, Ullah said.
Syed Nauman Ali, an organiser of the anti-police rally, accused the government of trying to disrupt Jamaat-e-Islami’s relief efforts.
