Mosques and mazars on kanwar route in Haridwar 'covered up'

HARIDWAR: Amid the ongoing controversy over UP and Uttarakhand govt directives over eateries and stalls along the kanwar route, large white screens were put up in front of a few mosques and mazars in Haridwar “in a bid to keep religious places of the minority community away from public view”.
The head of a mosque called the measure “unprecedented”. Several kanwariyas said this was “unnecessary”.Many Hindu residents of Haridwar also questioned the move, with one of them dubbing it “condemnable”.
However, senior Uttarakhand cabinet minister Satpal Maharaj justified it, saying, “This has been done so that there is no unnecessary excitement or provocation from any side and the yatra runs smoothly.” Acknowledging that “this has been done for the first time”, he added: “Govt will look at the feedback over the move.”
Haridwar DM Dheeraj Singh Garbyal told TOI that the district administration wasn’t responsible for the step.
On Friday afternoon, as news of this spread through the town and beyond, a few special police officers (SPO) and volunteers were seen hastily removing the screens. Danish, an SPO, said, “I’m doing it at the behest of Jwalapur railway police post”. He, however, refused to divulge who had ordered the mosques and mazars to be screened off.

Locals in Muslim-majority Jwalapur said that the screens came up on July 22 at Bhoore Shah mazar near Uncha Pul and a mosque at Islamnagar. The caretaker of the mazar and Anwar Ali, head of the mosque, said they had “no clue” as to what prompted the authorities to take the measure.
A kanwariya from UP said “passing by mosques and mazars had not bothered us in the past and does not affect us this year as well.”
Ratan Mani Dobhal, a local, said, “Such a thing should not have been done. Maybe some officials thought it necessary”. A senior police officer blamed it on the “ignorance shown by some local officers”.

Supreme Court Friday refused to modify its July 22 interim order that stayed directives issued by Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand govts to shop owners and hawkers along the kanwar yatra route to display their names outside the establishments. If there is a law on this, it should be implemented across the states and not selectively in certain areas, the court said, adding, “For (those) displaying their names voluntarily, there is no issue.”