SHOPIAN; A residential house was vandalized allegedly by members of Barelvi group on Wednesday in Arhama village of Shopian district for not celebrating Eid-e-milad.

File photo | Not of the incident

According to the family, "On wednesday, as the village is famous for the relic of Syed Ganj Baksh, thousands of devotees gathered here. We belong to Tabeelgi Jamaat and we are not celebrating such events. They took out a procession which was led by Riyaz Ahmad and Muhammad Ghaznvi.They told the gathering to make this village pure from other sects."

A member of the family Adil Ahmad, narrated the incident further, "I along with my brother and uncle was coming towards my house and some youth caught us. They attacked us with fire-pots (Kangri's) but we managed to ran away. Then they came to our house and pelted stones. They set fire to our house, however fire tenders reached on time and they managed to save us."

"We ran towards police station Shopian, which is more than 2 kms away from here to lodge FIR against these miscreants. However we were shocked when police locked us in a dingy cell." He added.

He further said, "We were released on next day. Although the police had assured us that they will took action regarding this. But so far nothing has been done."

The locals in Tak mohalla area of the town also alleged that a procession came from here on Wednesday and shouted provocative slogans infront of Jamait-e-Ahlihadith masjid. However we ignored them, otherwise situation could have turned ugly.

This reporter tried to contact Station House Officer Shopian, however he didn't pick the phone.