SRINAGAR: The police in Kashmir say preliminary investigations into the fresh incident of Quran desecration in Ganderbal district has revealed the involvement of two local youth.
Protests broke out in Saloora village on Sunday after residents found somebody had desecrated the holy Quran inside a mosque.
Locals said they found a policeman’s belt and a shoe outside and blamed the police.
The incident has come at a time when the valley is seething with anger over the sacrilege and subsequent killings of Muslim protestors by the BSF in Ramban area, 130 kms from here, in Jammu region.
The authorities have filed three FIRs against the BSF soldiers and also some cops.
However in the latest incident in Ganderbal, police have denied the allegation. A police statement instead said their investigations revealed two drug addicts of the village were involved.
“Why would a policeman first desecrate the Quran and then leave his belt and shoe outside, this is common sense,” Superintendent of Police, Shahid Mehraj told FreePress.
He said that in the recent months, police had swooped down heavily upon drug peddlers and recovered 325 bottles of Corex and 8328 capsules of Spasmo-Proxyvon – banned drugs – from various areas.
SP Mehraj said that this act and subsequent allegations against the police could have been a ploy to deter them from entering into the area again.
“They thought blaming the police would stop us from going there again for the drug addicts,” he added.
