LUCKNOW, India (Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - In wake of police raids to arrest accused of firing in Dargah Hazrat Abbas, Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawwad on Saturday urged the city police to act impartially. He also threatened to launch an agitation, if police misbehaved with women and children during its raid on the residences of accused. He gave this call after a delegation of women from Saadatganj locality in Lucknow, met Jawwad and apprised him about the situation arising after police raids.

To recall, in wake of firing incident at Dargah Hazrat Abbas on November 10, between the supporters of two committees over a shrine, the city police raided several places in Saadatganj locality. The raids were conducted to arrest the accused named in the FIR in the firing incident which left two injured.

"The firing incident inside the dargah premises is condemnable in strongest term. However we cannot allow police to take liberty and raid houses of accused during night and harass the women," said Jawwad.

The cleric even had words with DM and DIG of Lucknow and apprised them of the situation. Meanwhile, the Shia Central Board of Waqfs (SCBW), which is the custodian of the shrine, has announced to install CCTVs at all important shrines to avert such incidents. Another demand from a Shia organisation, Imam Hussain Foundation has been made to abolish the donation box system at shrines. The brawl occurred in the Dargah Hazrat Abbas when the SCBW officials were in the process of sealing the donation boxes.

Messages condemning the firing incident inside shrine premises have poured in from various clerics. Spokesperson, All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPLB) Maulana Yasoob Abbas has demanded to probe the root cause behind the incident. "The incident has put the whole Shia community in a state of shock. We demand an enquiry in the whole episode," he demanded.

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