Omar1984
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The Anand police arrested five people on Monday for allegedly hoisting a Pakistani national flag at a dargah in Umreth. The police said the flag was not brought from Pakistan, but was locally sewn.
Anand Superintendent of Police A K Jadeja said flags are hoisted in the shrine called Jorasawa Na Bewa no Dargah to mark the beginning of Ramzan. “This year, they added a white strip to the flag, which caused uproar.”
He said the arrested neither have a police record nor suspected radical links, adding that the act “may have been done deliberately to cause communal disharmony in the area”. He added, “The matter is still under investigation.”
Sub Inspector A M Patel, who filed the case against five people — including the two dargah trustees, Misri Khan Pathan and Habib Khan Pathan — said two Pakistani flags were seen tied to a neem tree since the first day of Ramzan. “The locals in the area noticed the flags tied to a neem tree,” he said. He added that the two trustees run small-time business from Khadi mai ke Tekra. The other arrested include Sajid Khan Pathan, Ismail Pathan and Allahrakha Pathan, all labourers.
Patel said the other three accused helped in putting the flags on the tree.
The police said Umreth is a communally sensitive town, adding that Ode, which had witnessed one of the worst communal massacres in 2002, is a neighbouring village.
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