Police on Saturday intervened to peacefully douse off a standoff between the Ahmadiyya and other Muslim sects in Tallingding following a dispute about burial rites.
According to eye witnesses, the Ahmadiyya had gone to bury a colleague and former resident of Talingding who passed away on Friday. But according to reports they were prevented from entering the cemetery to bury the corpse by some youths who claimed they don’t belong to the Muslim religion and should not use the place to bury their dead. “The standoff lasted for more than an hour before a high level police team arrived to settle the matter,” said one eye witness.
Meanwhile the police last night issued a statement confirming the incident and its final conclusions. The full statement from the police reads:
Police in the Kanifing Municipality intervened and resolved a situation, which was heading to be a serious confrontation between the Muslims and Ahmadis of Tallingding on Saturday.
The confrontation is as a result of the burial rite of a deceased Ahmadiyaa man of Tallingding who died in his early 70s and was to be buried at the Tallingding Muslim Cemetery, but denied burial by the youth of Tallingding. The Tallingding youth claimed that Ahmadis are non-Muslims and therefore cannot be allowed access to bury their dead ones in Muslim cemetery, which according to them is against Islamic principles,” the police statement said.
The Police through dialogue brokered a relative peace between them and the body was finally buried.
The central Police command invites all the stakeholders in the conflict which includes the Muslims and Ahmadis of Tallingding, the Supreme Islamic Council and the Police to the Police Headquarters for a further dialogue to have a lasting solution to the misunderstanding between them today Monday the 8th of May.
In the meantime, the office of the inspector General of police urges the general public especially the two religious sets in Tallingding to maintain peace and be law abiding at all times. The office further warns the public to desist from taking the law into their hands.
