HYDERABAD: Leaders of the Markazi Jamaat Ahle Sunnat, a wing of the Jamiat Ulema-iPakistan (JUP) has criticised the Hyderabad deputy commissioner for not granting it the permission for holding the Milad-i-Mustafa conference at Kohinoor Chowk on Thursday and urged the provincial government to intervene. They asserted that it was their right to hold the moot as they had been organising the event at this place for 40 years.

Speaking at a press conference at the local press club, Allama Hafiz Zahid Hussain Qadri, along with JUP leader Arif Hussain Noorani and other leaders, said that the deputy commissioner was reluctant to grant the permission. They said they had submitted an application on Dec 7 but waiting for the DC`s response till date.

They also criticised the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (HMC) and the Water and Sanitation Agency for failing to ensure cleanliness at and around the venue of the conference, observing that sewage had spoiled the atmosphere but no measures had been taken to clear it.

`The district administration is trying to shatter peace in the city by not granting us the permission,` they alleged.

The venue has remained a controversial place since the JUP split into two factions several years ago and both of them lay claim to it when it comes to hold the Eid Milad events. However, no untoward incident has taken place so far in the dispute as both the factions organise their programmes at the place with difference of timings.