Devotees defy blockade to join Ijtema:Daily Star

Devotees offer Juma prayers on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway yesterday, as the assembly at the Biswa Ijtema ground on the Turag bank spills over. Photo: Anisur Rahman Defying the nonstop blockade enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance, hundreds of thousands of Muslims attended the first day of Biswa Ijtema, the second largest Muslim congregation in the world, at Tongi in Gazipur yesterday. The I
jtema venue, the bank of the Turag river, and its adjacent areas literally turned into a human sea during the Juma prayers. The three-day congregation concludes tomorrow through the Akheri Munajat seeking spiritual wellbeing and welfare of the Muslim Ummah. Thousands of Muslims were seen offering their Juma prayers on the streets blocking vehicular movement and roofs of different houses and markets. The first phase of the Ijtema began after Fazr prayers with religious sermons delivered by Islamic scholars. Around 5,000 Muslims from 50 countries have joined the congregation so far. A huge number of people took inter-district trains to come to the venue, while many arrived on buses, pickup-vans or rented microbuses ignoring blockade violence. "We, a group of 11 people, arrived here Thursday night. We had to endure huge sufferings due to shortage of public transport," said Manik Miyan, adding that they had started from Habiganj at 11:00am and reached the Ijtema ground around 9:00pm. "I have been attending the Ijtema for 10 years but never endured such sufferings like this," said Abdul Ali, 55, of the group. Advertisement Superintendent of Police in Gazipur Harun-ur-Rashid said the atmosphere in and around the venue removed the memories of blockade from the devotees' minds. "Here it seems there is no blockade," he observed. Around 12,000 policemen were deployed in a five-layered security net in and around the Ijtema ground, SM Mahfuzul Haque Nuruzzaman, deputy inspector general of police, said. Three people heading to the Ijtema were killed and another was critically injured as a bus and a private car collided head-on on the Dhaka-Aricha Highway in Dhamrai on the outskirts of the capital yesterday. FREE MEDICAL CAMPS A few thousand people received treatment from free medical services offered by different government and private organisations near the Ijtema ground. Besides, around 1,000 devotees took treatment at Tongi Hospital and three medical camps under the supervision of the civil surgeon of Gazipur from 8:00am Thursday to 6:00am yesterday. NAMAZ-E-JANAZA The namaz-e-janaza of two people who had died in the areas close to the Ijtema ground was held after the Juma prayers. MOBILE COURTS Three mobile courts filed 16 cases and realised Tk 44,500 in fine from restaurants and shops between Thursday and yesterday afternoon for selling adulterated food and unhygienic conditions, said Md Shariful Islam, executive magistrate of the deputy commissioner's office, Gazipur. DOWRY FREE MARRIAGE Like the previous years, dowry-free weddings were arranged at the Ijtema ground today, the second day of the congregation. Organisers said registration was going on to that end.