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New Delhi: With
feasts, warm "Eid Mubarak" greetings, and prayers for peace
Muslims across the country celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr Monday, marking
the end of the holy month of Ramzan.
Tight security was in place in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra
Pradesh and in the national capital to ensure the festival passes
off peacefully.
In Assam, singed with the recent communal violence, peace was the
focal point of celebrations as thousands of people offered
Namaz-e-Eid at mosques across the state, including in the troubled
Kokrajhar, Chirang and Dhubri districts where 77 people have been
killed in ethnic clashes and more than four lakh displaced.
Thousands of Muslims participated in special prayers organised at
Eidgahs, mosques and open grounds and prayed for lasting peace in
Assam, particularly in the Bodoland Territorial Areas Districts.
In Karnataka, thousands of Muslims celebrated Eid amid tight
security in Bangalore and other cities.
About 20,000 policemen were deployed across the southern
metropolis after 30,000 northeast people left the city for
Guwahati Aug 15-17 following rumours of attacks on them.
Eid was celebrated amid peace and religious fervour across Mumbai
and Maharashtra with Muslims offering special congregational
prayers as thanksgiving to mark the end of the month of Ramzan.
In most areas of Mumbai, including Colaba, Nagpada, Mazgaon and
Mahim, the celebrations began with the bursting of fire crackers.
Tens of thousands of Muslims across Andhra Pradesh Monday offered
'Namaz-e-Eid' at Eidgahs, open grounds and mosques to mark the end
of the fasting month of Ramzan.
Wearing new clothes and skull caps, men and children offered
prayers as Eid was celebrated with traditional fervour in the twin
cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, Nizamabad, Adilabad,
Karimnagar, Kurnool, Guntur, Vijayawada, Kadapa and other towns of
Andhra Pradesh.
Special 'duas' (prayers of supplication) for the Muslims of Assam
and Myanmar marked the namaz. The Jamaat-e-Islami, Students
Islamic Organisation (SIO) and other organisations collected funds
to help the victims of Assam and Myanmar violence.
Muslims celebrated the Eid by meeting and greeting their relatives
and friends. Visitors were treated with 'sheer khorma', a sweet
dish made of vermicelli, milk and dry fruits.
Children were a happy lot as they received 'Eidi', the money given
by elders during the festival.
In Jammu and Kashmir, a stray incident of some youths torching a
police vehicle in Srinagar was reported as Eid-ul-Fitr prayers
were offered amid peace and tranquility across the state.
Senior police officials were rushed to the spot where some youths
indulged in stone pelting at the security forces.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and members of his council of
ministers joined devotees in offering prayers.
All senior separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz
Umer Farooq, Shabir Shah, Muhammad Yasin Malik and Muhammad Nayeem
Khan, were placed under house arrest in Srinagar.
Authorities have been preventing the separatist leaders from
addressing large public meetings since the 2010 summer unrest, in
which 107 people were killed in bloody clashes with the security
forces.
In the national capital, Muslims dressed in their finest as they
congregated in thousands at mosques all over the city. The
centrepiece was the historic Jama Masjid in the walled city.
In the backdrop of the ethnic violence in Assam and thousands of
people from the northeast fleeing places like Bangalore, Hyderabad
and Pune following rumours that they would be attacked, Syed Ahmed
Bukhari, the shahi imam of Jama Masjid, said people should not
fall prey to rumours and maintain peace and calm.
"I appeal to the Muslims to not fall prey to rumours. Maintain
peace and calm wherever you are," Bukhari said.
In Uttar Pradesh, Muslims turned up in large numbers at the
Aishbagh Eidgah in Lucknow where the afternoon prayers were led by
Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahli.
Senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and Urban Development Minister
Mohammad Azam Khan and Peace Party of India president Mohammad
Ayub, in separate statements, called for peace and cautioned
people to be wary of rumours in the aftermath of the Assam and
Myanmar violence.
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