Friday Namaz offered at Gurugram ground amid 'disruptions'

Gurugram, Nov 26 (IANS) More than 50 people belonging to the Islamic faith performed the Friday Namaz at a ground here despite disruption attempts by some Hindu groups. As a mark of protest against the Friday prayers, members of the Hindu groups performed "Hawan" and "Aarti" on the same ground.

Many members of Hindu organisations had gathered at the ground in Sector-37, at around 11 a.m., and performed "Hawan" and "Aarti".

They also raised slogans such as "Jai Shri Ram", read the "Hanuman Chalisa" and sang Bhajans.

A heavy police deployment was made to avoid any untoward incident. Policemen in plainclothes were also present at the site to assess the situation.

Hazi Shahad Khan, Chairman, Muslim Ekta Manch, who performed Namaz, told IANS: "Sector 37 site was one of the designated sites for Namaz and since 18-20 years, Muslims are performing Friday Namaz here and there were no disruptions... but for the last one month, few people of Hindu organisations are trying to continuously disrupt Friday prayers which will not be tolerated. We will soon approach the authorities against this."

One Muhammad Aslam said: "We have written permission for 20 sites for Friday prayers in Gurugram and Sector-37 was one of them. A few anti-social elements are behind today's incident. The administration needs to take strict action against such people. If such people disrupt Namaz everywhere then where will we offer the Friday Namaz?"

Meanwhile, the Hindu organisations submitted that they will not allow anyone to grab land in the name of religious activities.

"We had informed the district administration that we will perform Hawan and Aarti on the Sector-37 ground. This was not a designated site for Namaz... it is an illegal activity that is being done by Muslims. Locals used to play cricket here and the Muslims are disrupting their game," said a member of a Hindu organisation.

The Hindu organisations also claimed that they had performed Hawan to pay homage to the soldiers who were martyred during the the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai in 2008.

Meanwhile, a delegation of Sikh Sangat on Friday said that in Gurdwaras, only Gurubani can be performed and no other religious activities will be permitted. The delegation stated that no Friday Namaz will be allowed in Gurudwara premises.