Thousands offer mass prayers

Mysuru: Thousands of Muslim brethren congregated at all Eidgah Grounds across the city and attended mass prayers to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitar (Ramzan) this morning. At the Eidgah Ground in Tilaknagar, Sir Khazi of Mysuru Hazarath Moulana Mohammed Usman Shariff spoke about the significance of fasting for a month and said, Muslims distribute 2.50% of their income in the name of ‘Zakath.’ ‘Fithra,’ another type of charity, is mandatory to every Muslim even for a baby born a day earlier, so that even the poor could celebrate Eid.

The Sir Khazi prayed for the security and welfare of every citizen of the country.

He then greeted Hindu brethren on the occasion of Ugadi and appealed to Muslim community people to spread the message of communal harmony and brotherhood by inviting non Muslims to their festivals and also take part in their festivals to understand each other.

Due to huge gathering, roads around the Tilaknagar Eidgah Maidan were blocked so that Eid prayer could be offered peacefully.

While Narasimharaja (NR) Traffic Police, led by DCP (Law and Order) M. Muthuraju and Traffic Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) M. Shivashankar, regulated traffic to prevent traffic jams, Mandi, NR and Lashkar Police provided bandobust.

MLA K. Harishgowda, former MLA M.K. Somashekar, KPCC Spokesperson M. Lakshmana, former VTU Dean Shakeeb-ur-Rahman, senior journalist Afsar Pasha, Muslim Co-operative Bank President Showkath Pasha, former Mayor Anwar Baig Aftab, former Corporator Suhail Baig, Showkath Ali Khan, Jameel Ahmed Ashrafi, Mumtaz Ahmed and others attended the Eid prayer at Tilaknagar Eidgah Ground.

Meanwhile, the Mysore District Moon Committee, which met yesterday evening at the Office of the Mysore District Wakf Advisory Committee on Sayyaji Rao Road, collected information from across the State about the sighting of the moon. As the moon was sighted in many parts, it was decided to celebrate Ramazan on Monday (today).