The first phase of the 54th Biswa Ijtema began after Fajr prayers today on the bank of river Turag at Tongi in Gazipur amid general sermon (Aam Bayan).
Several lakh devotees from home and abroad took part at the Jumma prayers held on the Ijtema ground. Senior Islamic scholar of Kakrail mosque Hafez Mawlana Mohammad Zubaer led the prayer.
Politicians and senior government officials including Liberation War Affairs Minister Advocate AKM Mozammel Haq, State Minister of Religious Affairs Advocate Sheikh Md Abdullah, State Minister for Youth and Sports Zahid Ahsan Rasel, Gazipur City Awami League President Advocate Azmat Ullah Khan and Deputy Commissioner of Gazipur Dr Dewan Mohammad Humayun Kabir, among others, took part in the prayer.
The first phase of the Ijtema began with ‘Aam Bayan’ (general sermons) by noted scholars after today’s Fajr prayers which will end with Akheri Munajat (final prayers) on February 16.
The second phase of the Ijtema will begin on February 17 at the same venue and it is scheduled to end with Akheri Munajat on February 18. Muslims of Tabligh Jamaat from 64 districts of the country are staying on Ijtema ground while foreign devotees staying in their respective special areas.
A total of 175 gas burner stoves were set up to provide cooking facilities for foreign devotees at the Ijtema compound and healthcare centres have been set up at different parts of the venue along with first aid and other treatment facilities to provide health care services to the devotees.
A large number of devotees were seen standing in a long queue in different free medical camps for treatment.
Traffic system has been strengthened as a large number of Muslim devotees will come here tomorrow to participate in the Akhari Munajat, Gazipur metropolitan police’s Commissioner Y M Belalur Rahman told BSS.
He said vehicular movement will be closed from this Friday midnight in city’s Tongi Bridge, Kamarpara Bridge, Bhogra bypass, Mirer Bazar and the adjacent areas near Ijtema by installing barricades. The same management will continue till the end of Ijtema, he added.
He expected that citizens would support Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Gazipur Metropolitan Police and Highway Police to maintain this systematic environment on the streets ahead of the Ijtema.
