DHAKA, June 16, 2018 (BSS) – The largest Eid-ul-Fitr jamaat(congregation)
of the country was held on the historic Sholakia Eidgah Maidan this morning
with participation of over thousands of devotees from home and abroad amid
stringent security measures.
Eminent Islamic scholar Maulana Faird Uddin Masud administered the Eid
prayer at 10 in the morning that started following the custom of opening
blank fire on the Eid day.
Sholakia Eidgah held its 191th Eid congregation this year. A special
prayer was offered seeking peace, welfare and prosperity of the mankind and
the nation.
In his sermon, Maulana Masud demanded immediate punishment of the
perpetrators of the 2015 militant attack near the Eid ground and expressed
the hope that no such incident would be taken place in the days to come.
Devotees were allowed to enter the ground after undergoing an exhaustive
search. Leaders from different political parties and government officials
took part in the jamaat apart from the commoners.
Two special trains ran between Bhairab-Kishoreganj and Mymensingh-
Kishoreganj to facilitate the Muslims joining the country’s largest Eid
congregation.
The first Eid jamat was held in 1828 on this ground. Maulana Sayeed Ahmed
of Bowlai Shaheb Bari in Kishoreganj was the first Imam to conduct the Eid
jamaat attended by about 125,000 devotees.
Later, Mannan Dad Khan, former Dewan of Haibatnagar in Kishoreganj offered
4.35 acres of land through Wakf deed in 1950 and now the Eidgah has seven
acres of land. This Eidgah is situated on the northern bank of the Norsunda
River.
Unprecedented security measures have been taken in and around the
country’s largest Eidgah Sholakia Maidan in Kishoreganj, where hundreds of
thousands of people will offer prayer on the Eid day, with engaging two
drones having cameras and deploying law enforcers in large numbers.
“We have taken unprecedented security measures in and around the Sholakia
Maidan with deploying around 1100 police personnel, five platoons of Border
Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel, 200 members of armed police battalion
(APBn) and a large number of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) personnel for a
smooth and peaceful holding of the largest Eid Jamaat,” Superintendent of
Police of Kishoreganj Mashruqur Rahma Khaled told BSS today.
“Besides, two drones having camera hovered over the entire Sholakia Maidan
during the Eid jamaat to make the security foolproof,” he said, adding that
the entire area of the maidan was brought under the coverage of 50 closed-
circuit camera televisions (CCTVs). As many as 24 check posts have been set
up surrounding the maidan which will be monitored round the clock by the law
enforcers, he informed.
“Watch towers have been set up at each of the entry points of Kishoreganj
town and the Sholakia Eidgah to make the security foolproof. None will be
allowed to enter the Eidgah without search,” he also said.