Malerkotla Muslims celebrate Eid, Jains hold 'shobha yatra'

Malerkotla, July 10

In another example of communal harmony, members of the Jain community organised a ‘shobha yatra’ in the Muslim-majority town to celebrate “Chaumasa” today, while Muslims celebrated Eid-ul-Adha.

To prevent any untoward incident, the police had made elaborate security arrangements. Patiala Inspector General (IG) MS Chhina personally supervised all security arrangements.

“In Malerkotla, people respect the religion of others. On Sunday, they displayed their same feeling for each other. On one side, our Jain brothers held a shobha yatra in the city, while simultaneously Muslim brothers celebrated Eid-ul-Adha,” said Ertiqaul Hasan, Mufti-Aazam Punjab.

Shoba Yatra started from SS Jain Senior Secondary School here, traversing through Sadar Bazar, Sharafa Bazar, Moti Bazar and Cooler Chowk. It culminated at Kundan Lal Dharamshala, covering a distance of around 2 km.

Chhina said the police had made the security arrangements as they did not want to take any chance.

“The police are thankful to all Malerkotla residents, who have once against set an example of communal harmony,” added the IG.

Message of harmony from Bathinda

• Muslims celebrated Eid-ul-Adha with fervour by offering prayers at Bathinda mosques on Sunday
• Scores of devotees thronged three mosques and offered namaz
• Saleem Khan, president of the Muslim Human Welfare Society, said: “After having offered namaz and performed all rituals, devotees unfurled the national flag.”
• Muslims sent out a message of communal harmony by hugging Hindus and Sikhs. DC Showkat Ahmad Parray also hugged some of the devotees. TNS