Amid tight security, thousands take part in Muharram procession in Srinagar
Srinagar, July 15
Thousands of Shia Muslims on Monday took a Muharram procession in Srinagar to mark the eighth day of mourning on the traditional Guru Bazar-Dalgate route. The procession passed off peacefully as authorities had made adequate security arrangements.
The procession began from Guru Bazar locality in the city early Monday and passed through the designated route via Jehangir Chowk and Maulana Azad Road before culminating at Dalgate. The Jammu and Kashmir administration had on Sunday granted permission to take out a Muharram procession in Srinagar.
On Monday morning, Shia mourners attired in traditional black clothes, holding flags and reciting religious hymns marched on the roads from Guru Bazar to Dalgate. A senior official said the procession concluded successfully and the administration had made adequate arrangements on the route.
The traffic department had issued an advisory to residents of the city on the routes to be followed during the Muharram procession, the officials said.
Srinagar Deputy Commissioner Bilal M Bhat said the procession started at 5:30 am and the arrangements were well-received. “The administration and community’s collective efforts, including water distribution, toilets, washrooms, and sprinklers, have been crucial,” he said.
While Srinagar Municipal Corporation had made arrangements for cleaning the roads, volunteers were seen offering water to the processionists.
This is for the second consecutive year that the authorities here have allowed the Muharram procession to be taken out on the traditional route after it was banned in Srinagar following eruption of militancy in 1990.
The administration had set some conditions this year for the procession, including participants shall not indulge in “anti-national/anti-establishments speeches/ sloganeering or propaganda and no activity shall in any way affect the communal sectarian harmony, religious, ethnic cultural and religious sentiments of the people.”
