Says they want no more controversies
WEB DESK / Noida
Days after Noida police sent notice to multinational companies asking them to stop their Muslim employees from offering namaz at public parks, over 600 of them came together to offer namaz at the adjacent Forest View Park in sector 54. It was the first Friday after the controversial move.No prior permission was taken beforehand by the crowd, the police confirmed.Most of people who offered prayers at the park were employees of different private firms in the area, who came out during their lunch breaks and moved towards the park before holding the community prayer. The employees wish to avoid any further controversies on the matter and decided to move their prayer to the adjacent park, one of organizer was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile at the public park in Sector 58, Noida, where the district authorities denied Muslims the permission to offer namaaz early this week, there was press and policemen but no prayers on Friday. With the directive to stop praying and the park perimeter under close watch from the police, Muslims headed to far off places to offer namaaz-e-jumma (Friday prayers). Like Friday before, the park was also waterlogged. A loud, grumbling motor pumped out water on the grounds as maintenance workers tended to the grass. A few hopefuls who had turned up thinking they could pray, could not even sit. Most knew better and stayed away, deciding on an alternative spot a day in advance.“We do not want to break any rules or disturb the law. Since we were denied permission to pray there, we will not congregate at the park today,” Nouman Akhtar, the imam who led prayers at the park in question said in the morning. Akhtar, who was called at the Sector 58 park every Friday to lead prayers, went to a mosque in Bhangel, near Sector 82 in Noida, instead.Police notice prohibiting Muslims employed at surrounding businesses in Sectors 57, 58, 59 and 60 from praying at Noida Authority-owned park had gone out on Monday, with tech firms and garment factories in the area receiving a copy as well. Local Muslims, who had been offering namaaz at the spot every Friday since Feb. 2013, chose not to go against the order.