Lakhs Offer Jumat-ul-Vida Prayers

Over one lakh Muslims offered prayers at the historic Mecca Masjid, on the occasion of Jumatul Vida, the last Friday of Ramadan.

Prayers were held amidst heavy security arrangements made by the city police. Over 10,000 policemen were deployed across the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, to ensure the peaceful conduct of Ramadan's main event before Eid.

The security arrangements at Mecca Masjid were personally supervised by City Police Commissioner Anurag Sharma.

Police pickets were also deployed at almost all mosques in the city.

The prayers at Mecca Masjid were led by Imam Moulana Rizwan Qureshi. After the Friday prayers, MIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi addressed the Jalsa-e-Yaum-ul-Quran meeting in the mosque premises.

Since the compound inside Mecca Masjid can accommodate only 20,000 devotees at a time, thousands of others were seen offering namaz on the roads - from Shalibanda to Gulzar Houz and Laad Bazar.

Huge gatherings were also seen at Jamia Masjid Chowk, Jamia Masjid Mir Vazeer Ali at Fateh Darwaza, Jamia Masjid at Barkas, Jamia Masjid at Secunderabad, Masjid-e-Azizia at Mehdipatnam, Masjid-e-Osmania Sarf-e-Khas Paltan at Malakpet, Jamia Masjid at BHEL, Jamia Masjid Sahifa at Azampura, Jamia Masjid at Musheerabad, Jamia Masjid Mohammadia at Lalaguda, Masjid-e-Aaliya and the Royal Mosque at Public Gardens. (INN)