By Rehan Ansari, TwoCircles.net,
Mumbai: In the Holy month of Ramzan when I visited the famous Minara Masjid, in south Mumbai, for a Zohar (noon) prayer I was shocked. I was carrying my back-pack and was stopped at the entrance of the mosque. Security man searched my bag and asked me to keep the bag in a room which is specially maintained to keep the baggage of the Musallis, who come to the mosque to offer namaz.
“Incidents of blasts at Ajmer in the holy month of Ramzan of 2007, and in Malegaon in 2006 at the time of shabebarat have taught us to be more vigilant” said Abdul Wahab Latif, the managing trustee of the grand old Minara masjid. He also explained that we have installed 8 CCTV cameras in the mosque as a precautionary measure.
Watching the activities in the mosques through the monitor young and energetic Abdul Wahab Latif explained “We don’t want to create panic among Musallis but at the same time precaution is better than cure.”
Maharashtra is the state where Sadhvi Pragya Singh and other modules of Hindutva forces was first arrested in the bomb blasts cases in Thane, Malegaon, Jalna, Purna, Nanded and other mosques. Hindu Janjagriti samiti, Sanatan Sanstha and other right wing Hindu organization are under scanner.
“Nearly a million people visits in the mosques in a year and this is the reason for a great concern for us” claimed Abdul Wahab. Further he added, “After numerous blasts in the mosques and shrines we felt the need to provide security to the Musallis and it has become our top priority during the holy month of Ramzan.”
In this period of the year people from all over Mumbai pour into the area and this is the only mosque in the area which is open for 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. They have also added security staff of the mosques that search each and every bag and help Musallis feel safe.
Although there are two gates of the mosques but for the security concern main door is kept closed most of the time.
Besides these 8 CCTV cameras in the mosques the local Police Station has put few more cameras in the area which is directly linked to the local Police station.
Shamsher Khan Pathan, Senior Police Inspector of Pydhoni Police station where many mosques are situated demonstrated the same concern. He said the security of the people is his concern all the time “Past incidents have proved to be fatal and only the innocent people gets killed. So we don’t want to take any chances.”
There are many mosques in Mohammed Ali Road but Minara Masjid is an exception. There is a famous Suleman Usman Mithaiwala at the front door of the mosques and a lane called KHAU GALLI is situated just next to Minara masjid which is open till the dawn i.e. Saheri. These eateris attract thousands of people throughout the nights of Ramzan.
[Photo by junoon_53]