Md Joynal Abedin Khan :
The offering of Akheri Munajat (concluding prayers) and Hedayati Boyan (main guidance sermon) will be in Bangla language today in the first phase of the Biswa Ijtema.
Several lakh devotees from home and some 4,473 foreign devotees from 88 countries are participating in the religious event to seek Allah’s Divine Mercy on the bank of Turag River at Tongi on the outskirts of the capital city Dhaka around 11:00am today (Sunday), he said.
Hafez Maulana Mohammad Zubaer of Kakrail’s Markaz will lead the Akheri Munajat in Bangla at the first phase of Biswa Ijtema which began after Fazr prayers on Friday morning with religious sermon (Aam Boyan).
The decision of using Bangla at concluding prayers was taken at a meeting of the Tablig Jamaat Murabbis (scholars) on Friday night, Tablig Jamaat’s senior leader Md Gias Uddin told The New Nation on Saturday evening.
“Senior Islamic scholar of Kakrail mosque Hafez Maulana Mohammad Zubaer will lead the Akheri Munajat this time. Moreover, Maulana Abdul Matin of Bangladesh will deliver the Hedayati Boyan in Bangla, prior to the Akheri Munajat after Fazr prayers”, said Md Gias Uddin.
Meanwhile, Saleh Uddin Ahmed, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) of traffic division of Gazipur, said vehicular movement would remain suspended between Bhogra Bypass and Tongi Bridge on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway, Majukhan bridge and Station Road on the Kaliganj-Tongi Road, and Kamarpara Bridge and Munnu Textile Mills on the Kamarpara road from early morning of the days when the Akheri Munajat of the two phases would be held.
There will be special transports of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police to carry the air travellers to and from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.
No water transport will be allowed to ply between Kamarpara bridge to Tongi bridge till January 22.
Meanwhile, security has been beefed up ahead of today’s Akheri Munajat. Around 6,000 uniformed and plainclothes police and members of RAB and intelligence agencies have been deployed in and around the Ijtema ground to ensure security of the devotees.
Earlier, eight-tier security measure has been taken with deployment of 7,000 policemen and about 250 RAB members to avert any untoward incident during the Ijtema.
Some 15 watch towers and 41 close circuit camera televisions have been set up in and around the Ijtema ground alongside deployment of bomb disposal units and dog squads to ensure foolproof security of the Biswa Ijtema.
Fifty medical teams and 14 ambulances are providing health care services to the devotees during the three-day congregation.
SM Rahat Hasnat, Information Officer of Gazipur City Corporation, said they were expecting that around 40 lakh local and foreign devotees would join the Akheri Munajat.
A high official of Bangladesh Railway said they would operate special trains during the Akheri Munajat of the first and second phases of Ijtema.
Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) is also running special buses.
The second phase of Biswa Ijtema will begin on January 19 at the same venue and will end with Akheri Munajat on January 21.
Tablig Jamaat has been organising the Ijtema on this venue since 1967. However, the Ijtema is held in two phases since 2011 to ease the accommodation crisis.
