No Eid festivity at Uttar Pradesh village having terror link

Lucknow, Oct 2 (IANS) There was neither festivity nor gaiety on Eid in Azamgarh district's Sanjarpur village, which was home to two suspected terrorists who were shot dead by the police in a shootout for their alleged involvement in the serial bombings at Delhi.

Sanjarpur stood in stark contrast to the rest of Uttar Pradesh where the festival was celebrated with the usual fervour.

Lucknow, the state capital, also saw a joint namaz of Sunni and Shia sects. Even places like Muzaffarnagar, which witnessed scuffles between the two sects, celebrated the festival in its true spirit.

Hailing from Sanjarpur, Atif and Sajid, were killed in a shootout with the Delhi Police Sep 19 in Jamia Nagar, following their alleged involvement in the serial bombings in the national capital.

'How can you expect a village to have the usual celebrations when two of its sons have been killed in a police encounter after being falsely implicated in cases of terrorism?' asked Sanjarpur resident Maseeudin who runs a coaching centre in the village.

'It was only after the consensus of 4,500-odd registered voters here that we decided not to participate in the traditional celebrations, donning new attire, wearing fine perfumes and feast.

'We only performed religious obligations today (Thursday). No new clothes, no delicacies and no decorations,' Mohammad Shahid, a grocery store owner in the village told IANS by phone.

Agitated by the killing of the two village youths, the local residents demanded a judicial inquiry into the case.

'We want a serving or a retired Supreme Court judge to hold an inquiry to establish whether our boys were involved in the cases of terrorism or not,' said Maseeudin.

Banners demanding justice and impartial inquiry have been put up at all the vantage points, he added.

Meanwhile, nearly 270 km away from Azamgarh in Lucknow, Eid not only had its usual festive spirit, but there was also an attempt to bridge the differences between the Sunnis and Shias, the two prominent sects of the Muslim community.

For the first time on Eid, Shias and Sunnis offered namaz together at a Sunni mosque in Aishbagh locality of the state capital.

'Nearly 400,000 Muslims offered Namaaz at the mosque,' said Naib Imam of the Aishbagh Masjid, Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahli.