It was a human sea of Muslim pilgrims on the bank of river Turag yesterday when the vicinity witnessed the convergence of thousands of devotees as the second phase of Bishwa Ijtema began.
The main Ijtema venue had already been occupied since Thursday by the devotees who also assembled on the streets, in Tongi Bazar, and in the surrounding areas yesterday.
The religious congregation started after the Fazr Prayer through the sermon by Indian Islamic scholar Moulana Jamshed. Prior to the Jummah prayer, the Ijtema venue turned into a sea of devotees as they began to arrive in large numbers. Maulana Qwari Zobayer, imam of Kakrail mosque, led the Jummah prayer.
The crowd spilled into the adjoining areas and performed their prayers with many spreading newspaper on the streets. Vehicular movement on the Dhaka-Mymensingh, Ashulia-Savar and Abdullahpur highways was halted for over an hour as the devotees were saying their prayers on the road.
Many passengers got down from their vehicles and took to walking down the streets to reach their destinations.
Five devotees died of old-age complications, cardiac arrest and road accidents from Thursday night to Friday morning.
The dead were Tozam Sardar, 80, of Hazrabati in Magura, Abdul Latif, 75, of Debidar of Comilla, Nure Alam, 65, of Begomganj of Noakhali, and Abdur Rab Sheikh, 70, of Mokshedupur of Gopalganj district.
Mahbubur Rahman Chowdhury, residential surgeon of Tongi hospital, confirmed the deaths.
On the other hand, Hedaet Ullah, 68, of Narayanpur of Noakhali, died after a passenger bus hit him on the Dhaka-Mymensingh road around 9am, said Ismail Hossain, officer-in-charge of the Tongi police station. Over nine different organisations are providing free healthcare through medical camps near the Ijtema ground.
Besides, over 200 doctors are present round the clock to ensure special medical services for the devotees.
Police, Rapid Action Battalion and intelligence agency members set up a multi-layer security system to avoid any untoward incident, said Captain Riadul Islam, assistant director of Rab 1.
Mobile court of Gazipur district administration fined four shops and restaurant owners Tk45,000 for selling adulterated food, Mohammad Nurul Islam, upazila sanitary inspector told the Dhaka Tribune.
The devotees from across the districts are attending the second phase of Ijtema. Ijtema organisers have divided the total 160-acre vicinity into 38 sections for setting up area-wise tents for the devotees.
