Muslims celebrate Bakrid with religious fervour

Joining the community members across the globe, the Muslims in Dimapur also celebrated Eid-ul-Adha or Bakrid here on Thursday with religious fervour as people both young and old thronged the mosques and Idgah grounds to offer prayers. Bakrid, feast of sacrifice, is the second and the largest of the two main holidays celebrated in Islam.
Community members from all walks of life took part in the prayers and exchanged ‘Eid Mubarak’ by embracing each other. Muslim community members of Dimapur offered prayers at Iddgah Sharif behind DDSC Stadium, Hazi Park mosque, New Market mosque and Nuton Basti Jami Masjid.
According to community leader, this year the festival witnessed around 5500 people taking part in the prayer.
Speaking to Nagaland Post on the sidelines of the event, Muslim Council Dimapur (MCD) working president Ahidur Rahman said that not all the Muslims living in Dimapur were “illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.”
He said that some of the Muslims have been living in Nagaland for many years. MCD president also cited the example of a few masjids standing over 100 years.
He said that the only non-Naga cabinet minister was Anwar Hussain from the Muslim community, who was elected as Member of Nagaland Legislative Assembly from Dimapur-I Assembly Constituency in the General Elections, 1977 and re-elected from the same constituency in 1982. Anwar served as a Minister of State for Transport & Co-operation 1983 till his demise in 1986.
Rahman said this proves that Muslims have a long-term relationship with Naga people.
He appealed to the people not to assume all Muslims were illegal.
Asked whether implementation of ILP would solve the problem of illegal immigrants, MCD president said that proper implementation would be a very strong weapon to detect illegal migrants.
MCD president informed that non-Naga communities and government earlier had a meeting, wherein they were given three months to have consultative meeting with the respective communities, to discuss the important factors and address issues with the government.
Stating that community leaders cannot control the influx of migrants since the land was owned by locals, he said that local people should be cautious while accommodating people coming from outside.