BANGLADESH

Hundreds of thousands of devotees flooded the sandy banks of the river Turag on Saturday to pray and listen to sermons in the second phase of the Biswa Ijtema.
Many more are still streaming into the ground on Saturday after the three-day gathering began on Friday.

The rush is expected to continue until Sunday when the second phase of the meet culminates through the Akheri Munajat or final prayer around noon.

The Biswa Ijtema, or the World Congregation of Muslims, is known as the second largest annual Islamic event after the Hajj.

The gathering will be hosting the ritualistic dowry-less weddings prior to the Asr prayers on Saturday. Indian scholar Zobayerul Hasan will conduct the marriage after the Asr prayers.

Couples, who have enlisted their names in the wedding register, would be married off through the traditional ceremony of the Tablig Jamaat, a non-political group that organises the gathering.

Muslims from 32 districts of Bangladesh and from foreign countries are taking part in the second phase of the congregation, which shuns politics and violence, but works for the revival of the Islamic tenets.
Dressed in traditional robes and prayer caps, huge columns of devotees from far-flung villages and towns in Bangladesh, as well as across the world, made way towards the gathering site on Friday, braving overcrowded buses and ferries, and enduring long delays and a dense fog.

Ijtema's appeal has grown largely over the years among those who cannot afford to go to Meccah for the Hajj.

The second phase began after a four-day gap on Jan 20. The first phase of the annual world gathering ended with Akheri Munajat on Jan 15.

Biswa Ijtema has been taking place in Bangladesh (then Bengal) since the 1960s when it used to take place at Dhaka's Kakrail mosque.
In 1948, it took place at the Haji Camp in Chittagong, and shifted to Narayanganj's Shiddhirganj in 1958. With a steady increase in the number of devotees attending, the Biswa Ijtema was shifted to the banks of Turag in Tongi in 1966 and has been taking place there since then.

DISTRICTS IN SECOND PHASE

Organisers have said that the Ijtema ground has been divided into 38 khitas or blocks marked for 32 districts for the second phase.

People from Narayanganj got blocks one and two, Dhaka – blocks three and four, Cox's Bazar – five, Manikganj – six, Jamalpur - seven Patuakhali – eight, Pirojpur – nine, Tangail – 10, Netrokona - 11, Barisal – 12, Jhenidah – 13, Meherpur – 14, Mymensingh – 15, 16 and 17, Comilla- 18, Laxmipur – 19, Brahmanbaria – 20, Kurigram – 21, Noakhali – 22, Nilphamari – 23, Thakurgaon – 24, Panchagarh – 25, Chapainawabganj – 26, Bogra – 27, Pabna – 28, Naogaon – 29, Munshiganj – 30 and 31, Madaripur-32, Gopalganj – 33, Satkhira – 34, Magura – 35, Khulna – 36, Sunamganj – 37 and Moulvibazar – 38.

SECURITY

Tongi has been covered with a multi-layer security blanket with the presence of police, elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Ansar and intelligence agencies. Law enforcers have divided the congregation venue and surrounding areas into five sectors.

RAB helicopters will hover over the venue and plain-clothed members of the elite force are also watching over each block.

River patrol teams started work on Thursday, patting down those entering the ground and watching from towers. Moreover, security personnel have mingled with the devotees in the blocks, dressed in white and wearing special caps.

RAB bomb squad members are also on the ground.

Gazipur police superintendent Abdul Baten earlier told that a total of 10,000 security personnel including RAB and police are working to ensure safety at the Ijtema ground. Overall security is being monitored with several RAB and police close circuit cameras.