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For nearly four weeks, residents of Gurgaon’s sector 47 have been protesting against the offering of namaz in an open designated site. Meanwhile the prayers are being offered under police protection.
Residents of sector 47 and members of the Resident Welfare Association (RWA) decided to halt their protest for two weeks on Monday, 18 October, after meeting the deputy commissioner who assured for a possible solution, Indian Express reported.
Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner, Yash Garg, was quoted as saying, “I have discussed the matter with the residents. In the coming days, we will have a dialogue with all community members to resolve the issue”, Indian Express reported.
President of the sector 47 RWA, Sunil Yadav, said, “We met the DC to discuss our concerns. The DC has asked us to stop the protests for two weeks till Diwali to discuss and resolve the issue. We have requested the officials to shift the location of Friday namaz prayers to an alternate site or a community centre. We will wait and see if the matter is resolved.”
BS Yadav, a resident of the sector said, “Check their ID cards, who knows where they come from? These people can also all be terrorists. Why aren’t their IDs being checked?”, Newslaundry reported.
Another resident, a 24-year-old teacher was quoted as saying, “Because of the Muslim people roaming around the Sector, it is very uncomfortable for us to live over here. We don’t mind if they just do namaz and go but they are roaming in the Sector, peeping into people’s houses.”
The site in sector 47 however, is among the list of 37 designated sites where prayers could be offered in the open, as was ‘negotiated’ after disruptions in 2018, Indian Express reported.
Residents however claim that the permission granted was only for a day.
Meanwhile, urging the administration to initiate a dialogue with people and resident associations, members of the Gurgaon Nagrik Ekta Manch, a citizen’s forum, submitted a letter to the deputy commissioner on Tuesday, saying that people were being “misled into becoming a part of a malicious campaign to create a wedge between residents of Gurgaon”, Indian Express reported.
The issue was discussed last week between members of both communities, however, no conclusion was reached.
Members of the Muslim community have claimed that this became an issue only in the past few weeks, as an attempt of some people to gain political mileage by creating the ruckus.
(With inputs from The Indian Express and Newslaundry.)
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