VASCO
Eid-ul-Fitr festival was celebrated in the port town on Tuesday amid heavy police presence near Masjids and other locations, as authorities were determined to prevent any untoward incident following recent clashes among communities in Vasco.
While police teams were posted in various parts of the city as the Hindu festivals of Parshuram Jayanti and Akshay Tritiya coincided with Eid, members of the Muslim community were seen offering Namaz and greeting each other during the festival.
The festival began with Muslims visiting mosques in the morning to offer Namaz and later visiting friends and family members to exchange greetings. Biryani and sweet kheer were also exchanged.
The Eid is an important festival for the Muslims as it marks the end of the Ramzan month, with sighting of the new Moon and a huge gathering of Muslims were seen in Mosques as the festival has been celebrated in a full-fledged manner after a gap of two years amid the Covid pandemic.
Congress Minority Chairman Nazir Khan, while speaking to the media, appealed to all people to maintain peace and harmony during the festival.
"We have offered prayers to Allah the Almighty to spread peace across the world and we also appeal all Hindus, Christians and members of other religions to unite to celebrate festivals together so as to spread peace and maintain the communal harmony in Goa," said Khan.
Social worker Rahil Khan said the Muslim community was overjoyed to celebrate the festival in a full-fledged manner after a gap of two years.
"Our fasting period of Ramzan is over and we are celebrating Eid on a grand scale because we could not celebrate the festival for two years because of the lockdown. We have seen that a large number of people have gathered at the Masjids to offer prayers and we are very happy today.”
“We have seen that our Hindu friends also came to greet us and this proves that we have always been united in Vasco. We have been given this great opportunity by God to celebrate festivals together and such great moments must be cherished,” Rahil Khan said.
