Night-out at shrine angers Shias

 

Speaking to DC, Mr Razvi said, “It is a religious site, respected by one and all communities. Going by the newspaper reports, the group turned it into a picnic spot on November 16, there was music and dance. It was in bad taste. The community was observing muharrum (mourning period) during this time and we don’t even wear bright colours; and something like this happening at a religious site is highly objectionable. Also, we wonder what were the mutawalli doing, He is supposed to inform people what can and can’t be done at the shrine. The event went viral on social media and many people have objected to it .”

 

The complaint has been filed with Syed Omar Jaleel, secretary of Minority Welfare Department of TS  and head of the state Wakf Board; he is investigating into the issue. When the group was contacted, Pritwinder Kaur, who organised the event, said, “We are planning to meet the complainant and apologise. The plan was to hike up the hillock, over the hike we tend to listen to music…it was maybe for 15 minutes but the newspapers made it sound like a party. We never did anything close to the shrine, we had no intention to hurt anyone’s religious sentiments. Even the food that we carried was vegetarian. The group will surely apologise.”