Hyderabad: A sea of Shia mourners in Hyderabad took out Ashura procession in the city to mark the martyrdom anniversary of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Imam Hussain on the 10th day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar.
The ‘Bibi ka Alam’, believed to contain a piece of wooden plank on which the Prophet’s daughter Bibi Fatima Zehra was given the final ablution and installed over 430 years ago during the Qutub Shahi dynasty, was carried on a caparisoned elephant, brought from Karnataka.
The procession started from Bibi Ka Alawa and passed through Sheikh Faiz Kaman, Yakutpura Darwaza, Etebar Chowk, Charminar, Gulzar Houz, Penjeshah, Mani Mir Alam, Purani Haveli and Darulshifa in Hyderabad.
Videos of the elephant Laxmi, from Karnataka, carrying the iconic Bibi ka Alam have emerged on social media. The pachyderm stopped for 10 minutes at two places. It turned back and tried to head towards the Bibi ka Alawa. The handlers then calmed it down, and the elephant moved towards Yakutpura.
This is her first time taking part in the procession.
At the Royal Mat Centre on Yakutpura Road, the elephant moved a bit fast, creating panic in the people. AIMIM MLC, Riyaz ul Effandi, at one point of time, requested the ‘matamdar’s to stay away from the elephant as it is getting disturbed.
The police had arranged half a dozen DCM vehicles and kept on the procession route to shift the Bibi ka Alam into the vehicle in case the elephant continued to give trouble.
Amid cries of ‘Ya Hussain’ and recitation of ‘marsiya’ (elegies) and ‘noha-khwani’ (poems expressing sorrow), barefoot youths using knives, blade-encrusted chains and other sharp-edged weapons, inflicted injuries on themselves to show solidarity with the sufferings of the martyrs. Others were seen crying and beating their chests.
The Hyderabad city police deployed 3,000 personnel across Hyderabad to ensure a peaceful Muharram procession. Six drones were used to cover the procession route and a special team monitored the procession from the Integrated Command and Control Centre.ol Centre.
| Posted by Veena Nair | 
