The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Tens of thousands of homebound devotees on Saturday faced untold miseries due to sudden closure of the Bishwa Ijtema and inadequate number of transports to reach their destinations.

They waited for hours on roads in rains and cold and very few of them were about to get into the buses as the passengers out-numbered the arriving buses by several hundred times. Many of them rushed to Tongi Rail Station. But as the Bangladesh Railway did not get ample time to provide extra trains, the passengers' sufferings lingered.

Sources said, notwithstanding adverse situation, most of the devotees left Tongi for their homes by Saturday night.

The devotees were found waiting at different bus, train and launch terminals for getting the transport.

Many of them took shelter at their relatives' houses or other places in the city and adjacent areas of Tongi.

However, a good number of devotees remained stranded at the Ijtema venue till yesterday due to transport shortage.

Some devotees expressed their dissatisfaction for sudden closure of Bishwa Ijtema due to inclement weather.

Many city dwellers repented as they could not be able to attend the much awaited akheri munajat (mass prayer).

The three-day Biswa Ijtema, the second largest annual Muslim congregation in the world, was due to end today with akheri munajat, but the organisers decided not to proceed with programme and declared the grand assembly over on the very opening day on Friday considering the untold sufferings of the devotees.

Millions of devotees from about 60 countries flocked the sprawling venue on the bank of Turag River in the outskirts of the capital city, Dhaka.

About five thousand of foreigners who participated in the Bishwa Ijtema stayed at the Ijtema venue till Saturday night. They are expected to leave the Ijtema premises for Kakrail Jame Mosque in the city today. Thereafter, they will depart for their respective countries at their convenient time.

Still hundreds of volunteers have been taking care of those devotees are still there and other materials, including the tents. Weather becoming fair, the tents and other housing materials will be removed from the Ijtema grounds.

Meanwhile, a Pakistani devotee named Haji Nesar Uddin, 65, died of severe cold early hours of Saturday. With this the number of dead stood at three.