The Hindu : New Delhi News : Around The City

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 15, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Around The City

Ill-fated pilgrimage

NEW DELHI: Sixtyfive-year-old Mohammad Asif had just come back from Ajmer-e-Sharif in Rajasthan and was to leave for his home at Gaya in Bihar on Friday evening. But as luck would have it, he was injured in the blasts at Jama Masjid and is now bed-ridden at JPN Hospital.

Accompanied by his three relatives, Arif had gone to Ajmer-e-Sharif on a pilgrimage, after which they planned to offer prayers at Delhi's Jama Masjid. "I finished the prayer and was at the reservoir when the first blast took place. There was thick black smoke. After the air cleared, I noticed that I was bleeding from the right leg. I shouted for help," he said from the hospital bed.

Apart from Arif, his relatives Shabbir Ahmed and Rehan Ahmed also sustained injuries. Showing the train ticket to Gaya on Friday, Rehan said: "We never imagined that such a thing would take place in a mosque. I wonder when he would be discharged and allowed to go home."

Tahir, also a resident of Gaya in Bihar, sustained injuries in both the legs. Writhing in pain with his legs bandaged, he recalled: "The first blast was more powerful and caused maximum injuries."

Revived `Shankar-Shad' Mushaira today

New Delhi: The famous Indo-Pak Shankar-Shad Mushaira, once inseparable from the cultural life of the Capital, is being revived after a gap of ten years.

The Mushaira will be held here on Saturday evening at its traditional venue -- The Sir Shankar Lal Hall, Modern School, New Delhi.

The literary event was started by Sir Sriram, founder of the Delhi Cloth Mill (DCM) group of industries in 1954 and it has enjoyed the patronage of leading lights of the nation like former PMs Jawahar Lal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri.

The Mushaira named after two eminent poets of Delhi -- late Lala Murli Dhar `Shad' and Sir Shankar Lall `Shankar' -- had assumed the character of a literary institution of great importance in the world of Urdu poetry.

Legendry Urdu poets like Josh Malihabadi, Jigar Moradabadi, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Kaifi Azmi and Ali Sardar Jafri and a host of other eminent poets have enriched these mushairas with their compositions.

Saturday's event -- 43rd Shankar-Shad Mushaira -- will see participation of noted potes like Dr. Ahmed Faraz, Dr. Sarmad Sehbai, Fatema Hasan and Samina Raja from Pakistan and Javed Akhtar, Shahryar, Charan Singh Bashar, Bekal Utsahi, Malikzada Manzoor Ahmad, Rahat Indorvi, Munawwar Rana, Nida Fazli, Waseem Barelvi among others from India.

Director DCM Madhav B. Sriram said they were feeling very happy that one of the most cherished cultural institutions of the Capital was being revived and expressed the hope that it would further strengthen people to people co-operation between India and Pakistan.

Over 100 BJP activists court arrest

New Delhi: Over 100 BJP activists, including its senior leader Sushma Swaraj, on Friday courted arrested on the 9th day of party's `Jail Bharoa' agitation to protest sealing of shops functioning in residential premises.

As many as 150 party workers, including 12 women, were sent to Tihar jail after they protested against the sealing of shops by MCD following a Supreme Court order, a release said.

The protest was organised in front of MCD office at Green Park in South Delhi.

Addressing the protestors, Ms. Swaraj alleged that the Delhi Government has complicated the case and was "betraying" people and traders in this regard.

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