Gurugram: Hectic negotiations by senior officials of the district to restore harmony bore fruit on Friday, as namaaz offerings went off peacefully across Gurugram.
The resolution, however, comes with an uneasy calm, as differences still remain between the Muslims, who were reportedly stopped from offering namaaz, and the Hindu groups, who claimed that the namaaz offering Muslims were encroaching upon prime land.
Most Muslim representatives accepted the offer to pray in 23 open spaces across different areas of Gurugram, instead of 80 spaces initially proposed.
However, not impressed with the designated spaces, another fraction of Muslims have given the district administration a time of two months to have specific areas earmarked for offering their prayers.
Among the major areas in the city where namaazis congregated on Fridya were Tau Devi Lal stadium, Leisure Valley ground, Jharsa ground, Sector-5 ground, Dhanchari ground, Sector-47 ground, Sector-5 HUDA ground, HSIIDC plot near Oberoi hotel and Tau Devi Lal Park Sector -22.
Despite heavy security in place at the namaaz sites on Friday, there were reports that a lot of Muslims did not turn up at those sites.
"We want a peaceful end to this matter that has been unnecessarily created. Because we have fewer mosques, we go to open areas to offer namaaz and this also is done by taking proper permission from the authorities," said Shehzad Alam, one of the namaazis who came to Leisure Valley ground.
What started of as a group of youngsters of a right-wing group disrupting devotees from offering namaaz on April 20 quickly snowballed into a major controversy, after a clip of the disruption began making rounds of social media.
It then led to the arrest of these six accused, who were later released on bail. Their arrests further polarised the situation, as right-wing outfits not only protested against their arrest, but also raised the issue as to how prime land of the city was being encroached upon in the name of religious activities.