Two-day Urs festival: Muslims throng Tarbha

The two-day annual Urs festival, also known as Pathan Yatra, held at Tarbha Masjid, a famous Muslim pilgrim centre, concluded on Thursday.

The festival is held in commemoration of the death anniversary of the 18th century's Fakir Baba, popularly known as Tarbhawale Baba, who came to here as a preacher from Afghanistan. He was born in a Muslim family in 1831 at Kandahar. His real name was Shah Syed Abdul Shakoor. He was known for his charitable works. He died in 1984 at the age of 154.

A procession was taken out from the Masjid to different parts of Tarbha on both days. Religious discourses led by scholars, cultural programmes, and prayer meetings were held during the festival days.

Many religious and political leaders attended the conference to be held as part of the festival. Minister Niranjan Pujari visited here on Thursday in a helicopter.

Thousands of pilgrims of all religions came from the all over the India. The Tarbha police made traffic and security arrangements and deployed special squads for safety norms, said IIC SB Chatriya.