Monday, August 6, 2012

Jam them while you pray

In conflict zones like Kashmir the word Jammer was always coupled with Indian forces’ camps, VIP residences and their vehicles. But now cell phone signal jammers have entered the domain of civilian use. Jamiat Ahailhadees Masjid in Nowgam, believed to be the oldest and the biggest Salfi Masjid on the outskirts of Srinagar, became the first public place where a jammer was installed. 

This spacious mosque looks like any other from inside, but its exterior is decorated with tiles and Quranic verses on the rim (slab portion) floor after floor.  “When for the first time I heard a jammer has been installed in our Masjid, I was shocked and kept asking people how they made it possible because such things were only available to the elite, Indian forces and the state ministers,” said Haji Nazir Ahmad Bhat, 73, who went to the mosque to see the jammer for himself. For sometime doubted that they might have got it illegally with the help of government forces.” 

Riyaz Ahmad Bhat, the Imam who leads daily prayers, in the Masjid except on Fridays and during festivals, says the mosque administration felt a need to jam all the mobile signals inside because people often forget to keep their phones on silent mode despite placards advising to ‘switch off your phone’. A ‘mayhem’ used to start when during nimaaz phones used to ring and different songs, Hindi and English used to play, he complains. 

Almost a year back the Masjid authorities were installing a projector on the second floor of the mosque and they asked the projector dealer for suggestions to stop ringing of phones in the premises. Mohammad Yasir, a projector dealer had a Bangalore based Kashmiri friend, a technocrat who helped them in installing a jammer inside the mosque. 

more 

No comments:

Post a Comment