KOLKATA: A week after public access to the 136-year-old Gouripur Jame Masjid inside the Kolkata airport was suspended over security concerns, the Bankra mosque committee on Thursday called for a peaceful protest after Friday prayers, even as the airport authorities maintained that the restriction would continue until further orders.Addressing a press conference, former minister and West Bengal Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind president Siddiqullah Chowdhury appealed to local residents to assemble peacefully near the mosque entrance on Jessore Road from 11.30 am, wearing black badges and armbands after offering Jumma prayers, insisting there would be no demonstration or disruption.“It has been five or six days and there has been no protest. After Friday prayers, local residents will go to the gate wearing badges and hold a peaceful protest before returning,” Chowdhury said. “There will be no microphones, no canvassing and no coercion. We, the people of the locality, will go to the gate after the Friday prayers. No one from elsewhere in Bengal will be there. This is our mosque.”He claimed the mosque committee possessed official documents issued by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) permitting namaz and Ramadan iftar at the mosque, and questioned the legal basis of the indefinite restriction. “We believe the legal route is the best course of action. We will not do anything unlawful,” he said.The AAI initially suspended access to the mosque for two days, citing repairs to the approach road. The restriction was later extended indefinitely after the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) objected to visitors being allowed entry into the airside zone on the basis of Aadhaar cards, citing security concerns.A senior airport official said on Thursday that entry to the mosque would remain prohibited pending further security reviews and inspections.Members of the mosque committee, however, alleged that they always cooperated with airport authorities and ensured strict compliance with security protocols. “We took full responsibility while offering namaz and never allowed outsiders, including media personnel, inside. We have been praying there for years. Why are we being stopped now?” said Abul Kalam, a prominent member of the Bankra community.“We took full responsibility while offering namaz and never allowed outsiders, including media personnel, inside. We have been praying there for years. Why are we being stopped now?” said Abul Kalam, a prominent member of the Bankra community.Kalam said land records dating back to the Cadastral Survey, Revisional Settlement and Land Reforms documents recognise the mosque, which has stood on the premises since 1890. He said the records were produced before the North 24 Parganas district magistrate and airport officials during a meeting in May this year, adding that the committee would move court if access continued to be denied.
