Effigies of Azhar, Saeed burnt to mark 'Holika-Dahan' in Patna

Effigies of Masood Azhar and Hafiz Saeed were torched as part of a 'Holika-Dahan' by the locals in Patna ritual on Wednesday.

Patna (Bihar): Residents of Salimpur Ahra have put up effigies of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar and Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed in the streets to torchthem as part of a 'Holika-Dahan' ritual on Wednesday.

The effigies were mounted on top of a huge pile of timber and broken twigs on the streets of Kadam Kuan's Nawal Kishor Road and was burnt to mark 'Holika dahan' or the eve of Holi.

"People from the local area have put effigies to show solidarity that terror activities originating from Pakistani soil would not be tolerated by India and its people. Pictures of both the terrorists have been pasted on the faces of the effigies," said a local shopkeeper.

A placard each was slung around the necks of the two effigies, bearing slogan of 'Pakistan Murdabad'.

At the bottom of the heap, a placard reading, "Pakistan this is just a trailer...", was kept. The message in Hindi was apparently a reference to the recent air strike by India on terror camps in Pakistan's Balakot region that had escalated tensions between the two countries.

Bonfires are put up on the eve of Holi as part of a festive ritual to symbolically burn 'Holika' or perform 'Holika-dahan' by setting afire wood, dried leaves, twigs and other inflammable articles.

State pollution authorities had appealed to people to not burn plastic objects or polythene bags as part of the bonfire.

HafizSaeed, head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, who had orchestrated the November 2008 Mumbai terror attack in which 166 people were killed, is a designated terrorist.

The fresh proposal to designate Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council was moved by France, the UK and the US, in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

(With inputs from PTI)