Pray in peace: Valley mosques go for jammers

“Frequent calls during prayers disturb people. Appeals for switching off phones have not worked, so we decided to install a jammer at our mosque”.

Clerics, too, approve of the latest gadgetry. “It is a good step and we must appreciate it,” said Farooq Ahmad, a local cleric from Hyderpora in Srinagar. “This is helping us keep the mosques disturbance-free.”

The Muslim Wakf Board, which governs a large number of shrines and mosques in the Valley, has also embraced the idea. “We have already installed jammers in five-six mosques,” said vice-chairman of the board M Y Qadri. “We are giving priority to mosques where people come in large numbers.”

The trend has picked up since the beginning Ramzan. “Suddenly, we realised the magnitude of this menace,” said Ibaad Shah, who visits the mosque regularly.

“Some people have film songs as their ringtones and it irritates older people.”

The jammers are switched on along with the Azaan — the call for prayers — and switched off once the prayers end.