There was no issue of the newspaper on March 11, 1968 on account of Id-ul-Azha. The following extract is from the previous day’s issue.

MECCA: About 15 lakh Muslims from all over the world performed ‘Wakoof’ here on Friday [March 8] during Haj-i-Akbar ceremonies.

They stood in white seamless robes from dawn to dusk on a sacred granite mountain near Mecca beseeching Allah’s forgiveness.

Leading today’s ‘Wakoof’ ceremony, said Mecca Radio, was Saudi Arabia’s King Faisal, who is the temporal guardian of Mecca. He was flanked by prominent Muslim leaders including Somalia’s President, Abdel Rashid Aly Shermarke, Kuwaiti Premier, Sheikh el-Ahmed el-Sabah, Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Adam Malik, and Arab League Secretary-General, Abdel Khalek Hassouna.

Rich and poor, white and black, the pilgrims had journeyed to Mecca by land, air and sea from as far east as the Philippines and as far west as Morocco. Their chants, broadcast live all day over the radio, were frequently interrupted by appeals for the “liberation of sacred Islamic shrines in Jerusalem”. — Agency

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2018