'Longest Iftaar party' in Asia hosted in Srinagar

A group of young men on Saturday claimed to have hosted Asia's longest 'Iftaar' spread at the banks of scenic Dal lake here.

The organisers said that dining cloth was spread over 1.6 kms, which they claimed broke the previous record of 1.03 kms.

Hundreds of people, including women and children, thronged the Boulevard Road along the banks of Dal Lake to take part in the event, which the organisers claim.

The previous record was set when the dining cloth was laid out in an event named the "Joy of Giving" near Al Noor Mosque in Sharjah two years ago, they said.

The organisers laid carpets on 1.6 kms stretch of the footpath along the lake on which people broke their fast.

The basic aim of the event was to have common meal wherein everybody could join and celebrate Ramzan – the fasting month – together.

"We invited everyone to break their fast with us. We invited orphan children also. It is a little effort to make them part of the society," one of the organisers, Ahmer Khan said.

He said such an event had never taken place in the Valley before.

"In fact we did not really have such an event in the country," he said.