After a ban of 23 years, female worshippers can now pray at Peshawar's famous Sunehri Masjid, a move welcomed by women's groups, according to a media report.
Around 20 women offered prayers on Friday after the mosque administration announced the move, the Dawn News reported.
Provisions have been made for women to offer Friday prayers in the hall on the upper floor of the mosque, read a banner put up by the mosque adminstration. Women will also be allowed for Eid prayers.
The mosque's naib imam Muhammad Ismail said till 1996 women were allowed to attend Friday prayer congregations but later they were stopped due to growing militancy.
"Now we have opened the upper portion again so that women can offer Friday prayers alongside males in a separate section and listen to Friday khutba (sermon)," the Dawn News quoted Ismail as saying.
He said the mosque's Friday sermons throw light on women's issues and their rights in Islam.
"I am really happy, and this is a really good decision. We are hopeful that the mosque administration will allow women regularly also," Kousar Shah, 45, one of the women who offered prayers on Friday, told the Dawn News.
The construction of the Sunehri Masjid was completed in 1976. It is much-appreciated for its is Mughal-style architecture.
The decision to allow female worshippers entry comes days before International Women's Day on March 8 and the much-publicised 'Aurat March' (Women's March) planned on the same day.
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