Friday, October 14 2005 19:19 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Muzaffarabad: Dozens of emotional survivors held Friday prayers in this devastated capital of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, six days after a terrifying earthquake that, to clerics' regret, led many to suspend their Muslim rituals.

Clerics said more than 50 Muzaffarabad mosques were destroyed or damaged in the 7.6-magnitude quake which killed at least 25,000 people and left more than 2.5 mn homeless.

Only three remained more or less intact and had water supply to allow devotees to undertake ritual bathing before prayers.

At the Markazi Imambargah or central mosque, the city's chief cleric Mufti Kifayat Hussain Navqi prayed for those who had died, leaving many in his audience in tears.

Officials say at least two or three people died in just about every household in Muzaffarabad, a city of some 1,25,000 people. Many are still buried under the rubble, their bodies unlikely ever to be recovered.

But the mufti also had some harsh words for the survivors, lashing out at them for giving up their observance of the Ramadan fasting month and for abandoning their quake-damaged homes, instead of rebuilding them.

Some aid workers had urged Muslims to suspend their dawn-to-dusk fast as they needed water and basic sustenance to stay alive.

"Many have left their fast. This is not good," the chief cleric told AFP, summarising his message to about 70 tearful men who turned up for his weekly sermon at the mosque, which suffered cracks but no structural damage.