Pakistan celebrates Eidul Fitr without COVID curbs after two years

• Pakistan marks Eid without COVID curbs after two years.
• PM Shehbaz Sharif and President Arif Alvi issue seperate messages.
• Leadership urges people to take special care of people in need.

Pakistanis are celebrating Eidul Fitr with traditional zeal and fervour today (Tuesday) without COVID-19 restrictions for the first time in two years.

Three separate Eids were celebrated in the country — North Waziristan, Khyber Pakhtunkwa, and the rest of Pakistan — as the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee's decision was not unanimously accepted across the country.

The day witnesses traditional food items being prepared at home. Large prayer gatherings were held to mark the auspicious occasion, while special prayers were made for the country's stability and prosperity.

PM urges showing compassion to people in need

In his message on the occasion, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif extended greetings to the nation as well as Muslim Ummah on Eidul Fitr and urged the countrymen to show compassion and take special care of the people in need while celebrating the festival.

The prime minister said Allah had awarded Muslims with Eidul Fitr after the month of Ramadan.

He said considering Ramadan’s spirit of patience, sacrifice and compassion, it was incumbent upon the followers to be extra cautious about the needs of the poor and needy while celebrating the Eid.

The prime minister said his government was committed to ensuring the country’s deliverance from the load shedding and was making all-out efforts to achieve the objective.

He also directed the authorities concerned to refrain from carrying out power outages for the three days of Eid-ul-Fitr to allow the people to enjoy the occasion.

He said keeping in view the Eid pleasures and the hardships of the inflation-hit people, the government had also decided not to increase the oil price.

The prime minister assured the nation that every moment of his tenure and all of his capabilities would be utilised to bring ease to the people’s lives.

In the coming days, the people would also feel the reduction in their hardships "as an outcome of the government’s efforts".

The prime minister also asked the countrymen to remember the people of Palestine and the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir on the occasion of Eid and pray for their liberation from oppression.

He also expressed his good wishes for the people of Afghanistan and prayed for durable peace, progress, and prosperity in the war-torn country.

President's message

Separately, in his message, President Dr Arif Alvi, while greeting the countrymen on Eidul Fitr, said it was a day of giving, blessings, and forgiveness.

The president prayed to Allah to make the day a source of joys and eases.

The president said Eid required the celebrators to share their joys with the poor by fully supporting them to achieve real happiness and exercise the true spirit of the festival.

President Alvi prayed to Allah to inculcate, in our personalities, the characteristics of love for worship, self-control, and passion to sacrifice, which we had been practicing throughout Ramadan.

'Use your words wisely'

In his sermon on Eid, Jamia Darululoom Karachi's Maulana Azizur Rehman urged the national leadership to be mindful of their language and conduct as it has a lasting impact on the masses.

Without naming anyone, he said: "If an elder of a house is wise, polite and doesn't incite, the environment will be peaceful."

He also explained in detail why it is important for everyone, and as per the teachings of Islam, to speak gently and not spread hatred.

"Use your words wisely and do not speak ill of anyone as it would create disharmony in the country. The Almighty has also directed us to be mindful of our language."