islamabad - The residents of the twin cities on Tuesday celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr with religious zeal, fervour and traditional festivity.
Scores of Eid congregations were held at open places, mosques, Eidgahs and Imambargahs in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. In the mosques, the ulemas and religious scholars highlighted the significance of the day and urged the people to follow the teachings of Islam and the Holy Quran in their Eid sermons. They also condemned the violation of the sanctity of Masjid-e-Nabvi in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
In Rawalpindi, the biggest Eid congregations were held at Eid Gah Sharif, Liaquat Bagh, Double Road, Rawat and suburbs while in Islamabad, the main Eid congregation was held at Faisal Mosque where government officials and envoys of Islamic countries offered Eid prayers.
Special prayers were offered for the integrity, solidarity and prosperity of the country, and the liberation of Palestine and Kashmir and other occupied Muslim lands. They also prayed for the welfare and well-being of the Ummah. In the mosques, people greeted each other.
After Eid prayers, people visited their relatives and friends to exchange Eid greetings and distributed Eidi among children. Many of them also visited graveyards and laid floral wreaths at the graves of their beloved ones besides offering Fateha.
Tight security arrangements were also made in the twin cities by the police and other law enforcement agencies following the orders of City Police Officer (CPO) Omer Saeed Malik, SSP Operations Wasim Riaz, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Muhammad Ahsan Younas and SSP Operations Muhammad Faisal Kamran. Special traffic plans were also put in place by the City Traffic Police and Islamabad Traffic Police under the commands of CTO Navid Arif and SSP Rai Mazhar.
In the evening, the families thronged public parks in F-9, Lake View, Chattar Park, Nawaz Sharif Park, Ayub Park, Zia Park, Play Land, Jinnah Park and Iqbal Park to have recreational moments. Rain with different pauses turned the weather pleasant.
Similarly, a large number of families also went to Murree to celebrate Eid.
On the other hand, the public lodged complaints of price hikes during the Eid holidays. They said the shopkeepers and vendors charged very high rates of tomatoes, potatoes, onion, ginger, garlic, green chillies, yoghurt, milk, meat, mutton and chicken with no action on part of the district government’s special price magistrates.
In many areas, people faced difficulties in withdrawing cash from ATMs because of bank holidays. Public transport remained off the roads while taxi and rickshaw drivers fleeced the passengers.
The teams of ATS Commandos performed duties at important places while special deployment was ensured at Faisal Mosque. As many as 3,500 policemen performed security duties during the Eid holidays and police teams led by Station House Officers ensured continuous patrolling in various sectors and areas
Policemen performed special vigilance at entry and exit points of the city while the bomb disposal squad also conducted checking in various areas. Additional deployment was also made at various parks including Lake View Park, Chathar park, Daman-e-Koh, Pir Sohawa, Fatima Jinnah Park and Centaurus Mall. Special traffic police squads were deployed on roads to control one-wheeling and over-speeding.