Rawalpindi-Pindities celebrated Eid-ul-Azha with great religious zeal, fervour. Heavy rain turned the weather pleasant. Hundreds of Eid congregations were held while people offered Eid prayer at mosques, Eidgahs, Imambargahs and other open areas.
Eid congregations were held at Liaquat Bagh, Eid Gah Sharif, Islamia Seminary at F-Block, Gordon College Ground, Viqar-un-Nisa Ground, Daral Aloom Hanfia Usmania Ganjmandi, Jamia Mosque Bahar-e-Madina, Rawal Road, Jamia Masjid Abu-al-Qasim Jan Colony Tench, Rawalpindi Medical College Ground Tipu Road, Jamia Masjid Khatim-ul-Nabiyan Neelam Colony, Jamia Masjid Westridge, Jamia Masjid Bilali Arya Mohala, Jamia Masjid Akbari Mohan Pura, Jamia Masjid Zia Hanfia Gulzar-e-Qaid, Jamia Masjid Wapda Colony Mareer, Liaquat Bagh, Jamia Masjid Riaz-ul-Janat Kuri Road, Markazi Eid Gah Gawalmandi, 22 Number Chungi, Jamia Masjid Morgah, Jamia Masjid Gulzar-e-Madina Dhama Seydan, Jamia Masjid Gulshan-e-Abad, Rukhshanda Masjid Adyaal Road, Jamia Masjid Rajgan Dhamial Road and so many other localities. Special prayers were offered for the progress and prosperity of the country, unity of the Muslim Ummah, solution of their problems and liberation of Muslim territories, including Indian held Kashmir.
On the occasion, tight security arrangements had been made by Rawalpindi Police under the surveillance of City Police Officer (CPO) Abbas Ahsan. Scores of well-equipped policemen besides Elite force commandoes and female police had been deputed outside the bazaars, shopping centres and sensitive public and private buildings. Strict security measures had also been adopted outside Eid congregations, while police kept patrolling the area. No untoward incident was reported from anywhere in the city. City Traffic Police, following the instructions of Chief Traffic Officer Muhammad Bin Ashraf also facilitated the citizens by smoothing traffic flow. In Murree, the wardens also controlled the traffic successfully. Soon after offering Eid prayers, people greeted each other, slaughtered sacrificial animals like goat, sheep, lamb, bull, calf and camel, distributed the meat among their relatives, friends and poor people and visited graveyards laying floral wreaths and offering Fatiha on the graves of their beloved ones.
Federal Ministers Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Amir Mehmood Kiyani, MPs Fayyaz ul Hassan Chohan, Ijaz Khan Jazzi, Raja Rashid Hafeez, Muhammad Basharat Raja, former premier and PPP MNA Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, former MPs Malik Abrar Ahmed, Malik Iftikhar Ahmed, Haji Pervaiz, Malik Shakil Awan, Zia Ullah Shah, Raja Hanif Advocate, Chaudhry Ayaz, PPP stalwart and spokesman to former president Asif Ali Zadari Malik Aamer Fida Paracha also offered Eid prayers in their native towns, slaughtered sacrificial animals and intermingled with their supporters and voters.
Regional Police Officer (RPO) Muhammad Fayyaz Dev, CPO Abbas Ahsan, divisional SPs, DSPs and other police officers offered Eid prayers at Police Line Number 1. After offering the Eid prayers, RPO and CPO greeted their subordinates. Later “Bara Khana” was also held in which all the police officers participated.
Later in the evening, people planned a number of programs. Some arranged Bar B.Q parties at their homes while a number of families thronged public parks (Ayub Park, Zia Park, Jinnah Park, Nawaz Sharif Park, Lake View) and other resorts like Murree, Pir Sohawa, Daman-e-Koh along with children and made “Tikkas” and “Kababs” from various aromatic spices. All shops and business establishments, banks and government offices remained closed due to the public holidays. The ATMs of almost all the banks remained out of service causing immense trouble for the account holders. The business of iron made hearth and rods gained momentum as huge rush could be witnessed on all the shops with people buying utensils to make beef and mutton tikkas and kababs. The price of coal also surged. Taxi cabs minted money from the passengers as per their own will.
Contrary to last year, the government has taken strict action against the shopkeepers the prices of onion, potato, tomato, green chillies and mint remained low.
As the government announced Wednesday and Thursday as public holidays, thousands of citizens went to Murree. Because of heavy deployment of traffic wardens, the traffic situation remained under control in Murree, said a spokesman to CTO. He said traffic police placed special pickets with squads to thwart one wheeling. “As many as 39 cases were registered against one-wheelers,” he said. He further said the traffic situation in Murree remained under control due to the special traffic plan prepared by CTO Muhammad Bin Ashraf. “A total of 20000 vehicles entered Murree during Eid holidays and traffic police managed the mess despite having less space for parking,” he said. He said the CTO himself patrolled on city roads and checked duty points of wardens.