RAWALPINDI/ISLAMABAD - The residents of twin cities celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr on Saturday and Sunday with religious zeal, fervour and traditional festivity. Heavy rain on Eid day also turned weather pleasant. Sky rocketing prices of daily use items including meat, mutton, chicken, yogurt, milk and vegetables and confectionery items had marred the Eid of poor and middle class families. Heavy traffic jams in twin cities on eve of Eid Ul Fitr irked road users. Scores of Eid congregations were held at open places, mosques, Eidgahs and Imambargahs in all the areas of Rawalpindi and Islamabad amid tight security devised by the bosses of Rawalpindi and Islamabad police. In the mosques, the ulema and religious scholars, in their Eid sermons, highlighted the significance of the day and urged the people to follow the teachings of Islam and the Holy Quran. They also condemned the Indian troops’ barbarism in Kashmir and Israeli action against innocent people of Palestine.
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Special prayers were also offered for the integrity, solidarity and prosperity of the country, and for the liberation of Palestine and held Kashmir and other occupied Muslim lands. They also prayed for the welfare and well-being of the Ummah. n the mosques, people met with each other and greeted Eid wishes. After Eid prayer, people visited residences of 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 the loved ones besides offering Fateha. Tight security arrangements were also made in twin cities by the police and other law enforcement agencies following the orders of City Police Officer (CPO) Syed Khalid Mehmood Hamdani and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad Dr Akbar Nasir Khan. The traffic plans made by police of twin cities failed badly as massive traffic jams occurred on many roads of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. In Rawalpindi, the biggest Eid congregations were held at Eid Gah Sharif, Liaquat Bagh, Double Road, Rawat and suburbs while in Islamabad, main Eid congregation was held at Faisal Mosque where government officials and envoys of Islamic countries offered Eid prayers.
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Islamabad Police chief Dr Akbar Nasir Khan and other senior police officials offered Eid prayers in Police Line Headquarters. 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. Similarly, a large number of families also went to Murree to celebrate Eid. According to City Traffic Police (CTP) Rawalpindi spokesman, as many as 18370 vehicles entered hill station Murree while 15638 vehicles returned during Eid holidays causing traffic jams at Bhara Kahu and Toll Plaza on Murree Expressway. He claimed that some 280 CTP wardens and officers managed to ease the traffic mess successfully. According to him, the CTP and Murree Tourism Police helped as many as 3000 tourists. He said that senior traffic police officials were present in Murree to monitor the situation. The CTP education wing also distributed 9000 pamphlets and broachers among tourists and road users for creating awareness about road safety.
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On the other hand, public lodged complaints of price hike during Eid holidays. They said the shopkeepers and vendors charged very high rates of tomatoes, potatoes, onion, ginger, garlic, green chillies, yogurt, milk, meat, mutton and chicken with no action on part of district government’s special price magistrates. Bakery products were also being sold on very high prices. In many areas, people faced difficulties in withdrawing cash from ATMs because of bank holidays. Public transport remained off the roads while taxi, Bykea and rickshaw drivers fleeced the passengers. He said that Tourism police had also provided help and guided many tourists. He said that CPO also monitored the situation of traffic from modern Command and Control Centre. Also, police monitored traffic situation in Murree from Control Room at Murree. Meanwhile, Islamabad police made best security arrangements on the eve of Eid-ul-Fitr in Capital and the officers as well as Jawans of the Islamabad Police performed their duties with dedication and commitment to ensure protection to the lives and property of the citizens. IGP Dr Akbar Nasir Khan also attended Big Meal arranged for the policemen at Police Line Headquarters. Senior police officers were also present on the occasion.
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Following the directions of IGP, effective patrolling was made in the city in order to avoid any untoward incident on this occasion and the police officers, with a view to boost the morale of their jawans, remained present with them on the police pickets. It is pertinent to mention here that teams of ATS commandos performed duties at important places while special deployment was ensured at Faisal Masjid. As many as 3500 policemen performed security duties during the Eid holidays and police teams, led by the SHOs, ensured continuous patrolling in various sectors and areas.