Pakistan observes Eid Milad-un-Nabi with full fervor

ISLAMABAD: The enthusiasm in the air was hard to miss as thousands across Pakistan celebrated Eid Milad-un-Nabi on Wednesday to commemorate Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) birthday.
Streets, shopping malls and government buildings adorned with colorful lights to mark the event which began with a 31-gun salute in the federal capital and a 21-gun salute in the four provincial capitals of the country.
Celebrated every year, people make special arrangements to mark the occasion by praying for the unity, progress, and prosperity of Muslims around the world.
Pakistan’s new political administration announced plans to commemorate the occasion at the state levels after it faced violent opposition from certain right-wing religious factions, in the wake of a Supreme Court verdict acquitting a Christian woman accused of blasphemy.
Addressing a two-day international conference in Islamabad on Tuesday, Prime Minister Imran Khan said: “The people who are unable to understand the philosophy of the life of the Prophet [Muhammad (PBUH)] have now become guardians of religion.”
He also informed the audience that Pakistan would work toward the International Convention on Preventing the Defamation of Religions, adding it was not right that the notion of free speech was used with abandon to hurt religious sentiments of Muslims across the world.
He also announced that he was going to appoint an international law expert, Ahmer Bilal Soofi as his envoy for this purpose, whose role would be to convince different countries to sign the document.
Khan also noted that his administration had asked the Higher Education Commission to include specialized courses in Pakistan’s three universities to undertake deeper research on the life of the Prophet.