ISLAMABAD: After a Ramadan marked by lockdowns, Pakistanis began celebrating a rather somber Eid Al-Fitr on Sunday, as many remain shaken by a deadly passenger plane crash last week.
The three-day festival, which marks the end of the fasting month, is traditionally celebrated with mosque prayers and family feasts, but these are now low-key as the country is observing a rise in coronavirus infections.
Prime Minister Imran Khan called on the nation to forgo traditional Eid festivity and join in prayers those who have lost their family members in the crash of a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight.
The PIA plane flying from Lahore plunged into a residential area in Karachi on Friday, killing 97 of 99 people on board.
“Let us think of and pray for all those families who have been deprived of their loved ones by the plane crash tragedy,” the premier said in a Twitter post on Saturday night, following the announcement the country’s central moon-sighting committee that the biggest Islamic holiday of the year would be observed on Sunday.
I want our nation to observe this Eid in a different manner from the usual celebratory style. First, let us think of & pray for all those families who have been deprived of their loved ones by the plane crash tragedy & all those who have lost their lives to COVID19.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) May 23, 2020
In his Eid message to the nation, President Arif Alvi said he was dedicating this year’s holiday to those who have been affected by the coronavirus outbreak, to all medics responding to the pandemic, to Kashmiris, Palestinians and Muslim refugees.
Eid Mubarak. I dedicate Eid to all poor trying to make a living in Covid-19, to Drs & nurses, to patients & those who lost their lives, to Kashmiris enduring
Indian atrocities, to Indian Muslims suffering Islamophobia, to Palestinians & to Muslim refugees of the world. I pray 4 u— Dr. Arif Alvi (@ArifAlvi) May 23, 2020
He said he would offer his Eid prayers at home and requested that all Pakistanis observe social distancing and take preventive measures to protect others from exposure to COVID-19.
Eid celebrations come as Pakistan has recorded nearly 55,000 coronavirus infections and 1,133 people are known to have succumbed to the disease since the first case was reported on Feb. 26.
Last week, the Supreme Court ordered the government to lift some of the remaining restrictions imposed on businesses to halt the spread of the virus, even as infection figures have been on the rise since the country started to emerge from lockdown.
Doctors have warned that a health crisis may develop in the coming days if people fail to follow social distancing and take other precautionary measures.
