RAWALPINDI: This Eid Al-Adha is the fourth Eid holiday Umair Ahmed said he was away from his family since the outbreak of the coronavirus in February last year.
Due to a combination of flight cancelations and travel bans, Ahmed, 40, has been unable to travel from the United Arab Emirates to his hometown of Swat in Pakistan, hence missing spending two Eid Al-Fitrs and two Eid Al-Adhas with his family. And returning home seems unlikely for the foreseeable future, he told Arab News in a phone interview this week, saying he had been prepared for “another lonely Eid” away from home.
The Eid Al-Adha holiday, which began in Pakistan on Wednesday this year, is one of the two most important festivals of the Islamic calendar, the other being the Eid Al-Fitr festival that marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
Muslims celebrate Eid Al-Adha by slaughtering animals such as sheep and goats and distributing the meat among family, friends and the poor. Feasts at home, surrounded by family and friends, is a central part of the holiday.
“Only those who do not live at home can understand the loneliness that strikes when celebrating Eid alone,” Ahmad, who works in Umm Al Quwain, one of the seven emirates, and has lived in the UAE for the past 12 years, said. “So many people are stuck ... it’s not being able to attend emergencies like funerals. Our hands were tied, and we could not be with our father when he was unwell … the absence of flights has been a major blow.”
“I miss them so much,” he said about his family back home. Then he paused and added: “We have to find happiness any way we can here.”
Flights between Pakistan and UAE have been suspended until July 21, disrupting holiday plans for citizens and residents alike, particularly during the Eid Al-Adha break. The UAE, which comprises seven emirates, is home to 1.5 million Pakistanis and ranked one of Pakistan’s top contributors, alongside Saudi Arabia, of foreign remittances.
Aqsa Yahya, who works in marketing in the UAE, has missed going to Pakistan on both Eids this year.
“I was planning to come [to Pakistan] after Ramadan this year,” Yahya said, saying she had to spend the Eid Al-Fitr holiday in May in the UAE after flights were canceled. All attempts to get to her hometown of Karachi since have been in vain due to “changing travel rules and restrictions.”
“More than Eid, I was most looking forward to coming home fully vaccinated and getting the chance to hug my parents,” she added.
“I was set to leave for Islamabad on July 8, which I’d planned almost two months ahead, and then flights were canceled around July 5 – it sunk in about three days later when no flights were available,” Sukaina Kazmi, 32, a Qatar-based technical support leader, told Arab News.
This is the second Eid that Kazmi will be marking without her family.
“It’s a huge adjustment,” she said. “Some things hit you harder – like being away from loved ones, especially on such occasions.”