KARACHI: As Chand Raat, the night of the crescent moon, heralds the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and the arrival of Eid Al-Fitr, residents of Karachi throng the city’s popular sweet shops to buy sweetmeat, honoring a time-honored tradition of celebrating Mithi or Sweet Eid.
While various desserts, especially sheer khurma and kheer, grace the festive spreads in almost every household, different kinds of sweetmeats, locally known as mithai, also hold a central place in the hearts of people.
“Until you have mithai, there is no Eid and you cannot enjoy the celebration,” Zubair-ud-Din, a customer, told Arab News while purchased cham-cham from a downtown Karachi sweets shop.
“To buy mithai, one must wait in a queue for a long time,” he continued. “But it is necessary to take Mithai with you.”
“There is no Eid without mithai,” he said, adding he had always been taking sweets from his favorite Bhashani Sweets since its taste was “unmatched.”
Asif Bhashani, the owner of the outlet whose family migrated to Pakistan from Bangladesh in 1971 and brought all its recipes, Eid Al-Fitr is synonymous with sweetmeats displayed at his shop.
“It’s rightly called [sweet Eid] because mithai dominates everything,” he said. “People’s focus is on mithai and cakes, not just in Pakistan but all over the world. It’s a tradition.”
With Ramadan’s progression, Bhashani Sweets experiences a new surge in demand, reaching its zenith on Chand Raat, the eve preceding Eid.
The owner of the shop said people not only purchased sweets for their own families but also got them for friends and colleagues before visiting them.
“People send our sweets all over the world, to their relatives, to friends, whether in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Europe or Canada,” he said. “People send our Bhashani mithai, especially cham-cham.”
Although every sweet shop is flooded with customers, Bhashani, Dilpasand and Rehmat-e-Shireen are the leading outlets in the city.
“Our commitment to quality distinguishes us as the preferred choice of people,” said Asif Nadeem at Rehmat-e-Shireen located at Karachi’s popular Tariq Road, highlighting the surge in sales at his shop.
“Our customers increase several times in number during Eid,” he added.
Choosing the finest sweets from the top shops is preferred by people who aspire to present the best to their guests, according to Arsala Khan, who purchased five kilograms of cham-cham and gulab jaman besides other sweet delights.
“When guests arrive, we offer them mithai, so we buy these sweets from a good place,” he told Arab News, adding that his spread was also decorated with rice pudding, sheer khurma and home-made carrot halwa.
“This is Sweet Eid and for Sweet Eid, sweet things should be mandatory,” he said. “That’s why we purchase Mithai.”
“It’s a day of happiness, guests arrive and mithai is essential for guests,” he added.
‘No mithai, no Eid’: Karachi’s sweet shops bustle as Eid Al-Fitr celebrations continue
https://arab.news/c4dba
‘No mithai, no Eid’: Karachi’s sweet shops bustle as Eid Al-Fitr celebrations continue
- On the night of the crescent moon, people visit their favorite shops to purchase different varieties of sweetmeats
- Despite thousands of these shops in the city, a large chunk of customers go to the top ones for quality sweets
Pakistan says military operation concluded in Balochistan, 216 militants killed
- Separatist BLA militant group claimed responsibility for coordinated attacks across Balochistan last week
- Military says 36 civilians, 22 law enforcement and security forces personnel have been killed in attacks
PESHAWAR: Pakistani forces have concluded a security operation in the southwestern Balochistan province and killed 216 militants after a series of coordinated attacks by separatist militants last week, the military’s media wing said on Thursday.
Separatist militant group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for a series of attacks in Balochistan last Friday and Saturday in multiple districts across the province, one of the deadliest flare-ups in the area in recent years.
Pakistan military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said security forces launched operations in Panjgur and Harnai district’s outskirts on Jan. 29 based on intelligence confirming the presence of “terrorist elements,” killing 41 militants.
It said the military launched a broader series of intelligence-based operations in multiple areas of the province after that to dismantle “terrorist sleeper cells,” referring to it as “Operation Radd-ul-Fitna-1.”
“As a result of these well-coordinated engagements and subsequent clearance operations, 216 terrorists have been sent to hell, significantly degrading the leadership, command-and-control structures and operational capabilities of terrorist networks,” the ISPR said in a statement.
The military said 36 civilians, including women and children, were killed by militants while 22 security forces and law enforcement personnel also lost their lives.
The ISPR said a substantial cache of foreign-origin weapons, ammunition, explosives and equipment were also recovered during the counteroffensive operations.
“Preliminary analysis indicates systematic external facilitation and logistical support to these extremist proxies,” the statement said.
The military said Pakistan’s armed forces remain steadfast in their resolve to combat “terrorism,” vowing that counterterror operations will continue until militants are completely eliminated.
“Operation Radd-ul-Fitna-1 stands as a testament to Pakistan’s and particularly Balochistan’s proud peoples’ unwavering commitment to always prefer peace over violence, unity over division and development over violence,” the ISPR said.
Pakistan’s government has accused India of being behind the militant attacks in Balochistan, charges that New Delhi has rejected as “baseless.”
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by land area, has long faced a separatist insurgency that has intensified in recent years. Militants frequently target security forces, government officials, infrastructure projects, foreigners and non-local workers.
The province holds vast reserves of minerals and hydrocarbons and is central to the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship component of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Separatist groups such as the BLA accuse Islamabad of exploiting Balochistan’s natural resources while denying locals a fair share. Pakistan’s civilian and military leadership reject the claim and say they are investing in the province’s development.
