People enjoy long Eid holidays

Islamabad

The long Eid holidays provided a well-deserved break to everyone -- from office-goers to labourers and students.

After exchanging greetings with relatives and enjoying food with them, people headed to the tourist spots of Daman-e-Koh, Lake View Park and Shakarparian including Pakistan Monument, as scores of vehicles were seen streaming towards these spots even on the fourth day of Eid.

For children, the Marghazar Zoo and the Japanese Park remained the biggest attractions, which drew large crowds that began to pour in since morning and continued to come in till the evening.

The inflatable jumping castles and a few similar additions were a big hit with children.

It seemed that all roads were leading to Islamabad. From big parks to small play areas in different sectors of the capital city, all the outing places were packed with families looking for recreation during Eid holidays. Cloudy weather contributed to their joy.

Though it wasn't business as usual in Islamabad as most of the markets across the town remained closed, the leading restaurants, bakers and sweet shops had their hands full over the holiday period and made such brisk sales that made others go green with envy.

While Islamabad's shopping centres got a well-deserved break, the tourist resorts and parks registered an extremely high number of visitors with the Daman-e-Koh spot on the Margalla Hills and Lake View Park taking the scoop.

There was an endless stream of vehicles going up and coming down the hills during the course of the holidays. Same was the situation on the road leading to Shakarparian. At Lake View Park, there was traffic block on the second day of Eid, and situation on fourth day was not different.

"We came here for a peaceful picnic but we did not have any idea that we would remain stuck in traffic for hours on our way back," remarked Zahid Shah, a visitor who got stuck in traffic. A large number of people also visited the other side of the Rawal Lake close to Chak Shehzad. Some enjoyed serene setting around the calm waters whereas others like Ahmed Hassan and his friends did fishing.

Ziauddin, a student, came loaded to the lake, complete with his fishing gear and tent for a day out along with his friends.

"We find the Eid day boring so we always come here to catch fish which is our favourite pastime," he said.