Christians to celebrate Christmas today

Rawalpindi

The Christian community in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad will celebrate Christmas with full zeal and fervour on Sunday, under tight security arrangements. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has also announced to provide uninterrupted electricity in the country on the occasion.

The Christmas services would be held in all Catholic and Protestant churches where priests would deliver sermons. The Christian community has arranged Christmas trees in their homes where children enjoying to see them and anxiously waiting for Christmas to open gifts.

Christmas cakes were also cut at different places included Dhoke Syedan, Christian Colony and Jhawra by the Muslims to show solidarity and brotherhood with Christian community.

Big gatherings of Christian community would be held at the Cathedral Church, Lalkurti; Protestant Church at Mall Road; Saint Anthony Church in Satellite Town; Saint Joseph’s Cathedral Church in Dhoke Syedan, Cathedral Church Chakra, Cathedral Church Hanif Colony and Saint Mary’s Church in Sher Zaman Colony. The Christians would start their special prayers in Cathedral Churches at about 12:00 midnight, while in Protestant Churches at about 11:00p.m. The Santa Claus would be the most enchanting aspect and major attraction for children on the occasion.

Special fairs would also be held outside major churches where people would enjoy every bit of the event. Special Christmas trees have been installed in major city hotels to attract Christians. Special prayers would be offered for the progress and prosperity of the country on the occasion.

District Coordination Officer (DCO) Talat Gondal said that policemen and lady constables would be deployed around all Catholic and Protestant churches to avoid any untoward incident on the occasion. He appealed to public to cooperate with security officials to avoid any untoward incident. Police have made comprehensive security arrangements for the Christmas and special deployment would also be ensured outside churches, he said. Cart pushers and vendors will not be allowed to sell their items like children balloons, toys, chat etc in front of churches.

Talking to ‘The News’, members of the Christian community belonging to different walks of life stressed the need for making sincere efforts for brotherhood and harmony in the society. They are happy on this special occasion and stressed the need for love for each others in this time of trial.

The Christian community members said the religion was a matter of heart not of observances, adding that Christmas would not be special without all that associated with it. But one would be at a loss if goes through the festivities of Christmas without its central and significant message and that too for today’s world. They stressed upon the Christians to follow the footsteps of Jesus Christ in letter and spirit by spreading love and peace in the world. They also extended his felicitations for a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Meanwhile, managements of all public parks here in twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad like Jinnah Park, Ayub National Park, Roomi Park, Shah Baloot Park, Nawaz Sharif Park, F-9 Park etc have cleaned parks. They have repaired all broken swings ahead of Christmas.