Twin cities’ residents enjoy pleasant Eid

Rawalpindi The population in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi enjoys the festive occasions of ‘Chand Raat’ and Eidul Fitr with great fervour and zeal as no untoward incident was reported in the region on Eid days.

A heavy rainfall with thunderstorm at around 3 a.m. on ‘Chand Raat’ though caused a little disturbance for shoppers visiting main markets in town and the residents in low-lying areas however it did not create any greater emergency situation.

Almost all markets in town remained heavily crowded on ‘Chand Raat’ at least till the heavy rainfall hit the region. Majority of families busy in shopping on ‘Chand Raat’ had to leave for home soon after the thunderstorm however a good number of youngsters were witnessed enjoying the rainfall that can be termed as the heaviest in term of intensity.

The rain water inundated at a number of spots on Murree Road and in smaller vicinities caused a traffic jam at around 4:00 a.m., a rare scene just before dawn for the city dwellers.

Almost all markets in city and cantonment areas along with those located along relatively smaller link roads remained open till Fajar prayer on ‘Chand Raat’ and the roads witnessed heavy traffic. Apart from Murree Road, the roads leading to markets in Saddar area, Tench Bhatta, Raja Bazaar, Commercial Market, Banni Chowk, Tipu Road and Rawal Road received heavy influx of traffic on ‘Chand Raat’.

Despite a heavy rainfall, a good number of people arrived at the graveyards in town soon after Fajr prayer to offer ‘fateha’ on the graves of their loved ones on the first day of Eid. In the morning, at the time of Eid prayers, a light shower made the weather more pleasant in the region convincing people to come out of homes to celebrate Eid. The parks in town remained heavily crowded on the first, second and third day of Eid while local restaurants, pan shops, barbecue and fast food points witnessed heavy crowds especially in the nights at least till 2 a.m on Eid days.

No untoward incident was reported in the region on Eid days that served as another reason for people in town to enjoy the festive occasion of Eid in peace and pleasure. The burning of over 150 people to death in Ahmedpur East, however, made a number of individuals feel sorry for the unfortunates.

At least for Rawalpindi, it can be said that it did not give a deserted look on Eid days particularly at nights and this time again, the Rawalpindi city witnessed extraordinary crowds on its roads and in markets on ‘Chand Raat’ and the first two days of Eid showing a trend like that of big cities.