The whole city brightened up as all the main roads and government office buildings as well as private residences, mosques and marketplaces, big and small, were decorated with colourful light bulbs and buntings on the auspicious occasion of the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) which falls on 12^th Rabi-ul-Awwal and is celebrated as Eid-i-Miladun Nabi with great religious zeal. This year, it was a touch more pronounced, following the deep public hurt and outrage on the French president’s endorsement of blasphemous content recently flagged by a teacher in Paris which got him killed at the hands of an angry, Chechnya-born local.

A few days ahead of the Eid, the federal government declared the entire week (beginning 12^th Rabi-ul-Awwal) as the Ishq-i-Rasool (peace be upon him) Week, which shall see milads, rallies and seminars throughout. On Friday, a procession was taken out amid great security from Data Darbar which went right up to Delhi Gate inside the Walled City.

The government also approved remission in sentences of prisoners on the occasion and the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) offered a special 12-percent discount for its passengers planning to visit the Hijaz-i-Muqaddas during the month of Rabi-ul-Awwal.