City Reporter
With only a single day left in the religious festival of Eid-ul-Azha, majority of the natives have left for their hometown to celebrate the occasion with their loved ones leaving the capital city deserted, like every year.
Majority of the people residing in capital for job purposes belong to the far flung areas of the country and move to their native towns for celebrating this important festivals with their relatives.
Due to the only three days Eid-ul-Azha officially announced holidays, the natives took the leave of Monday before the festival and Friday after the festival to combine these with the weekends and Eid holidays so that they can spend maximum time with their families.
“I left for my hometown in Bahawalpur during the weekend availing the leave for Monday and Friday too to spend quality time with my parents who were anxiously waiting for me to arrive”, Farhat Jabeen, a government employee said.
“It is difficult to travel to my hometown frequently so visiting there only for three days including traveling time does not seem logical, therefore, I have decided to spend the whole week with them”, she said while talking to media.
Raeed Khan, a retailer of kids clothes in G-9 Markaz, said, “I left for my hometown in Balochistan on Friday fearing of the public transport closure due to the rising cases of COVID-19”.
He said that Eid is the only occasion when I visit my family living in my native town. As my hometown is in the far flung area of Balochistan and travel expenses of one person is more than 15,000 while it takes three-day to reach the destination”.
In such situation, three holidays are not enough for me to spend time with my family but there is no other option as my parents are anxiously waiting for me, he said.
Shaista Hameed, a working woman said, “My children were very enthusiastic to spend at least 10-day vacation with their grandparents in our native town in Azad Kashmir and planned many activities with their cousins but only three-day holidays spoiled their plan.
“I had to take leave from my office back and forth as three-days were not enough for spending quality time with my parents and relatives as well as performing ritual of sacrificing”, she said.
The hustle and bustle of the capital city fades away during the festival of Eid-ul-Azha every year as most of the natives prefer to celebrate the festivity with their families.
