Christmas celebrated peacefully in K-P

Special event held at All Saints Church to remember victims of twin suicide blast

PESHAWAR: Amid tight security, the Christian community of the province celebrated on Christmas with traditional zeal, fervour and enthusiasm.

Special services were held in all major Churches of the province as they were thronged by members of the Christian community.

Residential areas with a large number of Christian residents had been decorated with lights, balloons and other decorative items.

All major churches, including the All Saints Church, Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church, Cathedral Church and Saint Michael Catholic Church were decorated with colourful lights on the occasion.

Stringent security arrangements were made by the police and the district administration to ensure Christmas celebrations took place peacefully.

Walkthrough gates were installed and heavy contingents of security personnel were deployed at churches to avert any untoward incident.

The Dera Ismail Khan and Hungu district police officers also staged functions in the respective police lines to express solidarity with the Christian community.

Flames to flowers

At the All Saints Church in Peshawar, Christmas celebrations were held with the theme of ‘Flames to flowers’ with support from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Pakistan Peace Collective.

Scores of volunteers participated in the event along with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly Member Shagufta Malik.

She cut the Christmas cake with Father Shezad and officials from the information ministry.

After the cake cutting ceremony, young volunteers presented flowers to attendees and expressed feelings of love and solidarity.

Awami National Party (ANP) lawmaker Malik said that the “diversity of our country is its beauty and we are all one nation who will jointly work for the betterment of our motherland.

She added that our nation is quite resilient and capable to move forward from terror attacks. But to do so, which interfaith harmony will play a key role.

The All Saints Church had suffered one of the worst terror attacks in the country when twin suicide bombers blew themselves up as mas ended on September 22, 2013, leaving as many as 87 people dead.

The purpose of the ‘flames to flowers’ event on Wednesday was to bring smiles on the faces of the Christian community who had lost their loved ones in the twin terror attacks. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 26^th, 2019.