Belated Eid greetings: Pakhtun pockets in Karachi celebrate with K-P

The decision was not backed by any political party۔

KARACHI: While showing solidarity with their friends and family in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, people in some Pakhtun-dominated areas of the city celebrated Eidul Fitr on Sunday.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had decided late Saturday to support its Peshawar moonsighting committee’s assertion that it had received 18 credible moonsighting testimonies from across the province.

Local clerics in Karachi followed suit, as residents of Kemari and other areas wore new clothes, visited mosques to offer Eid prayers and then offered greetings to their loved ones. “I am waiting for my friends to come over. We have especially made biryani for the guests,” said Noorul Ameen*, a Pashtun who lives in Keamari.

“There is no point in waiting when Muslims around the world are celebrating,” he added, while feeling sorry that the rest of the city would celebrate Eid on Monday.

Hundreds of Pakhtun gathered for Eid prayers at two mosques in Keamari, Darul Tarbia and Ibrahim Majid.

The country is going to celebrate three Eidul Fitrs this year, as parts of North Waziristan and even K-P had observed the festival on Saturday. K-P has generally differed with the central moon-sighting committee’s decisions on the matter in the past as well, and has been celebrating Eid a day ahead of the rest of the country for a long time.

Due to Karachi’s demographics, people in small pockets in the city have been following their brethren in K-P when it comes to marking such festivals.

The additional controversy this year was that the K-P government alleged that the Central Ruet-i-Hilal Committee announced its decision while the K-P’s zonal moon-sighting committee’s meeting was still in progress.

“I think it’s about time we solved this controversy once and for all, on scientific lines,” said Awami National Party’s Mohammad Younis Khan.

While referring to the practice of hugging people on Eid, Landhi’s Mohammad Saleem joked: “If 2.2 billion Muslims decide to celebrate Eid on the same day [and hugged], we could set a record”.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 20^th, 2012.