Celebrating Eid: Barriers keep workers away from home

Labourers working on Safe City Project will spend festival away from families

ISLAMABAD: Eidul Azha is a festive holiday celebrated by some among family and friends, unwinding and catching up over snacks and tea, while others are involved in hosting barbecue get-togethers following the animal sacrifice.


There are, however, a few who long to go home in order to spend quality time with their families but work or other commitments keep them from doing so.

Same is the case with Ziaullah and his colleagues, who are constructing the jersey barrier along Margalla Road as part of the Islamabad Safe City Project.

“I’m the site engineer here and will be going home for Eid but I feel sorry for the ones who have to stay back,” he expressed. Ziaullah started off the construction project with 50 labourers but since most of the work has been completed, the site is left to 15 men who are busy adding the finishing touches to the barrier.

Separated by great distances, Ziaullah’s team is feeling nostalgic and homesick due to the upcoming religious occasion. Naseer Ahmed, one of the team members who belongs to Sargodha, will be staying back. “I will miss my family more than others because my brother, who is also working here with me, is going home for Eid but I have to stay back,” he shared.

Wiping the sweat off his forehead, Yasir Ali, the accountant and supervisor, said “All of us are like family here. We eat together, spend the evenings talking about our children and are trying to have a good time since the project is ending soon. But working on Eid due to financial constraints and being far away from our loved ones is breaking our hearts.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 22^nd, 2015.