ISLAMABAD: With only a single day left in the religious festival of Eid-ul-Azha, majority of the natives have left for their hometowns to celebrate the festival with their families and relatives leaving the city deserted, like every year.
A number of people residing in capital for job purposes belong to the far flung areas of the country and rush to their native towns for celebrating important festivals with their relatives.
Taking advantage of the official holidays announced from July 8 (Friday) to July 12 (Tuesday), majority of the natives took three day leave from June 13 (Wednesday) to June 15 (Friday) to combine with the weekend holidays to spend maximum time with their families.
“I left for my hometown in Multan after performing my official duty on Thursday to spend quality time with my parents who were anxiously waiting for me to arrive and make arrangements for ritual of sacrifice”, Saad Rafique, a government employee said.
“It is difficult to travel to my hometown frequently due to increased petrol prices so visiting there only for five days including traveling time does not seem logical, therefore I took leave from Wednesday till Tuesday to combine weekend holidays too”, he said.
Farhat Jabeen, who is a doctor by profession, said: “I left for my hometown in Kashmir on Thursday to celebrate the festival with my family and relatives, taking three additional days leave after official holiday’s announcement”.
She said that Eid is the only occasion when I visit my family living in my native town as it is not convenient to afford travel expenses frequently when the petrol prices and public transport fares have been increased. 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 so me and my husband took official leave of three days to combine it with the Eid holidays”.
“Summer vacation of our children is the best time to spend more time in our native towns otherwise it is not possible to get such a long break from their study routine”, she said. The increased fares and petrol prices is another reason of spending more time in native town on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha as it is not possible to bear travel expenses frequently.
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.