Thousands of fun seekers including women and children thronged to the parks of the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad during holidays to celebrate the Eid festival. Eid-ul-Azha was celebrated throughout the country with religious fervour and enthusiasm. After Eid prayers, the faithful slaughtered cows, goats, rams and sheep to commemorate the Sunnah of Prophet Hazrat Ibrahim (AS). The process continued till third day of Eid (Wednesday).
People slaughtered animals and then distributed the meat among the deserving people besides their kin and dear ones. This year, two Eid holidays and one Iqbal day (November 9) holiday were announced by the government, which provided a recreational opportunity for the citizens.
Having spent the first day of Eid on Monday on exercise of slaughtering animals and greeting relatives, friends and near and dear ones, the citizens were seen flocking to numerous parks like Public park Rawalpindi commonly known Nawaz Sharif Park, Ayub National Park, Family park Commercial markets Satellite Town Rawalpindi and Jinnah park on the second and third day of Eid.
Girls were seen taking swings, while children were screaming on merry-go-rounds and the adults were exuberant to see smiles on the faces of their children. The reason behind fun making at the parks was that the school children were free and fully enjoying Eid holidays, as all the schools would open again on Thursday after Eid holidays.
However, the people were complaining about lack of facilities at the parks and high rates of edibles at canteens and cafeteria as well. They were also irritated, while paying extra money for parking facilities at the parks. They were of the view that the government should make entry to all the parks with parking facilities free and the prices of all items at canteens should be checked and controlled by the authorities concerned, so that the people could enjoy.
In the federal capital, Shakarparian and the National Monument were busy resorts after Fatima Jinnah Park (F-9 park), Rawal lake park, Daman-e-Koh and Faisal Mosque where thousands of people including men, women and children visited and enjoyed the Eid. Rawal Dam Park in federal capital is a beautiful addition in tourists' resorts of twin cities, which was beautified and restored in the recent past. It was another place of attraction for the people of the twin cities specially the children and youth.
The drizzle on the second day of Eid turned the weather pleasant in twin cities, which was an added incentive for the people of the twin cities to visit parks and other public places to enjoy the Eid holidays. A large number of people were also seen travelling towards Murree Hills to enjoy Eid celebrations.
Another busy recreational place of Islamabad was the city zoo and its adjacent children park (Japanese park) also attracted a large number of people especially the children. The parks in Rawalpindi were specially decorated to make them attractive for the visitors. The people also demanded of the government to make new gardens and allocate places for small parks at housing localities, so that the people should not cover long distances, which also create transportation problems for them.