PESHAWAR: The provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Wednesday issued directives for the implementation of the guidelines of National Coordination and Command Centre (NCOC) for gatherings of Eidul Fitr in the province.
In this connection, a meeting of the divisional commissioners, regional police officers and clerics of different schools of thought was held here with Chief Secretary KP, Dr. Kazim Niaz in the chair.
On this occasion, the Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa directed all divisional commissioners for taking religious clerics into confidence on observing Eidul Fitr as per guidelines issued by NCOC for Eid prayers and strict implementation of SOPs in open places.
The chief secretary said that wherever open environment is not possible, then Eid prayers should be offered in masajid with SOPs while keeping doors and windows open. He said that ensuring maximum opportunity of participation in Eid prayers, two or three Eid gatherings should be arranged on the same venue after passage of sufficient time.
He urged upon religious clerics to keep Eid sermons short to maintain the people within the gathering for minimum time period. He further said that the use of sanitizer and wearing of face mask is compulsory for those participating in Eid gatherings and no one without mask would be allowed to join such gatherings.
The chief secretary also directed drawing visible lines on six feet for ensuring social distancing in gatherings and refrain old, sick and under-15 children from coming to masajid. Similarly, he said that masajids and Eidgahs should have more than one entrance and exits to prevent the spread of disease. He said that the management of gatherings should also arrange checking body temperature and incase of visible symbols, the concerned person should be disallowed to participate in the gathering while sufficient availability of masks and sanitizers should be ensured at the entry of points of Eid gatherings.
The chief secretary also urged upon the religious clerics to stress upon people for making ablution in their houses and also bringing of their own prayer mats. Furthermore, he said that the practice of handshaking and embracing should also be avoided to prevent the spread of pandemic.
He further directed the divisional commissioners and regional police officers for allowing no gathering before or after Eid prayers. He also directed for display of Corona SOPs awareness related banners at venues of all such gatherings. The chief secretary also directed suitable arrangements for discouraging crowd and deployment of law-enforcement agencies to provision of security and implementation of SOPs.
He said that like first and second wave of Corona, the role of religious clerics is also highly commendable during the third wave. He further said that religious clerics have great influence among the masses and they followed their advice. He said that the positive insistence of the clerics would bear encouraging results.
Speaking on the occasion, the Convener of Clerics Committee, Maulana Syed Yousaf Shah said that they fully support Corona preventive guidelines of the government and announced extending full support to the proposal of offering Eid prayers in open places.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021