Despite shoppers influx being witnessed in Pakistan's markets after lifting of the coronavirus lockdown, the traditional festivities associated with Eid remained missing on Chaand Raat this year.
"Eid is celebrated in Pakistan with much enthusiasm, but thinking of the pandemic and now the Karachi plane crash incident, I refrained from a lot of shopping and just bought a dress online", says journalist Fahmida Yousfi. "Most women like me have accessories and make ups already in bulk so I preferred to spent that amount somewhere else", she told Naya Daur.
Being a working journalist, I always do some advance preparations for my children so I had completed the children's shopping before the lockdown, she says.
Farhat Asif, rights activist based in Islamabad, says “We didn’t do any preparations for this Eid due to risk of Covid-19 spread.
“I had plans to go for shopping for my two young daughters, but considering the prevailing coronavirus situation, I avoided to make any preparations for them as well,” she adds.
This year Eid is the saddest I have ever had in my entire living memory, she says, adding that she could not go to see her parents in Mirpur; which was an important Eid ritual for her.
Maryam Khalid, a resident of Karachi, said she preferred doing online shopping rather than getting exposure to markets. She said there is no happiness on this Eid as such following the Covid-19 pandemic situation in the country.
Tanzila Mazhar, an anchor based in Islamabad, says she skipped shopping activities on this Eid amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Talking about crowd in markets, she said she had planned to purchase some necessary stuff for Eid, but after witnessing how people were shopping without any precautions and completely ignoring SOPs, she decided to avoid going out.
She said that shopping would have been possible if everyone had taken precautions according to SOPs, adding that it seems people have not started taking coronavirus as a serious threat to their and their family members’ health.
Kausar Bibi, a resident of Kamra, says, "In semi-populous areas like ours where confirmed Covid-19 cases are low and residents are generally taking Covid-19 seriously, things are relaxed."
However, she said she visited a nearby shop to bring her daughter's Eid dress.
Samia Liaqat, an anchor based in Lahore, says she didn’t visit market for shopping on this Eid due to Covid-19 pandemic. “My father had strictly asked me to not go anywhere out and I did online shopping,” she said.
Muhammad Irfan, a resident of Rawalpindi, says “We are all set to celebrate Eid but with more care this time.”