PAKISTAN: Faithful Celebrate Eid Amid Fear, Use Online Services

• by Irfan Ahmed (lahore, pakistan)
• Thursday, December 03, 2009
• Inter Press Service

'They (cops) were staring at us as if we had done something wrong by visiting the mosque,' said Ahmed. 'I was expecting smiles and hugs like always, but this time everyone was tense. It looked like a war zone, as I had seen in many computer games.'

These cops were in addition to an equal number of private security guards protecting the boundary walls, the entrance and exit points of the mosque in Samanabad area of Lahore, the second largest city of Pakistan. Equipped with metal detectors, they looked at everyone with suspicion and people to thorough search before clearing them for entry into the 'House of God.'

These were the conditions in which millions of Pakistanis offered their prayers on Eid ul Azha, which fell on Nov. 28. Affording Muslims all over the world sacrifice animals on this occasion and distribute their meat among relatives, acquaintances and the needy.

Eid ul Azha, or Festival of Sacrifice, is celebrated every year by Muslims all over the world to commemorate the Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God. Pakistan, where 98 percent of the people are Muslim by religion, is certainly no exception.

The law-enforcing authorities of the country had expected terror attacks on this occasion and beefed up security at mosques, besides advising people not to gather at open spaces to offer their prayers. The greatest scare was in Peshawar, where terrorists had hit a couple of soft targets, including a busy Mina Bazaar, recently and killed hundreds of innocent people, including women and children.

In a bid to dispel fear, Muhammad Alam Shinwari, a senior police official in Peshawar, talked to media days before Eid and briefed them about the foolproof security measures they had taken. Walkthrough gates, in such a large number, were placed for the first time at main prayer spots across the country to deny access to unwanted personnel.

Apart from making people wary on Eid day, the looming terror threat affected their buying patterns as well. The marketplaces across the country evinced a deserted look prior to Eid, as people feared subversive activities there.

'We had hired additional security guards, but there were hardly any buyers. The crowd built up on the last two days before Eid as there was a letup in terror attacks,' says Amir Husain, a cloth merchant in Sadar Bazar, Rawalpindi. The reluctance of buyers to frequent crowded places led to the rise of a relatively new trend this year. A lot of people opted to buy sacrificial animals online by visiting different websites such as qurbanionline.com and bakraonline.com set up for the purpose. ‘Qurbani’ means sacrifice and ‘bakra’ he-goat in native language.

'The option had been there for a couple of years but this time, these websites did a whopping business,' says Zeeshan Haider, a cloth merchant in Lahore’s Azam Cloth market. He tells IPS that a website, bakraonline.com, had to refuse orders as its stocks ran out days before Eid.

Zeeshan adds that these websites carry pictures of sacrificial animals on sale along with details of their weight, height, colour, age and so on. The payment can be made online and the animals received at doorstep for minimal charges or, in some cases, free of cost.

'This saves people a lot of hassle. They don’t have to go to crowded and filthy markets and argue with vendors over prices,' he says. 'I know a couple of friends who availed themselves of this option this year out of fear of violence.'

Outsourcing of many rituals, previously performed by households, to various business outlets was also observed. Shazia Munawar, 38, a housewife in Karachi, is one such beneficiary of this service. Clad in a white traditional dress, she sits casually in the courtyard of her house—surrounded by her family members and guests whom she has invited over for lunch.

Talking to IPS over the phone, she says last year her house was in a mess and the courtyard full of animal blood and waste. 'It took us a good five hours to slaughter two goats, skin them and clean and prepare their meat for distribution and cooking for personal consumption,' she adds.

This year, she says, her husband hired the services of a professional company, which bought the sacrificial animals on their behalf, slaughtered them at a common place and prepared and packed their meat for onward distribution. Shazia says they distribute the packed meat among people the next day, and get their own share of meat cooked from a popular outlet offering such services on Eid day.

'We want to enjoy this occasion just like any other national holiday, and stay away from any work,' she adds.

Though the outsourcing of this ritual is gaining popularity among the masses, there are many who oppose the idea. Mustafa Raza, owner of a computer hardware shop in Lahore, says the real spirit of the ritual lies in doing every act with one’s own hands. He says he bought a goat from a stall set up by the district government, kept it at his home for five days and gave a helping hand to the butcher when it was slaughtered.

'You must have love for the animal that you are sacrificing in the name of God. How can you develop it if you don’t even see or caress it?' he tells IPS.

The business of greeting cards that would flourish during Eid in the past has suffered the most over the years. Not too long ago printing presses had to work round the clock to meet the ever-increasing demand for greeting cards. This year cards were hardly sold as people sent Eid messages through emails and Short Message Services (SMS).

Zahid Husain, a bookstall owner in Lahore, tells IPS that he could not sell off the stock of Eid cards lying with him. He says he had no other option but to offer free cards to customers who would spend a specific amount of money at his shop. 'Quite interestingly, more people visited my shop to buy mobile scratch cards than books,' says Zahid.

The cell phone companies’ staff worked extra hours to facilitate subscribers who passed on Eid greetings through SMS and voice calls, and keep the mobile networks working. The exact number of SMS exchanged on this Eid is yet to be determined. However, the official figure released for the messages sent on Eid-ul-Fitr—celebrated every year at the completion of the month of fasting and which fell in September last year—stands at 600 million.

© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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