Eid was celebrated in the country on Saturday with great fervor and religious zeal. On the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr Government announced five vacations starting from Friday to Tuesday. The long vacations announced by Government are unprecedented and raises some serious questions. The Eid no doubt is a very important event but announcing 5-days vacations makes no sense at all. Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah always laid emphasis on hard work, he is well known for his saying ‘work, work and only work’. Official vacations lasting five-day means that a loss of billions will be dealt to the national economy, probably even more. Country’s economy cannot boom when the Government is adamant on allowing people so many work-free days. Such decisions are a flash back to the Mughal era when the rulers indulged themselves in such extravagances and were fond of announcing lengthy public holidays. However, in modern democratic countries the example of Pakistan will be hard to match.
Another unfortunate example of the severe lack of incompetence on part of the Government is the fact that although the Government announced five holidays so people can spend time with their families but they failed to ensure that the citizens are given the chance to do so. Murree which is the country’s only easily accessible hill station is a hub of activity during the summers, it was only natural that with Eid falling in summers a large number of people will rush towards the hill station to beat the heat and enjoy Eid with their families. But surprise surprise the local administration miserably failed to make preparations keeping in mind the large number of expected tourists. Instead, loads leading to Murree were closed down on Sunday as the administration failed to keep the traffic flowing.
The lengthy vacations announced by the Government will cause the national economy losses to the tunes of billions.