Muted Eid celebrations in Pakistan amid flood fallout

Pakistani Muslims took part in low-key celebrations yesterday for the Eid al-Fitr festival, as millions still languished without shelter after the nation’s worst-ever floods.

Eid is the most important festival in the Islamic calendar – marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan – but celebrations were muted as the fallout from devastating floods continued.

The deluges have left 10 million people without shelter nationwide, according to UN figures, with UN spokesman Maurizio Giuliano describing it as “one of the worst humanitarian disasters in UN history”.

Some 21 million people have been affected by the floods, which began more than six weeks ago and have dragged on through Ramadan, with more than eight million reliant on aid handouts for survival.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani mentioned the flood victims in their separate Eid messages to nation.

“We cannot celebrate the day with traditional fanfare and festivities when millions of our countrymen have been rendered shelterless as villages, towns and cities have been destroyed by the floods,” Zardari said.

He said: “We bow our heads in gratitude to Allah on this day for blessing us with the bounties of the holy month of Ramadan.”

“For the Muslims it is a thanksgiving day and I wish to greet all Muslims of the world on this occasion.”

In his message, Prime Minister Gilani said: “This year’s Eid festival is being celebrated on such a moment of history, when a large part of country is under the devastation caused by pre-Ramadan floods.”