December 6, 2002	Friday	Shawwal 1,1423

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ISLAMABAD, Dec. 5: It will be easy to drive or walk up to the Faisal Mosque and get a comfort place somewhere in the front rows to offer Eid prayers this year.

There are reports that the newly-installed Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali will observe Eid quietly in Rojhan Jamali, his ancestral village, because of the demise of his cousin Mir Nusrat Ali Jamali recently.

So, one long motorcade and the ‘route’, in which a big contingent of police is deployed on both side of the road through which the motorcade is scheduled to pass to reach Faisal Mosque up from the ‘Hill’, will be out. President Gen Pervez Musharraf has shifted to the Army House in Rawalpindi and in all probability he will offer Eid prayers at Racecourse ground.

So, another long motorcade and the ‘route’ will be missing. And, if the federal interior minister, Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat, also decided to celebrate Eid at his ancestral village, Shahjeewna, in Jhang district, another small motorcade will not be required.

It may be after a long time that there will be no ‘blocking’ of busy intersections or diversion of traffic to other roads to provide a smooth and uninterrupted passage to some VVIP this year. One hopes the American ambassador will not try to pay a visit to Faisal Mosque on the day!

So, there will be few security barriers to cross to enter the mosque for prayers. The traffic police may not even find it necessary to switch off the traffic signals and let the traffic flow smoothly.

There will be fewer people returning home without offering Eid prayers, as in the yesteryear when they were prevented from moving in any direction only because a ‘VVIP convoy’ was expected to pass through the intersection which they wanted to cross to reach a mosque.

And, on the top everything else, a large number of Islamabad police constables will be offering Eid prayers in stead of standing along different roads to ensure a smooth and safe passage to those ‘VVIPs’. It will be a different and easy Eid this year!

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