PESHAWAR: Easter was celebrated with religious fervour in parts of the provincial metropolis amid tight security on Sunday. Members of the Christian community, as part of their religious festivity, also took out processions from different churches early in the morning where the participants, including women and children, exchanged gifts and Easter greetings.

The major participation was observed at the St John’s Cathedral and St. Michaels Catholic Church at Peshawar Cantt, and All Saint Church at Kohati Gate (city area). A procession was also taken out from a church at Swati Phattak which ended at St John’s Cathedral.

The worshipers at All Saints Church were headed by pastor Rasheed Nazeer, while prayers at St John’s Cathedral were led by Bishop Sarfaraz Peter and at the university campus the duty was fulfilled by Bishop Arnos Jacob.

The worshipers at All Saints Church walked through Jahangirpura, Namak Mandi, Qissa Khwani, Khyber Bazaar and Kochi Bazaar and returned to the same church.

Christians seek compensation for blast victims

Talking to this correspondent, Khurram Yaqoob Sahothra, a participant, said that in the past the procession route was lengthy and the people had to walk through Yakatoot and Gantaghar, but owing to security reasons the route was changed to avoid any untoward incident.

The worshipers, he said, offered prayers at different times since early in the morning and prayed for the restoration of peace in the country. He said that most of the participants at the All Saints Church were the relatives of victims of the suicide bombing in the church that occurred on Sept 22, 2013.

Mr Sahothra lamented that some of the wounded people were still under treatment, but the federal government had failed to pay compensation to the affected families so far. He said that Rs200 million was announced by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, but the amount had so far not been given to the victim families. He said that the Sindh government and Bahria Town chairman Malik Riaz had also announced financial support for the families, but did not fulfil the commitment.

Another participant, Razaph Razaq, who offered Easter prayers at Peshawar University campus, expressed his satisfaction over the security arrangements and said that the Christian community people belonging to various surrounding areas, including Gharibabad, participated in a procession inside the campus.

Another elder Amir William said that keeping in view the prevailing security situation volunteers of the community also kept checking the participants.

Meanwhile, the capital city police officer also visited various churches and assured the organisers of full cooperation. He asked the people to share schedule of their religious activities so that appropriate measures could be taken on time.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2017