LAHORE: The Christian community in the city celebrated Christmas with religious zeal and fervour on Monday.
Special prayers ceremonies were held at more than 435 churches in the city while two main ceremonies were held at Lahore Cathedral and Sacred Heart Cathedral.
The churches and Christian-majority residential areas had been decorated with lights and buntings. Special arrangements were made by the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) at the public parks to celebrate the event. Huge rush was observed at public parks across the city on Monday.
The Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) announced that all of its employees can enjoy free of cost entry in parks along with free rides. Bakeries and sweet shops also announced special discounts on the occasion.
Christmas is marked by the Christian community across the world on December 25 every year to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. The preparations for the Christmas include Christmas trees and Santa Claus.
Christmas celebrations continued in the city throughout the last week as several educational institutions and government departments celebrated the day with cake-cutting ceremonies. On Sunday, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf organised Christmas ceremony at Aiwan-e-Iqbal which was attended by the provincial leadership of the party.
Jamat-e-Islami also organised a cake-cutting ceremony to express solidarity with the Christian community.
Strict security measures had been adopted to ensure foolproof security on the occasion as hundreds of police personnel had been deputed in A, B, C categories at various churches around the city. Churches in ‘A’ category were considered highly sensitive and were provided with a good number of security personnel, walk-through gates and CCTV cameras. The churches in ‘B’ category were considered relatively less sensitive and less security personnel were deputed while the churches in ‘C’ category were considered normal and a small number of security people were deputed to control the situation and avert any mishap during the celebration.
Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Captain (retd) Amin Wains said that security plan of churches in the city was reviewed in detail and it was decided that Quick Response Force (QRF), PRU and Dolphin Force be deployed around the churches. The CCPO had said that police and volunteers together would perform security duties outside all churches and other places to avoid any untoward incident.
