Christian to celebrate Easter today

ISLAMABAD: To mark the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Christian community will celebrate the Easter festival throughout the country on Sunday (today).

The community celebrates the resurrection of Christ on the third day after he was crucified.

To commemorate the day, services were also held on the eve of Easter and continue throughout the night.

On the main day, thanksgiving prayers and masses would be held at various churches in the city along with candle light services. Meanwhile, at homes, people organise gatherings and feasts for their loved one.

“This is a day full of purity which after the forty fasting days and after Good Friday, the day which commemorates the crucifixion of Christ. On this day, at mornings we offer prayers at church. Afterwards we celebrate the day with our relatives and friends, giving gifts to one another,” said a medical student, Aarshi Urooj.

Explaining the significance of the Easter eggs, she said that the eggs is a symbol of a ‘new life’ and hence are given to one another to celebrate the new life of Christ.

“Easter is about reconciliation and love. Though injustices against minorities are rising to an alarming level, the communal disharmony which emanate from hatred can certainly be defeated,” said Elvis Steven, a minority rights advocate.

However, Minority Alliance Sindh Secretary General Michael Javed said that the community is not in the festive mood to celebrate due to the rising injustice incidents against the communities.

“Our brothers in Punjab are not celebrating this joyous occasion as the Gojra victims are still waiting for justice. Same is the case with our other people who have been wrongly implicated in Blasphemy cases,” he said.

Flooding in Mexico: 3 killed, Thousands Flee

Flooding in Mexico: 3 killed, Thousands Flee, Flooding caused by heavy rains along Mexico’s southern Gulf Coast has drenched Tabasco state, killing three people and forcing more than 44,000 people from their homes.
Tabasco Governor Andres Granier said homes in 91 communities have been flooded. The federal government declared a state of emergency in the communities of Cardenas and Huimanguillo and troops were helping to rescue people trapped in their homes. Water in some streets in these communities reached one and a half metres. Residents tried to rescue what they could from their homes, others lost everything. In the affected communities of Cardenas and Huimanguillo, 2,200 bundles of basic food products were distributed as well as 1,000 mattresses. Some 34 temporary shelters in these communities were also set up in the region of La Chontalpa, where more than 10,000 people are staying in refuges. The figure could increase in the next few days.
Local authorities said the heavy rains had damaged health centres, schools, churches, homes and could’ve affected 80,000 hectares of harvesting lands. Conagua, the national water commission, said river levels in the state were stable, only Samaria River was 56 cms (22inches) above its critical scale. Civil Protection authorities said sandbag and clay barriers were being placed around the state capital Villahermosa. Heavy rains have also affected Chiapas and the neighbouring state of Veracruz. Residents have expressed their frustration that government infrastructure projects have not prevented annual flooding in Tabasco. Mexico faced huge floods in 2007 when weeks of heavy rain put the banana-growing state of Tabasco under water in a disaster that cost insurers $700 million, according to an industry group and left some 800,000 people homeless.