The Christian community is all set to celebrate the grand festival of Christmas in Rawalpindi division and other parts of the country on Sunday in a befitting manner.
In churches, special services would take place where prayers would be offered for peace, progress, and prosperity of the country.
The Christian community has finalized all the preparations to mark this festivity and they were just giving last-minute touches to their shopping and decorating Christmas trees.
The festival of the Christian community would be marked through different activities ranging from big official gatherings to cake-cutting ceremonies, illuminating houses, and observing prayers in Churches.
Special cake-cutting ceremonies are being arranged at different departments to share the happiness of the festival with the Christian staff members.
The cake-cutting ceremonies were held here at Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB), Police Lines, and in other departments in connection with Christmas celebrations. The participants congratulated the Christian community and felt pleasure in sharing their joy and cheerfulness.
The main attraction of the Christmas festival includes the traditions like Christmas Trees, Santa Clause, Carols, and Christmas gifts which add charm to the festivity.
All young and old have finalized shopping for themselves and their loved ones while children and youngsters were more inclined towards decorating Christmas trees and buying Christmas gifts to show their love to their family and friends.
The main ritual of the Christmas celebration is the decoration of Christmas trees to welcome the arrival of Santa Claus also known as Father Christmas.
It has been observed that a number of shopping malls and hotels in Rawalpindi have placed decked Christmas trees to attract visitors, especially children.
The Christmas trees are usually decked with different ornaments including baubles, small bells painted gold or silver, stars of different shapes and sizes, pine cones, apples, candies, tinsel, and balloons made from glass, metal, wood, and ceramic.
A number of stalls had been set up in different localities where the majority of the Christian community resides. The stall owners displayed a variety of decorative ornaments as well as dresses of Santa Claus which is a source of attraction for youngsters and children.
Different brands and eateries here are also offering good discounts on the occasion of Christmas to attract more customers.
It is pertinent to mention here that Rawalpindi District Police have finalized comprehensive security arrangements on the eve of Christmas and special deployment at Churches and public places.
According to the police spokesman, Rawalpindi District Police had devised a foolproof security plan to avoid any untoward situation on the eve of Christmas while over 3,200 police personnel would be deployed.
Under the security plan, all churches have been divided into three categories and police personnel, including Elite Force commandos, would be deployed to ensure foolproof security.
No one would be allowed to park vehicles near Churches. Walk-through gates would be installed at the entrance of the Churches and the visitors would be checked through metal detectors.
The best possible security arrangements would be ensured to avoid any untoward incident in the city, a police spokesman said.
The security duty at public places including parks would be made more effective, he said, adding that security had also been tightened at the entry and exit points of the city and special checking was ordered for this special occasion.
He said, City Police Officer (CPO) Rawalpindi Syed Shehzad Nadeem Bukhari had directed the SPs, DSPs, and SHOs to ensure effective patrolling in their respective areas.
The City Traffic Police (CTP) would make arrangements for parking vehicles for the visitors of the churches and the parking lots would be set up nearly 200 feet away from the churches.
The police vehicles equipped with cameras would also remain stationed outside the churches. The senior police officials would make surprise visits to churches on Christmas to check security arrangements and deployment, he added.
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