Religious Affairs Ministry directed the dwellers of red zone areas across the country to offer their religious prayers at home and avoid congregations in places of worship.
The ministry issued the directive in a press release in this regard on Saturday. In its six-point directives the ministry said all the devotees of red zone areas are asked to offer prayers at home except for the khatib, imam, muezzin and khadem of a mosque. For the 5 daily regular prayers at mosques mosques, approximately ten people including
khatib, imam, muezzin and khadem, will have to follow the health guidelines and maintain social distance. During the coronavirus pandemic mass religious gatherings (Waz mahfil, milad mahfil, Tafsir mahfil) are restricted and everyone is requested to offer their prayer individually at home. The people of other religious communities were also directed to abstain from such religious functions. The directions were imposed for the sake of national security and legal action will be taken for violating the instructions, the ministry said.
As the rate of infections keeps worsening, the government is now pinning its hopes of getting a hold of the local outbreak amid the global pandemic by adopting a zonal system similar to ones that have been successfully implemented in several areas in China that have beaten the virus, notably Wuhan. It follows the period of drift from June 1 with no real plan in place, after the largely ineffectual 65-day lockdown in ‘general holiday’ mode wasn’t extended beyond the end of May.
