J-K: Lone seeks special leave for employees on Eid Milad-un-Nabi

Srinagar: Peoples’ Conference chief Sajad Lone on Saturday appealed to the Jammu and Kashmir government to sanction a special casual leave for Muslim employees in the Union territory on the occasion of Eid Milad-un-Nabi, the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad.

The festival is being celebrated across Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday according to the Islamic calendar; however, the official holiday was observed on Friday, as per the holiday calendar issued by the Lieutenant Governor’s administration at the beginning of the year. Furthermore, the administration did not reschedule the holiday.

“It is a request to the government of the day to sanction special casual leave for Muslim employees across J&K today, given the mismatch between the declared holiday and actual festival date. It is a routine practice in case of restricted holidays,” Lone said in a post on X.

The Omar Abdullah government in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday criticised Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha’s administration for not rescheduling the holiday for Eid Milad-un-Nabi “despite repeated requests” to align it with the Islamic calendar.

Chief minister Abdullah described the “deliberate” decision by the unelected government not to shift the holiday as “inconsiderate and designed to hurt the sentiments of the people.”