PICS: Festival shoppers throng Eid markets in Kashmir

Eid shoppers thronged markets across Kashmir Valley on the eve of Eid-ul-Azha, which will be celebrated on Saturday. Mukhtar Ahmed reports.

Scores of makeshift bakery and sweetmeat stalls spilled over the pedestrian malls choking the already overcrowded roads and streets in most parts of old city and uptown city in Srinagar.

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The most thronged markets included those set up for the sale of sacrificial animals, bakery, poultry and other edibles. Prices of sacrificial animals also went soaring, as sellers demanded exorbitant prices for healthy sheep and goats.

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Woolens are high on the shopping list of Eid eve shoppers, as the winter appears to have advanced earlier than usual this year. The minimum temperature in Srinagar was 2° degrees Celsius on Friday.

Srinagar's flea market had a field day on Friday, selling winter clothing's which are in great demand with the early onset of winter in the Valley.

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Children literally stormed toy and firecracker shops in the city as parents allowed them a little overindulgence this Eid eve.

"Eid is an occasion to celebrate, everyone is out on the streets in Srinagar and other towns to buy one thing or the other," said Mohammad Yasin, a local.

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Festive shopping on by enthusiastic buyers in summer capital Srinagar and elsewhere in the valley enabled unscrupulous traders indulge in black marketing even as the administration claimed it had flown in special squads to control prices.

Queues, however, continued throughout the city with consumers waiting for their turn of cooking gas cylinders. Despite claims of government officials, kerosene oil had vanished from government retail outlets and was being openly sold in black.

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Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has felicitated people on Eid-ul-Azha wishing them well-being and prosperity.

In his Eid message, Omar said, "The holy occasion of Eid-ul-Azha imbibes in us the spirit of making sincerity and truthfulness way of life'.

"This holy day also teaches us to uphold the high principals of selfless service to Almighty Allah and the humanity", he added.

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