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Public Holidays and Bank Holidays for Pakistan

The list of Pakistan bank holidays, national holidays and public holidays for 2009, comes from the Q++ Worldwide Public Holidays Database, the professional source of international public holidays long trusted by the world's foremost diary publishers. The information on this page is provided for private, non-professional, use. Qualified professionals can license data for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and beyond. For details, please visit our licensing information page or

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20 Nov 2009 (South Asian News Agency-Islamabad) Pakistan's Prime Minister, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, has declared an additional public holiday, on Friday, November 27, 2009, for the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha public holidays. • 18 Nov 2009 (The Daily Times-Peshawar) The unofficial Ruet-e-Hilal, moon-sighting, Committee of Pakistan's NWFP Province, has announced that the moon of the Zilhajj lunar month was not sighted last night, and that therefore the Eidul Azha would be celebrated on November 28, 2009. • 12 Nov 2009 (The News-Karachi) Zubair Motiwala, the adviser to Pakistan's Chief Minister on Economic Affairs, has quashed rumours that the government of Pakistan was moving towards 2-day weekends. • 16 Sep 2009 (The News-Islamabad) This afternoon, in a terse statement, Pakistan's Federal Interior Ministry announced that the recently announced dates for the upcoming public holidays for Eid-ul-Fitr (End of Ramadan) had been changed from September 20-22, to September 21-23, 2009. • 14 Sep 2009 (The News-Islamabad) Pakistan's Federal Interior Ministry has announced the dates of the upcoming public holidays for Eid-ul-Fitr (End of Ramadan) as from Sunday, September 20, to Tuesday, September 22, 2009. • 21 Aug 2009 (The News-Islamabad) Earlier tonight, following a meeting of Pakistan's central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee, its Chairman, Mufti Munib-ur-Rehman, announced that the first day of the holy month of Ramazan will fall on Sunday, August 23, 2009, as the moon of new month had not been sighted today. • 20 Aug 2009 (The News-Karachi) The State Bank of Pakistan has announced that the date of the first of Ramadan (Ramazan) bank holiday had been changed from the date announced at the end of last year by the Electronic Government Directorate, Ministry of IT & Telecom, Government of Pakistan. • 05 Aug 2009 (The Regional Times-Karachi) The Chief Minister of Pakistan's Province of Sindh, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, has announced that Friday, August 7, 2009, would be a one-off regional public holiday on account of the Shab-e-Baraat Muslim festival. • 30 Jun 2009 (The Daily Times-Karachi) The State Bank of Pakistan has announced that the previously scheduled July 2 bank holiday had been moved to Wednesday, July 1st, 2009. • 12 Jun 2009 (Online News-Lahore) The government of Pakistan's Province of Punjab has declared a public holiday for tomorrow, June 13, 2009, on the occasion of the funeral of Maulana Sarfraz Naeemi. • 05 Jun 2009 (Kashmir Watch-Muzaffarabad) The government of Pakistan's region of Azad Jammu and Kashmir has declared tomorrow, Saturday, June 6, 2009, a one-off regional public holiday "to accord a rousing welcome" to Pakistan's President, Asif Ali Zardari, on the occasion of his visit to Muzaffarabad. • 09 May 2009 (The Nation-Karachi) The Chief Minister of Pakistan's Province of Sindh, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, has declared a day of mourning public holiday throughout the state on Tuesday, May 12, 2009, to pay homage to those who sacrificed their lives for the restoration of Chief Justice of Pakistan, on that day, two years ago. • 09 May 2009 (Daily Times-Karachi) At yesterday's meeting of the Coordination Committee (CC) of Pakistan's three ruling coalition parties, the PPP, MQM and ANP, the Sindh government hinted at the possibility of a public holiday being announced on May 12. • 05 May 2009 (The News-Karachi) Pakistan's Awami National Party (ANP) and Pakhtoon Action Committee (PAC) have called for a general strike on May 12, unless the government agrees to declare a public holiday on May 12. • 18 Apr 2009 (Asia News-Islamabad) Pakistan's federal minister for minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, recently announced that, beginning in 2010, Good Friday would be a public holiday recognized by the government of Pakistan, for the Christians of Pakistan. • 03 Apr 2009 (The Daily Times-Karachi) The government of Pakistan's Sindh Province has declared tomorrow, Saturday, April 4, 2009, a one-off public holiday to commemorate the 30th death anniversary of PPP founder and former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. • 19 Mar 2009 (The News-Karachi) Earlier today, the Government of Pakistan's Province of Sindh declared Friday, March 20, 2009, as a public holiday throughout the Province of Sindh in memory of Shaheed Pir Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi alias Sooriah Shah. • 07 Mar 2009 (Asia Pulse-Islamabad) Pakistan's Ministry of Interior has announced that Tuesday, March 10, 2009, will be a public holiday on the occasion of the Eid Milad-un-Nabi (Prophet Muhammad's Birthday). • 25 Feb 2009 (The News-Islamabad) Pakistan's Federal Minister for the Environment, Hameed Ullah Jan Afridi, is reported to have informed the Federal Minister for Railways, Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, that his Ministry plans to plant 11 million tree saplings in a single day, next August, and that that day would likely be declared a national public holiday. • 21 Jan 2009 (The News-Lahore) The Services Department of the government of Pakistan's Punjab Province has released it list of 11 official public holidays for 2009. • 06 Jan 2009 (Pakistan News-Karachi) The State Bank of Pakistan has announced a bank holiday for Wednesday and Thursday, January 7 and 8, 2009, on account of Aushura (Muharram-ul-Harram 9 and 10). • 31 Dec 2008 (Ministry of the Interior-Islamabad) Pakistan's Ministry of the Interior has released Circular No.2/9/2008 setting forth the "Public and Optional Holidays for the Year 2009". • 17 Dec 2008 (Daily Times-Karachi) The Cabinet of Pakistan's Province of Sindh has decided to declare December 27 a public holiday in the province to mark the first anniversary of the death of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairwoman Benazir Bhutto. • More News Updates For the full version of the summarized news items above, and older news items not displayed above, go to the Pakistan public holidays news and updates page, or worldwide public holidays news and updates page, or subscribe to one of our free email newsletters.

Weekends: Pakistan followed the Western Saturday/Sunday weekend, from independence in 1947 to 1977 when then Prime Minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, introduced the Friday/Saturday weekend in an attempt to win over Muslim clerics. The weekends were moved back to Saturday/Sunday in 1997 by then newly elected Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif. As of 2008, weekends in Pakistan are still Saturday/Sunday. • The Muslim public holidays may last up to several days. In particular, the Eidul Azha public holidays are regularly gazetted to last only 2 days, but then they are extended to last 3 days at the last minute. • Allama Iqbal is Pakistan's national poet. • December 25 is a public holiday in Pakistan, not only on account of Christmas Day, but most importantly because it is the anniversary of the birth of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, often called the Father of the Nation . • The Second Day of Christmas is specifically listed by the government as a public holiday, but only for Christians. • Bank holidays are days the Banks will remain closed for public but not for their employees • The following are listed by the government as Optional Public Holidays for the federation and the provinces. These are denominational and may be alllowed at the discretion of the head of the office, provided the state of work permits. This was originally for minority communities under the 1934 Factories Act : • New Year's Day, Basant Punchami, Shivaratri, Holi, Dulhandi, Chelum, Baisakhi, Good Friday, Easter, Giarhwin Sharief, Budha Purnima, Janam Ashtami, Nauroz (Parsi New Year, see below), Shab-e-Meraj, Birthday of Lord Zoroaster (Khordad Sal), Shab-e-Berat, Durga Puja, Dusehra, Birthday of Guru Balik Swami Ji, Diwali, and Guru Nanak's Birthday. • Nauroz, which is a Persian word meaning New (Year) Day, is not only revered by the Parsi community but also by the Shia and Ismaili Muslims. Parsis celebrate Nauroz twice a year (once in March, to welcome the season of spring, according to the solar year, upon the vernal equinox of the sun, and once in July/August, to welcome the season of autumn, depending if one follows follow the Kadmi or the Shahenshahi calendar (the Kadmi New Year always precedes the Shahenshahi New Year by 30 days). • Pakistan International Codes PK and PAK (2 and 3-letter ISO3166 codes) and .pk (ICANN national top-level internet domain). • Other Sources of Information The following specialized websites are also a good source of Pakistan information and news: State Bank of Pakistan (Pakistan central bank), ASI Hot Spots (security-related world events: terrorist threats, political strife, strikes, criminal activity, aviation incidents and health outbreaks), CIA World Factbook (Pakistan maps, demographics and economic statistics), the IFES (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and voter participation in Pakistan), and Wikipedia (includes Pakistan commemorative dates that are not necessarily public holidays).

Observance : Any entry in the Observance column indicates that, in Pakistan, the holiday may be regional or non-official or limited to certain religious and/or linguistic groups, or begin at a time other than midnight. Note that religious holidays are included only if they are national public holidays, or if the national labour code has specific holiday allowances for employees of specific religions. For more information, see our pages on the religious calendars of the world. Aft=Afternoon, Arm=Armenian, Bah=Bahai, Bnk=Banks and most financial institutions, Bud=Buddhist, Cat=Catholic, Chr=Christian, Cop=Coptic, Eve=Evening, Gov=Government services and civil servants, Hin=Hindu, Jew=Jewish, Lin=Linguistic or ethnic groups, Mor=Morning, Mun=Municipal, Mus=Muslim, Orth=Orthodox, Othr=Miscellaneous partial observances (usually described in the Additional Information section of this page), Prt=Protestant, Reg=Regional, Rel=Other Religion, Sch=Schools and universities, Sik=Sikh.

Religious Holidays : Public holidays in Pakistan that are based on certain religious calendars may be subject to local variations due to differing interpretations between different religious authorities, or to seemingly arbitrary changes in the date a holiday is celebrated because it conflicts with another holiday that is based on another calendar, or because the day of the holiday is deemed inauspicious (bad luck). To find out more about these uncertainties, see the footnote below, if any, for each specific religion.

Muslim Holidays : Muslim bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays, for Pakistan, were calculated using a mathematical model that is based on Sufist lunar visibility criteria. For Salat (prayer times) calculations, see our Freeware page.

Disclaimer
In many parts of the world, holidays are subject to arbitrary, last minute, changes by local authorities. While every effort has been made to present an accurate list of 2009 bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for Pakistan, we cannot accept any responsibility for any error or omission in the data presented above. You are therefore advised to verify the above dates with the embassy or consulate of Pakistan, before planning any trip to Pakistan. For last-minute updates to worldwide public holidays, visit our blog or subscribe to our free email newsletters.