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Public Holidays and Bank Holidays for Pakistan

The list of Pakistan bank holidays, national holidays and public holidays for 2010, 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 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and beyond. For details, please visit our licensing information page or

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30 Jun 2010 (The News-Karachi) The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has announced that Thursday, July 1, 2010, had been declared as bank holiday. • 23 Jun 2010 (The Daily Times-Lahore) Pakistani authorities have asked the Lahore district electoral coordination officer to announce a one-off public holiday on Thursday, June 24, 2010. • 19 May 2010 (The Daily Times-Karachi) The government of Pakistan's Province of Sindh has announced a regional school holiday in Karachi, on Thursday, May 20, 2010, following the murder of at least 21 people in political clashes yesterday. • 24 Apr 2010 (Reuters-Karachi) Pakistan's central bank has announced that, until further notice, it and all commercial banks in Pakistan would be closed on Saturdays (a regular working day in Pakistan), as part of measures to cut state electricity consumption. • 19 Mar 2010 (Government of Sindh-Karachi) The government of Pakistan's Province of Sindh has announced that tomorrow, Saturday, March 20, 2010, would be a regional non-working public holiday in connection with the martyrdom day of Soriah Badishah Hazrat Pir Sibghatillah Shah Shaheed. • 23 Feb 2010 (The News-Karachi) The Chief Minister of Pakistan's Province of Sindh, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, has declared a regional public holiday on 11 Rabi-ul-Awal (Friday, February 26, 2010). • 19 Feb 2010 (INN-Islamabad) The Federal Government of Pakistan has announced that the date of the upcoming Eid Milad-un-Nabi (Prophet's Birthday) public holiday had been revised to Saturday, February 27, 2010. • 27 Jan 2010 (INN-Karachi) The Government of Pakistan's State of Sindh has declared Saturday, Safar 14, 1431AH (January 30, 2010) as a regional public sector holiday, on the occasion of Urs of Hazrat Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai. • 30 Dec 2009 (State Bank of Pakistan-Karachi) The State Bank of Pakistan has confirmed that it, and all offices of SBP Banking Services Corporation, inclusive of Public Debt Offices, would remain closed for public dealing on Friday, January 1, 2010, which as per tradition, has been declared as bank holiday. • 28 Dec 2009 (The News-Karachi) The Chief Minister of Pakistan's Province of Sindh, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, has announced a one-off regional public holiday throughout the Province of Sindh, on Tuesday, December 29, 2009, to mourn the deaths of Karachi's recent blast victims. • 24 Dec 2009 (Associated Press Of Pakistan-Islamabad) Earlier today, Pakistan's Ministry of Interior, in consultation with Karachi's Meteorological Department, issued the expected dates for public and optional holidays for the calendar year 2010. • 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 2010 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.