Pakistanis celebrate Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha

Muslims in Pakistan, one of the world’s most populous Islamic countries Tuesday celebrated Eid alAdha marking the yearly Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

In the northern Pakistani city of Peshawar, hundreds of devotees gathered at local mosques and on the street outside to pray, an epa journalist reports.

Eid alAdha ceremonies in this northern metropolis were marked by the curious sight of people slaughtering a towering camel, in line with the holiday’s focus on sacrifice and the slaughter of animals for their meat.

Crowds gathered in the street to watch as a man held the camel in place with a rope attached to a net which covered the animal’s face, as blood poured onto the ground from a slit on its throat.

Camel meat is reportedly not a common dish in Pakistan, but is available when needed.

The slaughtered camels were among millions of buffaloes, cows, goats and sheep butchered nationwide for Eid alAdha.

According to Islamic custom, the portions of fresh meat are divided into three parts: some for the butcher’s’ family, some for relatives and the rest for poor people.

Similar scenes of men preparing cows for slaughter were seen today in the streets of Karachi, the country’s most populous city, an epa journalist reports.

Holiday ceremonies were slightly more elegant in Lahore, near India’s northwestern border, where female worshippers in colorful hijabs prayed and took selfies outside the mosques.