WITH victory to power comes the hard challenges and fierce hurdles for the new government in meeting the objectives and deadlines.

This letter is about one of the important predicaments of our society.

In the early 1990s the then government changed the weekly public holiday from Friday to Sunday because 90 per cent of the world, save a few Muslim states, observe Sunday as weekly public holiday and, of course, to keep in sync with the world markets and businesses. Pakistan also turned to Sunday as weekly holiday.

The irony remains that over two decades passed and changing the course of holiday proved futile. Our economy did not show any positive effect with this change.

To add insult to injury, over 80 per cent of wholesalers, retailers, religious schools observe Friday as holiday and are likewise open for business on Sunday.

The government had introduced daylight saving time.

Almost 90 per cent of the people were observing old time whereas officially clocks were turned one hour ahead, there was chaos all over and mosques and shopkeepers kept talking about ‘naya (new) time’ and ‘purana (old) time’.

The new government needs to consider the pros and cons of weekly holidays which, in the best interest of the country, should be Friday and Saturday.

A working day means seamless flow of work and serious business only. One hour of break in a business day is far enough.

FARRUKH SAFDAR Karachi