Jesse Ramdeo

Se­nior Re­porter

jesse.ramdeo@cnc3.co.tt

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has high­light­ed the free­dom of re­li­gious ob­ser­vances en­joyed in Trinidad and To­ba­go com­pared to oth­er parts of the world while ex­tend­ing Eid-ul-Fitr greet­ings to the Mus­lim com­mu­ni­ty.

Speak­ing dur­ing Eid cel­e­bra­tions at the Marakaz-Al-AS­JA ja­maat in Char­lieville yes­ter­day, the Prime Min­is­ter un­der­scored the im­por­tant role of the Mus­lim com­mu­ni­ty in shap­ing the na­tion’s iden­ti­ty and uni­ty.

She de­scribed the com­mu­ni­ty as “a very im­por­tant and in­te­gral part of Trinidad and To­ba­go,” not­ing that shared val­ues of com­pas­sion, char­i­ty and faith con­tin­ue to strength­en na­tion­al co­he­sion.

At the same time, Per­sad-Bisses­sar ac­knowl­edged that not all Mus­lims glob­al­ly are able to cel­e­brate the oc­ca­sion in peace.

“Whilst it may be that in oth­er parts of the world there are peo­ple who at this time have not been able to cel­e­brate Eid, we are very blessed in Trinidad and To­ba­go that we had this large gath­er­ing here.”

She said the abil­i­ty to gath­er freely for prayer and cel­e­bra­tion is some­thing cit­i­zens should not take for grant­ed.

The Prime Min­is­ter al­so of­fered prayers and well wish­es to the Mus­lim com­mu­ni­ty, ex­press­ing hope that their prayers and sac­ri­fices dur­ing the holy month of Ra­madan would be re­ward­ed.

“As you cel­e­brate, may your sac­ri­fices be ac­cept­ed, may your prayers be an­swered and may your char­i­ty be re­turned to you in bless­ings.”

Re­flect­ing on the end of Ra­madan, Per­sad-Bisses­sar not­ed that while Eid is a time of joy, it can al­so bring a sense of sad­ness as fam­i­lies and com­mu­ni­ties con­clude a pe­ri­od of close bond­ing through fast­ing, prayer and night­ly gath­er­ings.

How­ev­er, she en­cour­aged Mus­lims to car­ry for­ward the spir­it of uni­ty and com­pas­sion cul­ti­vat­ed dur­ing the holy month.

“That hap­pi­ness that you share to­day and those bonds that you cre­at­ed over the month… may that stay with you al­ways and bind you as a com­mu­ni­ty to­geth­er.”

The Prime Min­is­ter al­so called on cit­i­zens to con­tin­ue their com­mit­ment to prayer, warn­ing that a so­ci­ety with­out faith risks los­ing its di­rec­tion.

“A coun­try and a peo­ple that does not pray is a coun­try and a peo­ple that is lost.”