Govt employees to continue working six days a week

The federal government on Friday announced that government offices would continue to function six days a week. According to a notification issued by the Establishment Division, the timings from Monday to Thursday and for Saturday would be from 8am to 3pm while the prayer break would be from 1pm to 1:30pm. On Fridays, office timings would be from 8am to 1pm. Earlier today, PM Shehbaz urged the nation to “get back to work” after enjoying the Eid holidays. “Hope you all had wonderful time with your families during Eid holidays and rested well … Let us get back to work now!” he said on Twitter. Soon after assuming charge, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had abolished the twoday weekend and revised the country’s official work timings for Ramazan. Speaking at an iftar dinner at the PM House, he had explained his rationale, saying he had taken the decision based on the economic situation of the country. “Even developed countries cannot afford two weekly holidays [Saturday and Sunday], so how can we, with our economy in crisis, avail two holidays in a week,” he had asked, adding that the economic situation his government had inherited from the Pti-led regime required everyone to work hard even on Sundays. The government had also asked the State Bank of Pakistan to apply the decision in the banking sector which led to bankers across the country protesting the move. At the time, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail had justified the move by saying that Ramazan had fewer working hours in a day and that several days would be non-working due to Eid holidays. He had said that he would request the prime minister to revisit the decision post-eid, adding that he was “hopeful”.