State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has issued a notification to restore Saturday’s holiday.
According to a SBP statement issued from Islamabad, banks across the country will be open from Monday to Thursday from 9 am to 5:30 pm.
According to the SBP statement, there will be a break for prayers and meals on these days from half past 1 to 2 o’clock.
According to the announcement, banks will be open on Friday from 9 am to 6 pm, during which there will be a break for prayers and lunch from 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm.
According to the announcement, banks across the country will remain closed on Saturday and Sunday.
It is to be noted that after Shahbaz Sharif became the Prime Minister, it was announced on April 13 to end two holidays in a week, after which the holiday in banks was canceled on Saturday.
This move of the Prime Minister was also protested by the bank employees in different cities including Karachi.
On the first day of the PM’s tenure, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif arrived at the office at 8 am ahead of the scheduled official office hours and had changed the office hours to 8 am.
It is worth mentioning here that in the government of former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in the 70’s, when labor laws were enacted and workers were given rights, it was decided to work for six days. But in those days the holiday was on Friday instead of Sunday.
Banks and financial institutions objected that the country would be cut off from the world for three days due to Friday’s holiday.
When Nawaz Sharif became Prime Minister for the second time in the 90’s, he changed the holiday from Friday to Sunday, despite opposition from religious circles.
He justified that because the rest of the world has a holiday on Sunday, the country has to suffer financial loss by taking a holiday on Friday.
His decision was also criticized. Later, during the tenure of former President Pervez Musharraf, two days leave was allowed.
Under former President Musharraf, the main reason for this was energy saving and meeting world market standards.