As the year 2023 ends, Pakistan, as well as the rest of the world, welcomes the new year, 2024, with hopes and aspirations.
The people of the country pray the new year brings prosperity and peace in the world. In solidarity with the war-stricken people of Palestine, over 20,000 of whom have been killed in a deathly onslaught from the Israeli Defence Forces since October 7, Pakistan and UAE are among the nations not celebrating the New Year publicly.
President Dr Arif Alvi has felicitations for the nation, the Muslim world, and the international community for the New Year. In a message, he prayed that the coming year brings prosperity and political and economic stability for Pakistan and the entire world.
Dr Alvi emphasised that at the beginning of the new year, the Palestinian brethren could not be forgotten, as they continued to face brutal and barbaric attacks at the hands of the Israeli forces. He also expressed serious concerns over Indian atrocities in the occupied Kashmir.
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Additionally, he wished for economic development, interfaith harmony, forgiveness, tolerance, and mutual respect in Pakistan.
Security measures
On the other hand, major cities across Pakistan have taken strict security measures to avoid chaos and mayhem on the roads as revellers step out in droves to celebrate in their own ways.
Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr Usman Anwar vowed on Sunday to follow a zero-tolerance policy against harassment of women and children on the occasion of New Year's Eve.
Expressing his thoughts on the occasion in Lahore, the IG Punjab had directed the administrations to remain alert and keep an eye on the anti-state elements. Over 21,000 officers have been deployed in Punjab.
He said that police teams will avert aerial firing and one-wheeling, and strict action will be taken against those involved in these acts.
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The Punjab IG vowed to continue search operations across the province to avert any untoward incidents.
He urged the administration to increase patrolling on the highways and roads.
“Nobody is allowed to indulge in acts of hooliganism and unethical activities,” the Punjab IG maintained.
Karachi police to arrest drunken drivers on New Year’s Eve
Karachi Traffic Police announced the implementation of a comprehensive plan to curb drunk driving and ensure public safety.
In a press statement, spokesperson Abrar Hussain Baloch said that the department would employ breathalyser tests to identify and apprehend individuals driving under the influence on New Year's Eve.
Baloch stated that carrying alcohol and drugs in vehicles would be strictly prohibited.
Twin cities to crack down on one-wheeling, aerial firing
On the occasion of New Year, the police and district administration of the twin cities have formed a comprehensive security plan after the government banned celebrations.
According to the plan, 636 policemen have been deployed in Islamabad and 6,600 in Rawalpindi, while there will be a crackdown on one-wheeling, aerial firing and road blockade.
Extraordinary security in Faisalabad
In Faisalabad also, extraordinary security arrangements have been made on New Year's Eve. Women police, including Dolphin Force, have been deployed on major highways.
Security personnel have been posted at Koh-e-Noor Chowk and Ghanta Ghar Canal Road. In view of traffic on the main highways, U-turns have been closed and traffic wardens deputed.
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More than 4,000 police officers, including five SPs and 18 DSPs, have been deployed for security arrangements. One-wheeling, rioting and commotion will not be allowed, the police stressed.
Security beefed-up in Quetta
In Quetta, additional security personnel have been deployed at important places for the New Year’s Eve, as strict security arrangements have made.
Aerial shooting, hooliganism, one-wheeling and possessing fireworks have been banned, while snap-checking is going on in different areas of the city.
In case of any violation, fines will have to be paid, the police insisted.
Celebrations around the world
Internationally, celebrations to welcome the new year 2024 kicked off in New Zealand with a spectacular fireworks display, while many countries around the globe will be holding their own events to welcome the New Year.
In New Zealand, thousands gathered at the Sky Tower in capital Auckland, the first major city in the world, to celebrate the new year.
A 10-second countdown projected onto the base of the tower kicked off the dazzling firework display, which drew cheers and applause from revellers.
New Zealand's two main islands - North Island and South Island - are both in the same time zone. The Chatham Islands, which lie to the east, have a different time zone 45 minutes in advance.
However, the Pacific nation of Kiribati was the first place to bring in 2024. It was followed by New Zealand, Tonga and Samoa. Huge crowds gathered in Sydney, Australia for one of the world's grandest New Year's fireworks displays.
Later, when the clock struck midnight, the highly anticipated fireworks show at Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House lit up the city's skyline to the sounds of cheers from excited spectators. Crowds had begun to gather since the morning to grab the best spot to watch the event. All nearby vantage points were reportedly full by 7pm local time.
Fireworks illuminated skies over Paris, Rio and Sydney to celebrate the entry to 2024, while in Israel, Gaza and Ukraine, rockets and strikes marked the year's earliest hours. Much of the world's population -- now more than eight billion -- is hoping to shake off high living costs and global tumult in 2024, which will bring elections concerning half the world's population and the Paris Olympics.
But with the new year barely started there were already ominous signs: at the stroke of midnight in Gaza a barrage of rockets was fired towards Israel -- a twisted reflection of the fireworks lighting up night skies elsewhere around the world.
In New York City, thousands of visitors lined up for a chance to see the annual dropping of a giant illuminated ball in Times Square.
Nearby stallholders hawked vuvuzelas and 2024-branded hats as police fanned out across central Manhattan, towing suspicious cars, closing roads and manning a ring of steel screening would-be revelers.
Pyrotechnics also illuminated the skies in Auckland, Hong Kong, Manila and Jakarta. Nudist bathers wearing Santa hats waded into the mild waters of southern France, while revelers danced in the streets in Greece's Thessaloniki.
The year that was
The last 12 months brought "Barbenheimer" to the box office, a proliferation of human-seeming artificial intelligence tools, and a world-first whole-eye transplant.
India outgrew China as the world's most populous country, and then became the first nation to land an unmanned craft on the Moon's south pole.
It was also the hottest year since records began in 1880, with a spate of climate-fuelled disasters striking across the world.
Fans bade adieu to "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll" Tina Turner, "Friends" actor Matthew Perry, hell-raising Anglo-Irish songsmith Shane MacGowan, and master dystopian novelist Cormac McCarthy.
Rebuilding
2023 will be remembered for war in the Middle East, after Hamas's unprecedented October 7 raids on southern Israel and Israel's ferocious reprisals on Gaza. The United Nations estimates that almost two million Gazans have been displaced since Israel's siege began, or about 85 percent of the peacetime population.
With once-bustling Gaza City neighbourhoods reduced to rubble, there were few places left to mark the new year -- and fewer loved ones to celebrate with.
