Federal Government announced Public And Optional Holidays For The Year 2018-Notification

Islamabad, the 26^th January, 2018

CIRCULAR

Subject:                       PUBLIC AND OPTIONAL HOLIDAYS FOR THE YEAR, 2018

The Public and Optional holidays regarding festivals of Muslims and Minorities for the Calendar Year 2018 would be as under:

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS

Sr. No.	Name of Occasion	Days	Dates during year 2018
1	Kashmir Day	Monday	5th February 2018
2	Pakistan Day	Friday	23rd March 2018
3	Labour Day (1st May)	Tuesday	1st May, 2018
4	Eid-ul-Fitr (1st Shawal 1439 A.H)	Saturday, Sunday & Monday	16th, 17th & 18th June 2018
5	Independence Day	Tuesday	14th August 2018
6	Eid-ul-Azha (10th Zil Haj 1439 AH)	Wednesday, Thursday & Friday	22nd , 23rd, 24th August 2018
7	Ashura (9th & 10th Moharram 1440 AH)	Friday & Saturday	21st & 22nd September 2018
8	Eid Milad-un-Nabi (12 Rabi-ul-Awal 1440 A.H)	Wednesday	21st November 2018
9	Quaid-e-Azam Day/Christmas	Tuesday	25th December 2018
10	Day After Christmas	Wednesday	26th December 2018 (For only Christians)

 2.        The following will be Bank Holidays. However, on these days the Banks / DFIs /MFBs will remain closed for public but NOT for their employees:

• 1^st January 2018 (Monday)
• 16^th May 2018 (Wednesday) corresponding to 1^st Ramzan 1439 AH subject to appearance of moon.
• 2^nd July 2018 (Monday), July 1^st already being weekly holiday.

Note: Holidays for Muslims Festivals are subject to appearance of moon for which a separate Notification will be issued.

OPTIONAL HOLIDAYS

Sr. No.	Name of Occasion	Days	Dates during the year 2018
1	New Year Day	Monday	1st January, 2018
2	Basant Punchami	Monday	22nd Janruary, 2018
3	Shiv Ratri	Tuesday	13th February, 2018
4	Holi	Thursday	1st March, 2018
5	Dulhandi	Friday	2nd March, 2018
6	Good Friday	Friday	30th March, 2018
7	Day After Easter	Sunday	1st April, 2018
8	Baisakhi Festival	Saturday	14th April, 2018
9	Shab-e-Meraj (27 Rajab 1439 A.H)	Saturday	14th April, 2018
10	Eid-e-Rizwan (Bahai’s Community only)	Saturday	21st April, 2018
11	Buddha Purnima	Monday	30th April, 2018
12	Shab-e-Barat (15 Shaban 1439 A.H)	Wednesday	2nd May, 2018
13	Nauroze (Parsi’s New Year Day)	Friday	17th August, 2018
14	Birthday of Lord Zoroaster (Khordad Sal)	Wednesday	22nd August, 2018
15	Janam Ashtami	Monday	3rd September, 2018
16	Durga Puja	Wednesday	17th October, 2018
17	Dussehra	Thursday	19th October, 2018
18	Birthday Guru Valmik Sawami Jee	Wednesday	24th October, 2018
19	Chelum (20 Safar 1439 A.H)	Tuesday	30th October, 2018
20	Diwali	Wednesday	7th November, 2018
21	Birthday of Guru Nanak Dev jee	Friday	23rd November, 2018

Note:

            In case of Muslim Festivals the dates of Holidays are based on anticipated dates and are subject to appearance of Moon for which a separate Notification will be issued by Ministry of Interior.

3.      Government Servants desiring to avail themselves of Optional Holidays shall take prior permission of the Head of office concerned and no Government Servant shall be granted more than one Optional Holiday in the case of Muslims and three Optional Holidays for Non-Muslims in a Calendar Year.

4.     The grant of this concession should not result in any dislocation of work. In the case of Muslim Optional Holidays, the number of persons permitted to avail Optional Holidays should be regulated in a manner so as to adequate staff is available for proper continuance of the work.

5. The Optional Holidays are denominational and may be allowed at the discretion of the Head of Office, provided by the state of work permits.

6. A Government Servant should not ordinarily be refused an Optional Holiday that is of religious significance to him and the refusal is likely to decrease the number of such holidays to which he is entitled.

SECTION OFFICER (Public)