Eid revelry muted amid crash, clashes

By Agence France-Presse in Kuala Lumpur | China Daily | Updated: 2014-07-29 06:52

Muslims in Asia marked a grim Eid al-Fitr on Monday, overshadowed by several air tragedies, including the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, and conflicts in Gaza and Pakistan.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai in his message for Eid, the most important festival for Muslims marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, said the Islamic world was suffering.

"Hundreds of people are being killed every day in Islamic countries," he said, highlighting the plight of those in war-torn Gaza.

Travelers place flowers in memory of the victims of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 at the Schiphol airport near Amsterdam on Sunday. Bart Maat / Agence France-Presse

"The Afghan people are sad about the situation of people in Gaza, they are being killed ruthlessly day and night. ... We hope for peace, stability, development and happiness for them."

Festivities in Muslim-majority Malaysia were also muted - with government officials canceling their usual hosting of Eid feasts for the public - following the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine on July 17.

Two other passenger planes - TransAsia Airways in China and Air Algerie in Mali - also crashed last week. The aviation disasters come after the mysterious, as yet unsolved March disappearance of another Malaysia Airlines jet, MH370.

In his Eid message telecast late Sunday, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak expressed his "extreme sadness, most profound sympathy and deepest condolences" to MH17 and MH370 victims' families who struggle with their loss.

Diyana Yazeera, daughter of MH17 chief stewardess Dora Shahila Kassim, posted on Twitter late on Sunday that Eid, referring to it in the Malay language as Raya, would not be the same.

"Mummy, this year's raya and the upcoming ones, well will not be raya. Im not gonna celebrate it without you," she posted. "Stop asking me to be strong. Its so hard to do."

In neighboring Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, instead of celebrating, the family of MH17 passenger Ninik Yuriani were preparing to fly to Amsterdam, where victims' remains have been brought for identification.

"What was supposed to be a happy feast turned to deep sadness," her sister Enny Nuraheni, 54, said. "We can plan all we want, but everything is in God's hands."

Yuriani, 57, who lived in Amsterdam, had planned to fly to Jakarta and then to her small village in central Java to celebrate Eid with her family.