ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Tuesday urged the countrymen to point out and discourage the people involved in profiteering and hoarding during the Holy Month of Ramazan, to show compassion for the needy.

The prime minister, in his message to the nation on the onset of Ramazan-ul-Mubarak, said in the holy month, the people had to take special care of the needy, and inculcate the spirit of sacrifice and sympathy for them.

Extending greetings to the nation, he said everyone should be thankful to Allah Almighty for blessing them with the holy month once again in life, to benefit from His bounties.

He said the objective of fasting was to create the spirit of piety, sacrifice and compassion as the people kept themselves from the things otherwise permissible to consume before or after the holy month.

"Moreover, the practice of bearing appetite and thirst during the fast also creates sentiments of sympathy for the others," he added.

The prime minister said as the world was faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pakistani nation had effectively contained the spread of virus by adhering to the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) during Ramazan-ul-Mubarak last year.

This year too, he said, it was everyone’s individual and collective responsibility to abide by the anti-COVID SOPs, formulated after consultation with religious scholars, for Tarawih prayer and I’tikaf. “We have to face this critical situation collectively,” he remarked.

The prime minister also urged the countrymen to specially pray for the deliverance of the mankind from the testing time of pandemic as well as Pakistan’s success in that regard.