Pakistanis are celebrating the 75th Independence Day with traditional zeal and fervour, with ceremonies held across the country.
The celebrations began with the change of guard ceremonies held at the mausoleums of the father of the nation Quaid-i-Azam and poet Muhammad Iqbal in Karachi and Lahore, respectively.
A flag-hoisting ceremony was held at the President’s House in Islamabad.
President Dr Arif Alvi, who was the chief guest at the event, congratulated the nation on the occasion.
Addressing the ceremony, the president said: “Today we realise the difficulties that were faced in the course of [Pakistan’s] freedom,” and paid tribute to the leaders of the freedom movement, including Allam Iqbal, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan.
“It is due to their sacrifices that we are here today,” he said.
The president said that over the past 74 years, “three wars were forced upon us”.
“There is an ongoing race for weapons in the region and Pakistan has been [deliberately] trapped,” he said, adding that despite this challenge, Pakistan, which was essentially an agricultural country, managed to meet its food requirements and was now on the way to becoming an industrial country. He said the country was also making advancements in the area of information technology.
Recounting Pakistan’s accomplishments of the past years, he said when India conducted a nuclear explosion in 1974, Pakistan managed to create a nuclear deterrent within just seven years after that.
Moreover, the president said, Pakistan had been fighting terrorism after the situation worsened in Afghanistan.
“We sacrificed around 100,000 lives and lost around $150 billion, but came out [of that war] victorious.”
He lauded Pakistan’s armed forces and police for bravely fighting terrorism.
