Pakistan celebrates Independence Day with traditional enthusiasm

The people of Pakistan celebrate the 66th Independence Day around the world on August 14th with traditional zeal and enthusiasm. The day started with a 31-gun salute at the capital city of Islamabad, and 21-gun salutes at all provincial capitals Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta and Gilgit-Baltistan, followed by a dramatic pause with sounding of sirens to herald the flag hoisting events and all traffic on roads, rail and at sea came to a halt for one minute at 8:58am. Special prayers were offered for the peace, harmony, solidarity and prosperity of the country and the success of the struggle of Kashmiri people in all mosques. The Prime Minister of Pakistan hoisted the national flag at a ceremony in Jinnah Convention Centre Islamabad followed by the national anthem at 9 am. An impressive change of guard ceremony was held at the Mazar-e-Quaid (tomb of Qauid) in Karachi city on the eve of Independence Day of Pakistan where a contingent of Pakistan Navy took over guard duties at the mausoleum to pay tribute to the founder of Pakistan. The chief guest of the ceremony, Pakistan Naval Academy Commander Commodore Zahid Ilyas inspected the guard of honour and laid a floral wreath and offered fateha at the Mazar-e-Quaid. The national flag was hoisted at all principal public and private buildings and over 1500 students of the institutions of Islamabad took part in the ceremony of flag hoisting. The day was announced as a public holiday and flag hoisting ceremonies were also held at Pakistan's missions abroad and at District Headquarters across Pakistan, Gilgit Baltistan and tribal areas. People of Pakistan were preparing for the day by buying national flags and badges to hoist atop their homes and on bicycles, motorcycles and cars. The public and private buildings will be illuminated at night and children can be seen in the streets exploding crackers to celebrate the day. Different institutions in the major cities of the country organized tableau, puppet show, national song competitions and painting exhibitions. The Punjab sports have organized number of sports events in connection to the day and national and local newspapers brought out special supplements to highlight salient features of Pakistan Movement and television and radio channels will broadcast special programmes on the day. Security has been beefed up in the federal and provincial capitals and major cities and thousands of policemen were deployed at important and sensitive places.