Independence Day today

The 62nd Independence Day is being celebrated throughout the country as well as Azad Kashmir and abroad on Thursday with a pledge to make the country a truly Islamic welfare state in accordance with the vision of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Hazrat Allama Iqbal.
The day will dawn with the offering of special prayers in mosques for the stability and prosperity of the motherland and well-being of the Muslim Ummah. The 31-gun salute will be held in federal capital and 21-gun salute at the provincial capitals. After sounding of sirens at 8.58 am, the entire traffic will halt for one minute and citizens will observe silence as national anthem is played.
Flag hoisting ceremonies will be held across the country. In the flag hoisting ceremony being held at Islamabad, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani will unfurl the national flag. Education institutions will arrange special functions such as speech contests and national songs competitions to mark the day.
Apart from this, various other functions will be held in a bid to highlight the democratic struggle of workers of Pakistan Movement for achievement of Pakistan and to promote national unity, integrity and solidarity. TV channels and radio stations would present special programmes highlighting the significance of the day while newspapers would bring out special supplements. National flag is flying atop the government and private buildings. People have also decorated their homes and offices with national flags and buntings.
In Lahore, various areas are presenting a festive look, as a number of temporary stalls of national flags, buntings, stickers and badges have been set up. People, especially children are thronging these stalls to buy these items to decorate their houses.
All the government and private buildings of the city are illuminated and national flags are hoisted on them. An analyst say the Independence Day reminds us the unforgettable contributions of our great leaders of Pakistan Movement who devoted their lives for acquiring an independent state where Muslims of Indo-Pak subcontinent could live freely.
Pakistan Movement was started in 1940, with the passage of the Lahore resolution, at the All India Muslim League's session in Lahore and Pakistan came into being on August 14, 1947, they said, adding that the Muslim students in length and breadth of undivided India played a unique role in Pakistan Movement. They asked people to have pride in themselves as Pakistanis and come forward with their due role in addressing obscurantism.