ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s President Mamnoon Hussain said in his address to the Independence Day ceremony on Tuesday that decisions on the country’s future would be made through ballot.
“This is a day of true celebration and I congratulate the whole nation on this auspicious day,” he said in an address at the main event in Islamabad’s Jinnah Convention Center.
The celebration was attended by caretaker Prime Minister Justice (Retd.) Nasir-ul-Mulk, the three chiefs of the armed forces, including army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, Speaker National Assembly, chairman Senate and other VIPs and foreign dignitaries.
The president said that Independence Day celebrations and general elections had fallen around the same time this year.
“A message lies in it for us,” he said, “this is a reminder that the way this country came into being with the will of people, in the same manner, decisions regarding its fate will also be made through ballot.”
He stressed the right of elected representatives to legislate for welfare of the people who have empowered them through their votes.
“It is heartening that the new generation of Pakistan is imbibed with the love of the country and is filled with the zeal to sincerely work for progress and its development,” he said.
The president, however, said that it is necessary that “we should educate our children of the need for the creation of Pakistan and the sacrifices rendered to achieve it.”
On economic and social issues, he said: “The economic problems being faced by Pakistan and the complex issues confronting it can only be overcome if we follow the teachings of the Quaid-e-Azam and Allama Iqbal in their true spirit.”
Speaking about Kashmir, the president said that Pakistani people remember the people of Kashmir and their historic sacrifices.
“Pakistan will continue to provide its political and moral support to resolve the Kashmir issue under United Nations resolutions,” he said.
The president also called upon the international community to raise its voice to secure the Kashmiri people their due rights.
Pakistan began its Independence Day celebrations by hoisting the national flag at all important public and private buildings, and with ceremonies in cities across the country.
The day of festivities began with a 31-gun salute in the federal capital, Islamabad, and 21-gun salutes in all four provincial capitals.
Change-of-guard ceremonies were held at the mausoleums of Muhammad Ali Jinnah – founder of Pakistan – and Allama Iqbal in Karachi and Lahore, respectively.
At Wagah border crossing between Pakistan and India, Pakistan Rangers officials exchanged sweets with Indian Border Security Force personnel in a goodwill gesture.
In his separate message, caretaker Prime Minister Nasir-ul-Mulk said that August 14 reminds the nation of the epic democratic struggle of “our forefathers for securing a separate homeland for the Muslims of the Sub-Continent where they could fashion their lives according to their religious, cultural and social values.”
He said that Muhammad Ali Jinnah had envisioned a democratic, tolerant and progressive Pakistan where every citizen could use his or her faculties to the fullest and could reap the benefits of socio-economic progress.
“Let us on this day rededicate ourselves to those ideals and also to reassess to what extent we have been able to achieve those ideals,” he said.
The prime minister said that an unwavering commitment to the ideals of the Quaid and the principle of ‘Unity, Faith and Discipline’ would help Pakistan overcome its challenges.
“Let us on this day also pay our tributes to our heroes and to all those who have put their heart and soul toward ensuring that our freedom is not marred by any internal or external factors,” he said.
President’s message on Independence Day: ‘Decisions to be made through ballot’
President’s message on Independence Day: ‘Decisions to be made through ballot’
- At Wagah border crossing between Pakistan and India, Pakistan Rangers exchanged sweets with Indian Border Security Forces
- The day of festivities began with a 31-gun salute in the federal capital, Islamabad, and 21-gun salutes in all four provincial capitals
Pakistan opposition to continue protest over ex-PM Khan’s health amid conflicting reports
- Pakistan’s government insists that the ex-premier’s eye condition has improved
- Khan’s personal doctor says briefed on his condition but cannot confirm veracity
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s opposition alliance on Monday vowed to continue their protest sit-in at parliament and demanded “clarity” over the health of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, following conflicting medical reports about his eye condition.
The 73-year-old former cricket star-turned-politician has been held at the high-security Adiala prison in Rawalpindi since 2023. Concerns arose about his health last week when a court-appointed lawyer, Barrister Salman Safdar, was asked to visit Khan at the jail to assess his living conditions. Safdar reported that Khan had suffered “severe vision loss” in his right eye due to central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO), leaving him with just 15 percent sight in the affected eye.
On Sunday, a team of doctors from various hospitals visited the prison to examine Khan’s eye condition, according to the Adiala jail superintendent, who later submitted his report in the court. On Monday, a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi observed that based on reports from the prison authorities and the amicus curiae, Khan’s “living conditions in jail do not presently exhibit any perverse aspects.” It noted that Khan had “generally expressed satisfaction with the prevailing conditions of his confinement” and had not sought facilities beyond the existing level of care.
Having carefully perused both reports in detail, the bench observed that their general contents and the overall picture emerging therefrom are largely consistent. The opposition alliance, which continued to stage its sit-in for a fourth consecutive day on Monday, held a meeting at the parliament building on Monday evening to deliberate on the emerging situation and discuss their future course of action.
“The sit-in will continue till there is clarity on the matter of [Khan's] health,” Sher Ali Arbab, a lawmaker from Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party who has been participating in the sit-in, told Arab News, adding that PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan and Opposition Leader in Senate Raja Nasir Abbas had briefed them about their meeting with doctors who had visited Khan on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters outside parliament, Gohar said the doctors had informed them that Khan’s condition had improved.
“They said, 'There has been a significant and satisfactory improvement.' With that satisfactory improvement, we also felt satisfied,” he said, noting that the macular thickness in Khan’s eye had reportedly dropped from 550 to 300 microns, a sign of subsiding swelling.
Gohar said the party did not want to politicize Khan’s health.
“We are not doctors, nor is this our field,” he said, noting that Khan’s personal physician in Lahore, Dr. Aasim Yusuf, and his eye specialist Dr. Khurram Mirza had also sought input from the Islamabad-based medical team.
“Our doctors also expressed satisfaction over the report.”
CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS
Despite Gohar’s cautious optimism, Khan’s personal physician, Dr. Yusuf, issued a video message on Monday, saying he could neither “confirm nor deny the veracity” of the government’s claims.
“Because I have not seen him myself and have not been able to participate in his care... I’m unable to confirm what we have been told,” Yusuf said.
He appealed to authorities to grant him or fellow physician, Dr. Faisal Sultan, immediate access to Khan, arguing that the ex-premier should be moved to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad for specialist care.
Speaking to Arab News, PTI’s central information secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram said Khan’s sister and their cousin, Dr. Nausherwan Burki, will speak to media on Tuesday to express their views about the situation.
The government insists that Khan’s condition has improved.
“His eye [condition] has improved and is better than before,” State Minister Talal Chaudhry told the media in a brief interaction on Monday.
“The Supreme Court of Pakistan is involved, and doctors are involved. What medicine he receives, whether he needs to be hospitalized or sent home, these decisions are made by doctors. Neither lawyers nor any political party will decide this.”
