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 puts border districts on high alert amid Iran protests — official
- The development comes as Iranian authorities try to suppress protests over faltering economy, with over 2,600 killed
- Militancy in Balochistan has declined following the return of nearly 1 million Afghans, the additional chief secretary says
QUETTA: Pakistan has heightened security along districts bordering Iran as violent protests continue to engulf several Iranian cities, a top official in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province said on Thursday, with authorities stepping up vigilance to guard against potential spillover.
The development comes as Iranian authorities try to suppress protests, which began late last month over the country’s faltering economy and the collapse of its currency, with more than 2,600 killed in weeks of violence in the Islamic republic.
The clampdown on demonstrations, the worst since the country’s 1979 Islamic revolution, has drawn threats from the United States (US) of a military intervention on behalf of the protesters, raising fears of further tensions in an already volatile region.
Pakistan, which shares a 909-kilometer-long border with Iran in its southwest, has said that it is closely monitoring the situation in the neighboring country and advised its citizens to keep essential travel documents with them amid the unrest.
“The federal government is monitoring the situation regarding what is happening in Iran and the provincial government is in touch with the federal government,” Hamza Shafqaat, an additional chief secretary at the Balochistan Home Department, told
Arab News in an exclusive interview on Thursday.
“As far as the law and order is concerned in all bordering districts with Iran, we are on high alert and as of now, the situation is very normal and peaceful at the border.”
Asked whether Islamabad had suspended cross-border movement and trade with Iran, Shafqaat said trade was ongoing, but movement of tourists and pilgrims had been stopped.
“There were few students stuck in Iran, they were evacuated, and they reached Gwadar,” he said. “Around 200 students are being shifted to their home districts.”
SITUATION ON PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN BORDER
Pakistan’s Balochistan province has long been the site of an insurgency by ethnic Baloch separatists and religiously motivated groups like the Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Besides Iran, the province shares more around 1,000-kilometer porous border with Afghanistan.
Islamabad has frequently accused Afghanistan of allowing its soil for attacks against Pakistan, an allegation denied by Kabul. In Oct., Pakistan and Afghanistan engaged in worst border clashes in decades over a surge in militancy in Pakistan. While the neighbors agreed to a ceasefire in Doha that month, relations between them remain tensed.
Asked about the government’s measures to secure the border with Afghanistan, Shafqaat said militancy in the region had declined following the return of nearly 1 million Afghan nationals as part of a repatriation drive Islamabad announced in late 2023.
“There is news that some of them keep on coming back from one border post or some other areas because we share a porous border and it is very difficult to man every inch of this border,” he said.
“On any intervention from the Afghanistan side, our security agencies which are deputed at the border are taking daily actions.”
LAW AND ORDER CHALLENGE
Balochistan witnessed 167 bomb blasts among over 900 militant attacks in 2025, which killed more than 400 people, according to the provincial government’s annual law and order report. But officials say the law-and-order situation had improved as compared to the previous year.
“More than 720 terrorists were killed in 2025 which is a higher number of operations against terrorists in many decades, while over a hundred terrorists were detained by law enforcement agencies in 90,000-plus security operations in Balochistan,” Shafqaat said.
The provincial government often suspended mobile Internet service in the southwestern province on various occasions last year, aimed at ensuring security in Balochistan.
“With that step, I am sure we were able to secure hundreds of lives,” Shafqaat said, adding it was only suspended in certain areas for less than 25 days last year.
“The Internet service through wireless routers remained open for the people in the entire year, we closed mobile Internet only for people on the roads because the government understands the difficulties of students and business community hence we are trying to reduce the closure of mobile Internet.”
