ISLAMABAD: Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad will be the guest of honor at the Pakistan Day parade to be held in Islamabad on March 23, Pakistan’s military spokesman said on Wednesday, a day celebrated across the country to mark the anniversary of a 1940 resolution calling for a separate homeland for Muslims in India.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Malaysia in November last year and agreed to enhance bilateral cooperation in diverse fields.

In 2015, Pakistan held its first Republic Day parade in seven years in a symbolic show of strength by a nation badly hit by an indigenous Taliban insurgency since 2007.

In a Twitter post on Wednesday, military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor announced that Prime Minister Mohamad, dubbed the "Father of Modern Malaysia," would be the guest of honor at the Pakistan Day parade while the defense minister of Azerbaijan, the army chief of Bahrain and numerous govt officials from Oman would also attend. Ghafoor said contingents from Saudi Arabia, China, Bahrain, Turkey, Sri Lanka and Azerbaijan will participate in the parade. 

Last year, Saudi troops took part in the Pakistan Day for the first time.