Pakistan to celebrate 76th Independence Day on Monday

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – Pakistanis will celebrate their 76th Independence Day on Monday.

Flag-hoisting ceremonies, rallies, and other events were planned by the government and different political and religious parties to mark the day.

President Arif Alvi will hoist the national flag at a ceremony at the President’s House.

The traditional flag hoisting ceremony at the Prime Minister's Office will not be held this year as the caretaker Prime Minister-designate Senator Anwaarul Haq Kakar will take oath on Monday.

Kakar was picked as the caretaker prime minister by the outgoing premier and the opposition leader on Saturday to hold the general elections.

The outgoing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is currently in the northeastern city of Lahore where his wife is hospitalized in a serious condition, an official of the Prime Minister's Office told Anadolu.

Pakistan was carved out of the subcontinent as a homeland for Muslims on Aug. 14, 1947, amid tensions with India over the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, fears of survival due to economic hardships, and the rush of refugees and raging communal riots.

In one of the world's largest displacements so far, according to historians, over 6.5 million Muslims from different parts of India migrated to Pakistan, following the end of British colonial rule in the subcontinent in 1947.

-Horse riders’ rally

Horse-riding children and women took part in a rally while carrying Pakistani, Turkish, and Azerbaijani flags in the port city of Karachi on Sunday on the eve of the South Asian nation's Independence Day.

The "Independence Day horse rally" was organized by a local horse riding association to express solidarity with the victims of earthquakes in southern Türkiye in February and pay tribute to the Azerbaijani soldiers for their sacrifices in liberating the Nagorno-Karabakh settlements from Armenian occupation in 2020.

Some participants also carried Palestinian flags to express solidarity with Palestinians in their struggle against Israeli occupation.

“This is a small show of unity with our Turkish, Palestinian, and Azerbaijani brothers on the occasion of our Independence Day,” said Zubair Abul Hussain, the organizer of the event.

“We dedicate this rally to our Turkish, Azerbaijani, and Palestinian brothers and sisters martyred in earthquakes and wars,” he told Anadolu.