ISLAMABAD: The 66th Independence Day of Pakistan is being celebrated across the country on Wednesday with ceremonies, celebrations and flood-like conditions in some parts of the country.
Initiation of the independence day was made by a 31 gun salute in Islamabad, the federal capital city of Pakistan, while 21 gun salute was seen in all provincial capitals including Peshawar, Karachi and Quetta.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif raises the national flag to mark the 67th Independence Day during a ceremony in Islamabad August 14, 2013.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif raises the national flag to mark the 67th Independence Day during a ceremony in Islamabad August 14, 2013. (PHOTO: REUTERS)
Traditional ceremony of flag changing seen on the Lahore’s Wagah border with sweets exchanging on the spot.
Meanwhile, heavy monsoon rainfall in some parts of the country especially in Punjab province ruined the day’s celebrations.
78 electricity feeders were tripped due to heavy rainfall which resulted parts of the city reported to be without electricity and people are stuck inside their homes because of flooding in the streets.
In Karachi however, the rain drenched walls of the Quaid-e-Azam’s mausoleum did not deter one young man from scaling the monument, a feat reportedly never achieved without support before.
Moreover, Jamaatud Dawa organised a protest against India, burning the Indian flag in Karachi.
The 66th Independence Day of Pakistan is being celebrated across the country today (Wednesday) as Google has also came up with its interactive doodle to mark the day.
At least one person was killed and more than 30 wounded in Karachi on Wednesday as hundreds of people fired guns in the air to celebrate Pakistan’s Independence Day.
An AFP reporter in the city witnessed heavy aerial firing after clocks struck midnight, as thousands of revellers came out onto the streets to celebrate the 66th anniversary of the creation of Pakistan.
At least 33 people were brought to Jinnah Hospital in Karachi after being wounded by stray bullets, a hospital official said.
“Our hospitals received 33 people, injured due to the aerial firing, one of them later died in the hospital,” Doctor Semi Jamali told AFP.
Flag-raising ceremonies were held in Islamabad and all four provincial capitals as well as in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, where tensions with neighbouring India are running high.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was the chief guest on Wednesday at the ceremony in Islamabad also attended by visiting UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak was not available to hoist the flag. He gave Shaukat Ali Yousafzai permission to hoist the flag instead while Media were stopped from attending the ceremony in Police Line Peshawar.
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