Celebrations for the 64th Independence Day were held at the central library of the International Islamic University, Islamabad (IIUI) on Thursday. The IIUI rector presided over the ceremony, while Dawah Academy Director General Sahibzada Sajidur Rehman was the chief guest on the occasion.
IIUI President Dr Mumtaz Ahmad, Female Campus Director Qaisrah Alvi, Student Adviser Female Saadia Tahir, Dr Safeer Awan and a large number of students and staff members attended the ceremony. “Pakistan is our identity and we are proud to be Pakistanis,” said IIUI Rector Prof Fateh Malik. He added that culture and traditions were of the utmost importance in a nation’s ideology.
Professor Malik further added that Pakistan came into being to provide a separate state to the Muslims, where they could practice their religious norms and values with dignity. Professor Malik said the greatest challenges faced by Pakistan were terrorism, fanaticism, corruption, economic collapse, and socio-economic disparities among others. These issues are either continuously being ignored or tackled half-heartedly, Malik said afterwards.
Dr Mumtaz Ahmad said Pakistanis had faced inflation, corruption, power shortages and terrorism – but they had persevered, which was necessary for the survival of any nation. He strongly condemned the debate of “failure of the state of Pakistan” by some critics and writers in the media. He said the ideology of Pakistan was being questioned by parties with vested interests.
Pakistan was created to safeguard the rights of Muslims, and the present position of Muslims in India provided justification for the creation of this separate state. The chief guest, Dr Sajidur Rehman, said Pakistan was the result of the struggle of the entire Muslim populace of the subcontinent. Dr Sajidur Rehman paid rich tribute to Quaid-e-Azam, highlighting the sensitivity with which he was able to mediate between conflicting parties within the Muslim community at the time of partition by staying true to the ideology behind the creation of Pakistan.
“Unfortunately we have ignored that ideology and are suffering the consequences,” said Rehman.
