Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The twin cities observed the country’s Independence Day on Sunday with full zeal and enthusiasm as several ceremonies had been organised in this regard. The main ceremony of Independence Day was held at the Convention Centre in the federal capital.

The dawn of the Independence Day was heralded with special prayers for the peace and prosperity of the country in the mosques of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

President Mamnoon Hussain, along with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, hoisted the national flag at the Convention Centre Islamabad; whereas, federal ministers and services chiefs were also present at the event.

Earlier, sirens were also played at 8:59 am, and all the moving traffic on roads, air, and sea came to a halt for one minute. A tough security plan was also adopted by the capital police to avoid any untoward incident and all the major roads around the convention centre remained closed for the general public; whereas, the traffic police had also implemented an already announced traffic plan in this regard.

In Rawalpindi, a colourful flag hoisting ceremony was held at the Commissioner’s Office in which Commissioner Rawalpindi, Azmat Mehmood, District Coordination Officer (DCO) Talat Gondal, MNAs and MPAs belonging to the ruling party participated.

A large number of school students (boys and girls) presented national anthem, national songs and speeches. The local management distributed prizes among students on the august day. The national flag was hoisted at all government buildings while exclusive Independence Day celebrations were also held at the Divisional, District and Sub Divisional Headquarters.

All government schools arranged special programmes on Independence Day. The schools arranged dramas, tableaus, speech contests and poetry competitions on the occasion. A ceremony in this regard was also organised at the Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, in which the Vice Chancellor hoisted the national flag. The general public came outside from their homes and enjoyed the celebrations of the day. The parks were full with citizens, who celebrated the day in different styles. People at Islamabad zoo were dancing to the beat of drums and singing national songs.

The most enthusiastic were the children who were busy collecting stickers, badges and also beautifying their bicycles with special stickers inscribed with messages of Independence Day.

The buildings across the twin cities were decorated with national flags and a large number of cake cutting ceremonies were also held in different parts of both Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

As usual, the mobile phone service remained suspended for six hours from 6:00 am till 12:00 pm on Sunday as part of security measures for Independence Day celebrations planned in the federal capital even though this created a lot of problems for the general public.