UAE | General
Pakistanis celebrate Independence Day
Pakistani community members in the UAE celebrated their country's 62nd Independence Day on Thursday.
- By Marten Youssef, Staff Reporter and Ashfaq Ahmed, Chief Reporter
- Published: 23:01 August 14, 2008
Abu Dhabi/Dubai: Pakistani community members in the UAE celebrated their country's 62nd Independence Day on Thursday.
Hundreds of expatriates thronged their country's missions in Abu Dhabi and Dubai for flag-hoisting ceremonies.
Riaz Bukhari, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy in Abu Dhabi, unfurled the flag. In Dubai, Dr Saeed Khan Mohmand, consul-general, hoisted the flag.
"Pakistanis living abroad should not get depressed due to the current situation in Pakistan. The country's leadership is trying its best to put the country on the road to progress," Dr Mohmand said, addressing the gathering at the consulate.
He called on community members to stand united.
"You should also honestly serve the UAE to further strengthen brotherly relations," he said.
Messages from President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Syed Yousef Raza Gilani were also read out on the occasion.
President Musharraf reaffirmed the nation's progress and said: "Pakistan is passing through a difficult phase in history. Our adversaries are trying to destabilise Pakistan on several fronts, both internal and external. Preservation of our freedom and defence of the country should be our foremost obligation."
Auspicious
"On this auspicious occasion we must sink our differences and strive together to make Pakistan a truly modern, dynamic, progressive and democratic Islamic state in accordance with the vision of our founder," Musharraf added.
Prime Minister Gilani, in his message said: "On the occasion of Independence Day, it is my proud privilege to greet all Pakistanis and to covey my heartiest felicitations to all of them, living in Pakistan and abroad.
"It is our foremost duty to demonstrate a firm determination to uphold the unity of the nation and strengthen the integrity and solidarity of the country. We in the government are committed to bringing relief to the common man, to steering Pakistan out of the current political and economic situation and making Pakistan a developed, progressive, self-reliant democratic Islamic welfare state."
According to embassy officials, Pakistani residents in the UAE sent home around Dh4 billion last year.
This figure is a substantial contribution to the development of Pakistan. It does not account for the business exchange between the two countries or the millions of dollars worth of projects underway, primarily through the Abu Dhabi Group.
Pakistan's long-time relationship with the UAE started when Pakistan became the second country, after the UK, to establish diplomatic ties with the then developing UAE.
Javed Malek, a Dubai-based Pakistani businessman, who was recently appointed Ambassador-at-Large, said the people of Pakistan are hoping democracy will come because through it they will be able to replace the negative perceptions about their country and realise the vision of independence.
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