Inclement weather: Pakistan Day Parade rescheduled for Saturday

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE/PESHAWAR/QUETTA: The Pakistan Day Parade, which was postponed due to inclement weather, will now be held on March 25th, the President House said Thursday. Pakistan Day commemorates the passing of the Lahore Resolution on March 23, 1940, when the All-India Muslim League demanded a separate nation for the Muslims of the British Indian empire. This year’s joint services parade scheduled to be held at Aiwan-e-Sadr was postponed due to inclement weather. The parade will now be held on March 25 (Saturday).

Meanwhile, the day dawned with a 21-gun salute by the Pakistan Army at Mahfooz Shaheed Garrison in the provincial capital on Pakistan Day.

The soldiers of the Pakistan Army raised slogans of Allah-o-Akbar, Ya Rasoolul Allah (Peace Be Upon Him) and Pakistan Zindabad. Special prayers were also offered in different mosques of the city for peace, progress, the prosperity of the country and unity of the Muslim Ummah. Meanwhile, even after 25 years of Jansher Khan’s retirement, his record has not been broken in the squash field around the world; the President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi awarded Jansher Khan with Nishan-e-Imtiaz on Thursday.

With this award, legendary Jansher Khan becomes the first Pakistani player to win four major national honours, including Presidential Pride of Performance in (1986), Sitara-e-Imtiaz in (1994), Hilal-e-Imtiaz in (1998) and Nishan-e-Imtiaz (2023).

Another squash legend Jahangir Khan, a strong Jansher Khan rival, has the honour of three honours; the government awarded him President Pride of Performance, Hilal-e-Imtiaz and Nishan-e-Imtiaz.

Jansher Khan thanked Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Haji Ghulam Ali on being nominated for the Nishan-e-Imtiaz Award for his services to the country and the nation.

He said PMLN has always played a special role and taken personal interest in sports, especially squash. He further said that when he was the world champion and whenever he came to win a tournament, even in the 1990s, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif used to encourage him in every way by organising special events in Lahore.

“I hope that Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif and Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Haji Ghulam Ali would continue to play their special role for squash so that we can regain our dignity in the world of squash again,” Jansher Khan said.

During his career, Jansher Khan won PSA Professional 293 matches out of total 331, PSA Professional Tour Finals 99 out of 118 and from 1993 until 1996 in 81 matches Jansher was unbeaten for four years, his longest winning matches streak in top-level professional sports as recorded by Guinness World Records. Born on June 15, 1969 in Nawa Kali, Peshawar, Jansher Khan of Pakistan is a former world No.1 professional Pakistani squash player. During his career, he won the World Open a record eight times, and the British Open six times.

Jansher Khan is widely regarded as one of the greatest squash players of all time. He was ranked number 1 in the world from January 1988 till January 1998, (513 weeks) (118 months) (9.8 years). His retirement in 2001 brought an end to nearly 50 years of domination by Pakistan in the sport of squash. He was troubled by back, knee and groin injuries throughout his career.

Meanwhile, Pakistan men’s cricket team captain and prolific batter Babar Azam has been conferred with President’s Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence) for his outstanding achievements and services in the game of cricket.

Governor Punjab Muhammad Balighur Rehman conferred the civil award on Babar Azam during the investiture ceremony for Pakistan Civil Awards on the Pakistan Day at the Governor’s House here on Thursday.

Babar Azam’s parents were also present during the ceremony. With the conferment of the third highest civil award of the country after Nishan-e-Haider and Hilal-i-Pakistan, the all format captain Babar Azam became the youngest cricketer to receive the honour at the age of 28. The other recipients of the award from Pakistan cricket include Javed Miandad, Inzimam ul Haq, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Yousaf, Shahid Khan Afridi, Younis Khan, Misba ul Haq and Sarfraz Ahmed.

In a tweet, Babar Azam termed the occasion an immense honour to receive Sitara-i-Imtiaz in the presence of his parents. Other sportsmen including Nooh Dastgir Butt (weightlifting), Arshad Nadeem (javelin throw) and Ahsan Ramzan (snooker) were bestowed ‘Pride of Performance’ awards while national Kabaddi player Shafique Ahmed Chishti was conferred with ‘Tamgha-i-Imtiaz’ during the ceremony held to commemorate the Pakistan Day 2023.

Earlier, President Pakistan Kabaddi Federation Chuadhry Shafey Hussain was conferred with Sitara-i-Imtiaz for his services to the sport of Kabaddi.

Meanwhile, Balochistan Governor Malik Abdul Wali Kakar on Thursday conferred Presidential and Excellence Awards on several personalities for their outstanding performance and services on the occasion of Pakistan Day. A simple ceremony for the distribution of presidential and excellence awards was held at Governor House, Quetta.

Amanullah Khan Nasir, Professor Ubaidullah Darwish, Dr Muhammad Ashraf Shaheen Qaisrani were honoured with Presidential Excellence Award by Balochistan Governor. Martyrs of journalism Irshad Ahmad Mastoi and Ashraf Zehri were posthumously awarded the Medal of Distinction. Later, the Governor Balochistan gave provincial excellence awards to twenty-four personalities including Sadiq Ali, Sharaf Shaad, Dr Nasreen Gul, Asmat Durrani, Abdul Bari Asir, Rahmat Bibi alias Arzu Ziaratwala, Abdul Hayat, Nabi Baksh, Shazia Akram Shahwani, Muhammad Yasin, Rashid Hasrat and Shabana Sultan.

Shuaib Ali, Arif Ali, Dr Rahim Bakhsh Mehr, Dr Abdul Rauf Rafiqi, Dar Muhammad Kasi, Dr Abdul Rehman Kakar, Khudaidad, Khurshid Ali Hasan, Dr Abida Baloch, Dawood Shah Tareen, Prof Ahmed Waqas and Prof. Arifa Ali were awarded Provincial Excellence Awards 2021.

On this occasion, provincial ministers, members of the provincial assembly, senior government officials and people belonging to different fields participated in the ceremony for national honors.