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WORLD / Asia-Pacific |
Pakistan marks Independence DayUpdated: 2007-08-15 00:06 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Artillery guns boomed at daybreak in Pakistan's capital Tuesday in a salute to mark the country's 60th anniversary of independence from British rule as its president faced a political crisis and surging militant violence. Military cadets held a changing of the guard ceremony at the mausoleum of Quaid-e-Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Pakistan's founder, in Karachi, the country's largest city. There were flag-raising ceremonies and 21-gun salutes in the four provincial capitals. Gunfire during boisterous Independence Day celebrations left two women dead and 19 people injured, officials said. In the capital, Islamabad, 31 artillery guns fired at the start of ceremonies to mark 60 years since some 10 million people moved across borders in one of history's largest mass migrations as the princely states sewn together in 200 years of British rule were split into Muslim Pakistan and Hindu-majority India in 1947. The subcontinent's partition saw some of the bloodiest fighting of the 20th century, violence that left between 200,000 and over 1 million people dead. In recent years, Pakistan and India have engaged in a series of negotiations aimed at normalizing relations and settling a bitter dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir. The two nations have fought three wars since 1947 - two over Kashmir. The 60th anniversary is being marked on Wednesday in India. Dildar Khan took time off from driving his three-wheeler motorcycle taxi festooned with Pakistani flags, flowers and blinking lights. He took his children to pray at Jinnah's mausoleum. "We are going there to offer prayers and the children will enjoy," Khan said. "I am going to salute the founder of Pakistan." Khalid Jamil, who works at a book publishing company, said he had arranged a session for the recitation of Quran, Islam's holy book, at his home in Karachi to ask God's blessings "for the martyrs of our freedom." Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who was born in the Indian capital of New Delhi, recalled painful memories of his family's move to Pakistan during partition. "It was a train journey and my mother was very worried because dead bodies ... there were dead people who could be seen on platforms where the train would stop," Musharraf said in a television talk-show appearance late Monday. Independence celebrations fall as Pakistan heads toward presidential and legislative elections. Musharraf is seeking another term as the military head of state, but faces the toughest challenge to his rule since taking power in 1999. Musharraf's bid earlier this year to remove the independent-minded Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry backfired, drawing street protests. The Supreme Court struck down Musharraf's move. Musharraf also faces rising pressure from Washington to do more to fight al-Qaida and Taliban militants in Pakistan's northwest tribal region bordering Afghanistan, and a wave of suicide bombings and other violence that have killed more than 380 people since early July. In a statement marking the anniversary, the president urged Pakistanis to reject extremism at the coming elections. "I urge all Pakistani citizens to get involved in the electoral process and become the instruments of enlightened moderation in their beloved country," Musharraf said. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told an anniversary gathering of hundreds of government officials, school children and others that Pakistan took pride in being the only Muslim country to have nuclear weapons. "Our nuclear assets are symbols of our national honor and sovereignty," Aziz said. "The nation has always displayed solidarity and unity for them. And we will never tolerate that anyone should look with a dirty eye at our nuclear assets." In an apparent reference to talk among US officials about possible unilateral US strikes against terrorists in Pakistan, Aziz said "we will never allow any foreign power to interfere in our frontiers." |
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