Well, the chest signifies the pride that we hold for our homeland and the left in particular reflects passion as our heart is also located at the left side of our chest!

A flag is no ordinary piece of art, in fact it symbolises the identity, culture, thinking pattern, history and a lot more of a nation. The study of flags is known as vexillology and the person who designs a flag is called a vexillographer.

Our green and white flag was designed by Syed Ameer uddin Kidwai. The green colour in the flag represents the Muslim majority of Pakistan. The white vertical stripe signifies the religious minorities. In the centre is a white crescent moon that represents progress, whereas the white five-pointed star stands for light and knowledge. The flag on the whole denotes Pakistan's commitment to Islam, the Islamic world and the rights of the religious minorities living in our dear country.

Hoisting our green flag, as is the case in all other countries, is customary for the celebration of the important days like the Independence Day, etc. Schools and other educational institutions also hold programmes to mark the independence of our country. Usually the institutes are decorated with strings on which small flags are attached.

When I was in class nine and an Independence Day function was being held in the school, I took part in different activities and had lent a hand in the decoration of the school as well. The whole school was seen in the colours of the flag and the strings with small paper flags were also placed everywhere. As the anthem was going on and everyone was standing to pay homage to our dear country, a strange noise distracted everybody. There was some sort of unrest at the back of the auditorium. The children were picking up something. A bird had sat on the tied string in the hall and because of that the whole string had fallen on the ground. Around 50 flags were on the ground! In quest of detangling the string and placing it back, some flags got spoilt and were thrown in the bin!

That day I felt that these strings of flags should be avoided for the purpose of decoration. These small paper flags get spoilt easily and are soon found lying around on the ground or in dustbins. While most of the time this may be unintentional, it is difficult to prevent such fragile flags from becoming torn and discarded in a fashion that is not suitable. This is completely against the protocols and respect that a national flag demands.

I submitted an application to my principal and asked her to ban the use of those strings of flags in the school. The next year we decorated the school with white and green buntings, hoisted a very big flag on the roof of the school's building, drew a lot of posters representing all the wonders in our homeland and, most of all, pledged with all our hearts that we would guard the honour of our dear motherland at all cost.

We promised to ourselves that we would work to enhance the image of our country at the international level and fight against all the social evils that hamper the growth of our wonderland, Pakistan.

Log live Pakistan!