LAHORE: As the weather was stuffy and humid, most of the celebrations to mark the diamond jubilee of the country’s independence were held indoors on Sunday.

One such activity -- a wall painting competition -- was held at the Township Model Bazaar, where more than 50 participants played with colours.

Teams comprising students of different Lahore-based universities and colleges were allocated spaces on a wall where they made theme-based paintings.

One of the teams painted the Badshahi Mosque, showing it submerged in floodwater.

The team members, Sonia Kamal, Shafaq Amjad and Iqra Ali, highlighted the rising threat of climate change. “An elevated place like Badshahi Mosque could someday be in the news for being inundated by floodwater if we do not take action on climate change,” apprehended one of the team members.

A team comprising Ayesha Naeem, Sara Mateen and Maheen Hashmi chose interfaith harmony as the theme for its artistic expression. “Pakistan is blessed with different cultures, and our work stresses the need to celebrate the diversity of culture,” says Ayesha.

Another painting highlighted women’s issues.

A team from the University of Engineering and Technology (UET) architecture department painted a picture showing that people, not land, make Pakistan.

Other than the wall painting, the Punjab Model Bazaar Management organised an Azadi Gala at the Township Model Bazaar where Industries Secretary Dr Ahmad Javed Qazi was the chief guest.

In his address, the secretary said Pakistan’s 75th Independence Day celebrations remind us that our forefathers made immense sacrifices for the freedom.

He gave away prizes to the winners -- Usman Khalid, Mahnoor Habib and Ahsan Hayat.

Apart from this, a large number of people from across the province set up more than 100 stalls of handicraft and food in Azadi Gala.

In another activity, 45 children enrolled in the Sunday School for Working Children, a project of the Step Skills Development Foundation, exhibited their artistic and vocational skills. The school provides basic education and vocational skills to the students. They performed on the famous speech of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, which guarantees equal rights to minorities. They also sang national songs and displayed their artworks and vocational skills at an exhibition. Gouhar Pirzada, the chairperson of the foundation, said such Sunday schools should be launched across the country as it was a matter of concern that Pakistan had still more than 22 million out-of-school children. Project Director Farhat Majeed said the project enrolled children for completion of their 10-year long formal education.

Moreover, the Ideas9, a body dedicated to promoting interfaith harmony, celebrated the Independence Day with the 6th Annual Intrafaith Gathering and Plant Distribution event which was attended by a large number of people belonging to different schools of thought.

As Independence Day fell in Muharram this year, the event paid homage to Imam Hussain (AS) calling him a great leader of freedom and justice.

Keynote speaker Maulana Absar Ali Naqvi said the Karbala incident was all about justice and freedom. The participants were given plants. Hunain Zaidi, one of the organisers, said: “We need to make Pakistan as a state where people of all faiths could live peacefully”.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2022