Pakistan Day (Urdu: یومِ پاکستان, lit. Yaum-e-Pakistan) or Pakistan Resolution Day, also Republic Day, is a national holiday in Pakistan primarily commemorating the adoption of the first Constitution of Pakistan during the transition of the Dominion of Pakistan to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on 23 March 1956 making Pakistan the world's first Islamic republic.[1] The day also celebrates the adoption of the Lahore Resolution by the Muslim League at the Minar-e-Pakistan (lit. Pakistan Tower) which called for the creation of an independent sovereign state derived from the provinces with Muslim majorities located in the North-West and East of British India (excluding autonomous princely States) on 23 March 1940.[2][3][1][4]
The day is celebrated annually primarily by Government officials and army staff throughout the country and is a public holiday for civilians. While civilians do not celebrate the public holiday, the Pakistan Armed Forces usually hold a military parade to celebrate both the passing of the Lahore Resolution in 1940 and the Constitution of 1956.[5][6]
The resolution was moved by A. K. Fazlul Huq (26 October 1873 – 27 April 1962), often called Sher-e-Bangal, passed on 23rd March and had its signatures from the Founding Fathers of Pakistan. It reads as:[9]
[Quoting Resolution:] No constitutional plan would be workable or acceptable to the Muslims unless geographical contiguous units are demarcated into regions which should be so constituted with such territorial readjustments as may be necessary. That the areas in which the Muslims are numerically in majority as in the North-Western and Eastern zones of India should be grouped to constitute independent states in which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign.
The British plan to partition the Indian subcontinent into two dominions - India and Pakistan - was announced on 3 June 1947. In the event, Pakistan was created on 14 August 1947 and Indian independence came a day later. Pakistan was immediately identified as a migrant state born amid bloodshed. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, became the first Governor General of Pakistan with Mr. Liaqat Ali Khan becoming the first Prime Minister of Pakistan. The Indian Act of 1935 provided the legal framework for Pakistan until 1956, when the state passed its own constitution.[10]
While Pakistan's Independence Day celebrates its freedom from British Rule, the Republic Day celebrates the coming into force of its constitution.
A full inter-services joint military parade is rehearsed and broadcast live by the news media all over the country.[14] The Pakistan military inter services also gives a glance of its power and capabilities during this parade.
The celebrations regarding the holiday include a full military and civilian parade in the capital, Islamabad.[5] These are presided by the President of Pakistan and are held early in the morning.[14] After the parade, the President confers national awards and medals on the awardees at the Presidency.[14] Wreaths are also laid at the mausoleums of Muhammad Iqbal and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan.[5] In very rare times and significance, foreign dignitaries have been invited to attend the military parade.[15]
^Official name is (Urdu: Urdu: یومِ پاکستان, lit. Yaum-e-Pakistan) or Pakistan Day in English. The day also commemorates The Pakistan Resolution Day, Republic Day (Urdu: يومِ جمهوريه) or as Joint Inter-Services parade. Unofficially, the day is also known as 23 March
^Singh, Sarina; et al. (2008). Pakistan & the Karakoram Highway (7th ed.). Footscray, Vic.: Lonely Planet.
^Rizvi, Hasan Askari (23 March 2015). "Pakistan and March 23". No. Special works published by Dr. H.A. Rizvi. Express Tribune, Rizvi. Express Tribune. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
^Programme of the All India Muslim Leagues 27th Annual Session, to be held at Lahore 21 to 24 March 1940, at the National Archives of Pakistan, Islamabad, the Quaid i Azam Papers, File 1354
^Syed Iftikhar Ahmed (1983), Essays on Pakistan, Alpha Bravo Publishers, Lahore, OCLC12811079
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