Pakistan Association of America Celebrates National Day

By Almas Akhtar, TMO

Dearborn March 24, 2012. “Pakistan Republic Day” or “Yom e Pakistan” is celebrated every year on 23rd March to commemorate the Lahore Resolution of 1940. It was on that day 72 years back that the idea of a separate state for the Muslims of South Asia was proposed during the Muslim League’s Annual Conference in Lahore. It is a national holiday within the country with a full military and civil parade in Islamabad viewed by the President, Prime Ministers and Joint Chief of Staff. Pride of Performance Awards are awarded in the evening during a State dinner in the fields of Medicine, Science, Arts, Sports, Literature and Media.

[click here to view event photos]

Pakistanis all over the world celebrate this day in their adoptive countries. They pay homage to Mohammed Ali Jinnah…Father of the Nation, and Alama Iqbal the National Poet. Pakistani Embassies and Organizations all across the World plan special events to mark this day. The Pakistan Association of America (Michigan,USA) celebrated this day on 24thMarch 2012 at Dearborn Inn. The event started with a presentation of Pakistani National Anthem by a group of elementary school kids, dressed in traditional Pakistani dresses and waving green Pakistani Flags. It was followed by a performance of the “Star Spangled Banner” by Daniyal Ahmed, he mesmerized the crowd of over 550 people by his beautiful voice. It was followed by a  kids quiz show compromising of two teams; the MC for the evening, Mr Tahir Khan, asked questions about the history and culture of Pakistan. The quiz show was won by the “green team” comprised of Sania Ahmed, Aamna Ali and Billal Shahid. These kids were selected from the community. This was followed by a short video about the participants of Youth Art Competition. The winners of this art competition were Ali Imam, Naail Chaudry and Yumna Jahangir who won in their respective categories. The 16 participating kids were winners and honorable mentions of a previous competition which was sponsored by Pakistan Association. The paintings of these kids were displayed in the foyer for everyone to view, all paintings were created especially for the occasion. Medals were awarded to all participants and trophies to all the winners in these two youth competitions.

The youth program was followed by speeches by Congressmen Mr John Conyers and Mr Hansen Clark, and Congressional Candidate Mr Sabah Taj.  The President of the Pakistan Association of America (MI) Dr Adil Akhtar gave the keynote speech about the history of Pakistan Resolution and his vision for a “bigger and better Pakistan”! He later introduced all the PAA Board Members and thanked all the guests. The guests enjoyed dinner which was followed by a Musical Evening which featured famous singer Farhan Zaidi. Everyone enjoyed beautiful Pakistani national songs, ghazals from the sub continent and popular movie songs by this talented artist and his band.

Dr Asif Baig and his wife Dr Siraj Baig were one of the guests of the evening who thought that the evening was simply beautiful; they thanked the PAA team for providing such an event. Ms Jabeen Bukhari also had praising remarks for the PAA team, she enjoyed the entire evening. Ms Uzma Anjum a teacher from Troy also enjoyed the event and was very happy to see kids recognized during quizzes and art competition. Mr Jameel Arif a local businessman from Canton said he also enjoyed the evening and especially the music performance. Dr Diacnow, chief of Troy Beaumont who was also in attendance appreciated the hard work of the Pakistan Association and its members and volunteers.

The kids who were awarded medals and trophies in the “Quiz” and “Art” competition were happy to show off their medals to friends and families. Fouzan Qureshi a 7 year old from West Bloomfield and 9 year old Yumna Jahangir from Rochester Hills  were very proud of their achievements.

This unique and exquisite event concluded around 1:00am.

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