Moon
Never Wanes on Pakistan Flag
A national news paper reported on
8August 1998 that the Pakistan government had refuted the contention raised in a writ petition
before a high court that the moon shown on the National flag was waning when it should be waxing.
The government’s response to the
petition was that the position of the moon would be determined from the
direction in which the wind is blowing. “If the wind blows from left to right
the moon appears to be waning and vice versa.”
The practice at international level
is of flowing flags from left to right. However, it is not possible to fix the
position of a fluttering flag. The contention “The position of the moon determines the destiny of a nation” was
opposed in the government’s response.
It is said that the symbolism of Crescent is for the bright future and five corners of the Star
are for five pillars of Islam, i.e Tauheed, Salat , Fasting, Zakat and
Hajj
To delve into the genesis of the Pakistan flag, the All
India Muslim League used the Islamic ‘Subz Hilali Parcham’
meaning ‘green flag with the crescent’,
since its inception in 1906, in Dacca (Dhaka—present-day capital of the
People’s Republic of Bangladesh).
At the All India Muslim League’s Lucknow session in 1937, Mohammad Ali Jinnah pronounced that
the League’s green flag – the flag of
Islam, to be the national flag for the ‘Land of the Pure’. I
feel confident that once they understand and realise the policy and programme of
the Muslim League, the entire Musalman population of India will rally round its
platform and under its flag. So
said Mohd Ali Jinnah in his Presidential address.
The ‘Pakistan
Resolution’ was adopted in Lahore on 23 March 1940. Begum
Hafeezuddin, leader of the women volunteers of the All India Muslim
League, called upon the Muslims of the subcontinent to unite under the Subz Hilali Parcham.
In the first stamp of the se-tenant set, Allama Mohammad Iqbal is shown addressing the famous Allahabad Session of the All India
Muslim League in 1930; while Liaquat Ali
Khan is depicted taking oath as the Secretary General of the League from
its President, the Quaid-e-Azam (Bombay
Session,1936),who is shown seated. In the second stamp Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar, is shown addressing a Muslim rally;
while the Quaid-e-Azam is depicted addressing the mammoth gathering on the eve
of the passing of the Pakistan
Resolution at Lahore on March 23, 1940. The historic role of the Muslim
women in the struggle for Pakistan forms part of the third stamp portrays the historic act of hoisting the Pakistan Movement flag on the Punjab Secretariat Building at Lahore by the Muslim women freedom
fighters (1946); while the Quaid-e-Azam
is shown taking oath as the first
Governor General of the newly established independent Pakistan on August 14, 1947. (Designer: Adil
Salahuddin)
Golden Jubilee of Pakistan Resolution. Stamp impression
on the Aerogramme depicts
Minar-e-Pakistan in four colours, portrait and sayings of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad
Ali Jinnah on left of address lines in black. A painting by Aftab Zafar showing scenes from the
historic meeting (Maulvi Fazlul Haq, then prime
minister of Bengal moving the historic resolution: Choudhry Khaliq-uz-Zaman seconding the Resolution: Quaid-i-Azam addressing the session), was
printed above sender's address lines. Famous couplet of Talu-e-Islam by Bang-e-Dara
was used on the banner over the dais on the occasion of Lahore session of the
All India Muslim League. In 1940
It was on 4 August
1947 that Pakistan’s national flag was created by adding a narrow white
stripe at the hoist side to represent the minority communities and also to
enable the national flag to be distinguished from that of the Muslim League’s
flag. Ameer-ud-din Khidwai is
credited as the designer of the Pakistani National flag.
The
Statesman on 8 August 1947 carried a news under the heading ‘Mr. Gandhi to Spend Rest of his life in
Pakistan’ wherein it was reported that in reply to a question by Dr Lehna
Singh, General Secretary, Punjab Provincial Congress Committee, Mr Gandhi (=Mahatma Gandhi) said that
if the Pakistan flag was such as would
ensure equal rights and full protection to the minorities, they should all
accept and honour the flag and have absolutely no hesitation in saluting it.
The Statesman quoted Gandhi saying: ‘I
would ask you not to disown the Pakistan flag merely because it bears a
crescent.’ He added: ‘I
must, however, say that, if no assurance of the kind I have mentioned is
forthcoming, at least I shall refuse to salute that flag.’
Qaumi Parcham March -
Khyber To Chaghi, 1998
The "National Flag March" by the youth of Pakistan started in November 1998,
spear-headed by the Pakistan Muslim League Youth Wing from Jamrud in Khyber
Agency. The route taken was Peshawar, Abbottabad, Muzaffarabad, Murree,
Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Lahore, Multan, Sukkur, Karachi,
Larkana, Quetta, to mention only a few of the important towns. This rally
covering a distance of 350 kilometers and passing through fifty districts of
the country terminated at Chaghi in Balochistan.
Pakistan Latest To Chase 'Largest Flag' Record.
24,200 young Pakistanis crowded into Lahore's National Hockey Stadium to
hold up colored placards forming the Pakistani flag on 22nd October
2012. The crowd erupted in cheers when the representative from Guinness World Records
announced that they had indeed created the
"world's largest human
flag," breaking a record held by a crowd of Portuguese women since 2006.
"The participants said they were showing the beautiful image of Pakistan
to the rest of the world and expressing their unity under the flag of
Pakistan," Pakistan's
"The News" reported.
(
http://www.rferl.org/content/pakistan-latest-largest-flag-record/24748636.html)
Issue Date: 29-07-1971 
