Our Diplomatic Correspondent
Islamabad: Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Week Of Celebrations began in Pakistan.
Her Majesty The Queen’s Birthday and Platinum Jubilee celebrations kicked off at the British High Commission in Islamabad tonight (Wednesday). It is the first in a series of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee week which will also see birthday events in Karachi and Lahore. Pakistan’s legendary classic singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is also expected to enthrall the audience.
Elaborate measures were taken by the British High Commissioner to Pakistan to mark the celebrations. The British High Commissioner Dr. Christian Turner hosted a reception in Islamabad tonight which was attended by the Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif as chief guest along with other senior ministers, foreign dignitaries, and celebrities. The British High Commissioner delivered a speech and threw light on Her Majesty’s life dedicated to service.
It is worth mentioning that events across the world have been marking Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee and her 70 years of service to the people of the UK, the Realms, and the Commonwealth. It is also the year marking 75 years of Pakistan and the UK’s bilateral relationship. As part of the Platinum Jubilee on the weekend of June 4-5, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the British High Commission lit a beacon to celebrate the occasion at the same time as it was done in the Commonwealth capitals.
Preparations have been finalized to lit up the Pakistan Monument in Islamabad up tonight (Wednesday) in purple, the color of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
The event also underlines Pakistan and the UK’s 75-year partnership – at the heart of which are people-to-people links, a 1.6 million Pakistani diaspora in the UK, 500,000 approximate annual visits in both directions, and around 100,000 British nationals based in Pakistan. Prime Minister Boris Johnson last month spoke to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the phone and welcomed the United Kingdom and Pakistan’s strong partnership over the past 75 years. They agreed to strengthen those ties further and boost trade and investment.
Speaking at the occasion, the British High Commissioner to Pakistan Dr. Christian Turner CMG said Her Majesty The Queen’s 70 years of servant leadership show a remarkable record of integrity, hard work, and selflessness that are needed more than ever today.
“Her Majesty The Queen’s 70 years of servant leadership show a remarkable record of integrity, hard work, and selflessness that are needed more than ever today. We are honored to celebrate her Birthday, her Platinum Jubilee, and also 75 years of deep UK-Pakistan relations,” stated the British High Commission at the event.
Speaking to the ‘Islamabad Telegraph’ His Excellency Syed Shaheen Chishty, a prominent personality from South Asia, paid rich tribute to the Queen.
” Queen a symbol of unity across the world and a fine person in her own rights. She has dedicated all her life and the last 70 years to public service for all the countries.
In my humble view, she is an appropriate candidate for a Nobel Peace Prize. A true English Queen who dealt with good and bad with a sense of maturity and never slipped her lines.
An outstanding achievement of self-dedication to our others over her own self and a scarifies made for humanity from a very young age. My salute to the Queen who is in essence everyone’s Queen. Long live the Queen Elizabeth of U.K,” Mr. Chishty said.
” In the U.K. we are celebrating Queen’s Jubilee celebrations. Wow, she has been the Queen since 1952 till today. Tireless working for all without ever complaining. 70 years is a long time. My Queen, your Queen, and our Queen Long live the British Queen Elizabeth. It is iconic as the sun is slowly setting on her time as she is nearly 96 years old but long way to catch her mother who died at 105. So God bless the Queen and we look forward to many more years of her,” Syed Shaheen Chishti added.
