Pakistan High Commission on Friday hosted a civic reception to mark the National Day celebrations in the backdrop of a diplomatic fight with India.
Speaking on the day’s importance, High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood said that Pakistan believed in amity and called for improving bilateral ties.
“Since independence in 1947, Pakistan and India have completed 70 years as free nations. At the time of independence, our founding fathers had envisioned an amicable relationship between the two countries. The relations, however evolved on a different trajectory,” said Mr. Mahmood recollecting that Prime Minister of Pakistan Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in his January 26 message to India had expressed the hope that the future would be different from the difficult past.
National anthems played
The event indicated willingness of both sides to maintain official interactions as Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat represented India and stood with the High Commissioner as the national anthem of both sides were played. Earlier the envoy marked the day with an elaborate event in the High Commission in which he reiterated that Pakistan wished ties with India “on the basis of sovereign equality and mutual respect”.
