ISLAMABAD   -  President Dr Arif Alvi has expressed the hope that Pakistan could be put on the path of development and prosperity by pro­moting the rule of law, democracy, provision of basic human rights, erad­ication of social injustices and poverty.

Addressing a flag-hoisting ceremony held here in connection with the 76th Indepen­dence Day of Pakistan at the Convention Cen­ter, the president ex­pressed the hope that Pakistan would soon become a prosperous and developed country by following all the ba­sic rules and guidance given by the founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

He said Quaid-e-Azam always discouraged nepotism and voiced for the promotion of merit, unity, socio-economic justice, and poverty alleviation.

He said Pakistan got indepen­dence in 1947 because of the long struggle of Quaid-e-Azam Muham­mad Ali Jinnah and other founding leaders, and the sacrifices of hun­dreds of thousands of people.

He said the country’s armed forc­es, police and the public were still sacrificing their lives for the coun­try’s security as over 100,000 peo­ple had rendered their lives in the war against terrorism.

He said the aim of Pakistan’s in­dependence was the establish­ment of an independent state for the Muslims of the subcontinent to live their lives according to Islamic principles.

He urged the country’s politicians and other stakeholders to embrace the path of forgiveness, drawing in­spiration from the life and teach­ings of the Holy Prophet Muham­mad (Peace Be Upon Him). 

The president paid the heartiest tributes to the founders of Pakistan who struggled for independence of Pakistan and the hundreds of thou­sands of people who embraced martyrdom for Pakistan.

President Alvi stressed upon the elite of the country to take respon­sibility for poverty alleviation and promotion of education and health, which he said were inter-connected with each other.

He said currently 27 million chil­dren were out of school across the country and needed to enrol in schools.

He stressed that every child should be enrolled in school which could only be possible through re­sources.

He said everybody should pay his or her due tax so that the govern­ment could get more resources to provide maximum facilities to the people.

Similarly, he said good health was also vital for nation-building.

The president said although it was necessary to explore natural resources buried under the land but the actual wealth was built in our minds which should be fully uti­lized. He stressed the need to look into the areas of the latest technol­ogies, IT, industries and agriculture.

He quoted Allama Iqbal as say­ing that without women’s partic­ipation; no nation could develop and prosper. Therefore, he called upon the women folk of the country to work for the development of the country by actively participating in all areas.

Quaid-e-Azam, he said, also en­couraged his sister Fatima Jin­nah to fully participate in the country’s politics. The president also expressed solidarity with the people of occupied Kashmir. He hoped that by the will of God, soon Kashmir would become part of Pakistan. He vowed to the peo­ple of Kashmir not to leave Paki­stan’s support for their just strug­gle. He also thanked the friendly countries including China, Sau­di Arabia, UAE, Iran, Turkiye, and Organization of Islamic Coopera­tion (OIC) for supporting Pakistan in its difficult time.

He said Islam always preached peace and love even when the world was desecrating the Holy Quran.