Pakistan Embassy celebrates national day in Tehran

TEHRAN, April 18 (MNA) -- The Pakistani Embassy in Tehran celebrated the 72nd anniversary of Pakistan Day, which commemorates the adoption of the Lahore Resolution on March 23, 1940, on Monday. Pakistan celebrates its national day on March 23 in remembrance of the historic resolution, which culminated in the creation of Pakistan on August 14, 1947, but because it coincided with the Iranian Noruz (New Year) holidays, the Embassy of Pakistan in Tehran delayed the function until April 16. Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian deputy foreign minister for Asian and Oceanian affairs, other senior Iranian officials, scholars, journalists, foreign diplomats based in Tehran, and many members of the Pakistani community of Tehran attended the event. Araghchi delivered a speech at the meeting, in which he congratulated the Pakistani nation and government on the country’s national day. “It’s a great pleasure for me to meet our Pakistani brothers to congratulate you on this very important day for Pakistan,” he said at the Pakistan Day Reception, which was held at the residence of the ambassador of Pakistan. Araghchi also described relations between Iran and Pakistan as “very good” and “developing” in all spheres. Elsewhere in his remarks, he commented on the negotiations that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad held with senior Pakistani officials on the sidelines of the International Noruz Festival, which was held in the Tajik capital Dushanbe on March 25, and said that the meetings illustrated the high level of relations between the two countries. Noruz is the ancient celebration of the Persian New Year that begins on the first day of spring. In his address at the reception, Pakistani Ambassador Khalid Aziz Babar said on this day, under the leadership of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent pledged to create an independent homeland where they could live in accordance with their religious and cultural values. On the sidelines of the Pakistan Day Reception, Ambassador Babar talked to journalists of the Tehran Times and some other media outlets about Iran-Pakistan ties. He spoke about the importance of expanding road and air links between Iran and Pakistan in order to enhance bilateral trade and people-to-people contacts. In addition, Ambassador Babar stated that Pakistan has never voted against Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency and other international forums, which shows that Islamabad can resist any external pressure. He added that Pakistan will not withdraw from the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project -- formerly known as the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline or the peace pipeline -- and will work together with Iran to complete the project on schedule. He also said that for the time being, India has opted out of the gas pipeline deal, but it can rejoin at any stage since the pipeline has the additional capacity to transport gas to India and can be extended.