“What are you doing?” my friend gave me a surprised look.

I stopped picking up the green and white paper flags that were lying on the road and looked up at him.

“They are not just paper flags,” my tone was a little stern. “They are much more than that. This paper flag that I hold in my hand is a symbol. It represents not just the national flag of my country but all the blessings that I have in this country, like being able to live with people that are similar to me without facing any discrimination.

“I cannot desecrate the blessings I have by letting these symbols of my blessings, in form of paper flags, lie on the road and get crumpled under people’s feet or by vehicles.”

There was a momentary silence and small hesitation on my friend’s part before he joined me in picking up the paper flags from the road.

Not everyone in our country appreciates the good things that we enjoy in a free state of our own. And, more importantly, not everyone remembers the sacrifices our founding fathers and ancestors made to get a free state. Independence Day serves as a reminder to realise all that and much more. It also gives us a chance to celebrate the good things we acquired through the endless and tireless struggles of our elders.

Our Father of the Nation, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, was one of the first ones to realise and work persistently for the need for a separate homeland for the Muslims of the subcontinent. He was a visionary who realised that Hindus and Muslims could not co-exist in a single country without there being complications for both. Based on this vision, he became a charismatic political leader to the Muslims of the subcontinent. They all got behind him in his successful political endeavours to get a separate homeland in the form of Pakistan.

In today’s world, the concept of freedom is perhaps best understood only by those who are being persecuted and forcibly ruled by some military/foreign powers or due to their status of ethnic minority. Muslims in areas like Kashmir, Burma, Myanmar, etc. are being tortured and killed, besides being denied their fundamental human rights.

In addition, there is so much unrest in some so-called independent countries such as Syria, Iraq and Libya, and hundreds and thousands of people from there have had to flee their homes and either seek refuge in other parts of their country or other countries. These people live a miserable life and, therefore, we should be grateful for all the things that we do have in our country.

The traditional and well-established ways to enjoy at a national level include honouring our late national and military heroes in various ways, army parades and change of guard on national monuments, decoration of national monuments and government buildings, and other related things.

But at an individual level, it is important to get into a celebratory mood to fully enjoy the Independence Day. Decorate your home with lights and paper flags, arrange road rallies or go out to parks and have picnics. Or simply have a drive around your city to enjoy the fireworks, roadside decorations, illuminated/decorated buildings and markets.

My personal favourites are going to concerts or picnics in parks, preferably near some famous landmarks/monuments. Going out with family or friends is a must on this day. And this is followed by a barbecue at home.

I also enjoy hearing stories from my grandfather about the partition of the subcontinent and about life before independence and immediately after that. This makes one become intrigued and inspired by the real-life accounts of those tough times and events. The partition of the subcontinent, as stressed by my grandfather, was one of its kinds at the time because it was the first time in history that a country was created especially for a Muslim majority.

In a nutshell, we need to respect our country, its national heroes and all the sacrifices that were made to give us the privilege of a free country. We need to inculcate a patriotic spirit and feel free to enjoy on this Independence Day. Things might not be the best in our country but we all can hope and strive for them to get better.

Long live Pakistan!

Published in Dawn, Young World August 12th, 2017