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Islamabad, August 14
Pakistan on Saturday termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement that India will observe August 14 as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day as a “political stunt” that only seeks to divide.
Prime Minister Modi announced on Saturday that August 14 will now be observed as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day in memory of the struggles and sacrifices of people, and said the pain of partition can never be forgotten.
Pakistan was carved out as a Muslim country after the division of India by the British in 1947. Millions of people were displaced and many lakhs of them lost their lives in the communal violence that followed.
Modi noted that millions of people were displaced and many lost their lives due to the mindless hate and violence caused by the partition.
May the Partition Horrors Remembrance Day keep “reminding us of the need to remove the poison of social divisions, disharmony and further strengthen the spirit of oneness, social harmony, and human empowerment,” he said.
In a statement about the events of 1947, Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) said that no modern state is so much in contradiction with itself as the Indian state.
“We are sure that the people of goodwill in India would completely reject this political and publicity stunt that only seeks to divide,” the FO said.
The FO said that decision by the Indian leader was hypocritical and one-sided.
It is shameful that the practitioners of Hindutva ideology would so hypocritically and one-sidedly invoke the tragic events and mass migration that occurred in the wake of Independence in 1947, the FO statement said.
India will celebrate its 75th Independence Day on Sunday while Pakistan celebrated its Independence Day a day ahead on Saturday, August 14.
Hours after Modi’s announcement, the Union Home Ministry notified August 14 as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said Partition Horrors Remembrance Day will be a fitting tribute to all those who lost their lives due to the partition of the nation and were displaced from their roots.
Declaration of such a day would remind the present and future generations of Indians of the pain and suffering faced by the people during the partition, it said.
The partition caused one of the largest migrations in human history, affecting about 20 million people, it noted. — PTI
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