KARACHI: The seventeenth death anniversary of Quaid-i-Millat Liaquat Ali Khan will be observed throughout the country today [Oct 16]. The National flag will fly at half-mast on Government and public buildings. All educational institutions in Karachi will remain closed as a mark of respect to the first Prime Minister of Pakistan. — Correspondent

[Meanwhile, as reported by another correspondent in Karachi,] Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan has said that as Pakistan marches forward under the dynamic leadership of President Ayub Khan, the dying words (“May Allah protect Pakistan”) of the Quaid-i-Millat, uttered when he was felled by the assassin’s bullets, “echo solemnly through our hearts and prayers”.

In her message, Begum Liaquat said: “I do not believe that when he was dying he was thinking only of external dangers, great as these might be; but also of the greater internal dangers of disunity, demoralisation and debasement of the high ideals and principles upon which Pakistan was founded. And here again I feel that he was not only thinking of Pakistan as a collective whole, but of each one of us, individually, who make up that national entity, for it is our individual integrity, courage and service which overwhelmingly make up what we are and can be proud of, as a nation.”

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2018