KARACHI: The grass at Kokan Ground in Bahadurabad looked greener and lush with two huge Pakistani flags spread out over it on Wednesday.

Work on the flags, which started a day before when the yards of green material measured and cut into broad strips were stitched together to create the base, was completed on Wednesday afternoon with stitching on the white parts.

The skilled workers craftily marked where the star and crescent were to be placed on both flags before cutting out the white material and placing the pieces on the green with long stitches to hold them there before sewing on properly with applique work.

Flag manufacturer Asim Nisar, who was supervising the work, said that the big flag was 200 feet by 130 feet in size and the smaller one measured 54 by 32 metres.

Makers say their biggest ever parcham made in 2004 had found place in the Guinness Book of World Records

“We are making both flags on order from a government office in Jhelum,” he told Dawn.

“The bigger one of the two flags is the biggest Pakistani flag made on proper proportions since 2004, when we had made an even bigger flag,” he said.

“That flag, measuring 540 feet by 320 feet, was made on order of a corporate company. It filled the entire National Stadium here and also entered the Guinness Book of World Records,” said Mr Nisar.

He added that one year later in 2005 there was an earthquake and the material used in making that record-creating flag was then used in making tents for the displaced people, who had lost their homes in the calamity.

“Made out of 100 per cent polyester, the fabric is heavy enough to be used in making tents,” he said.

Also present on the ground was his father Shaikh Nisar Parchum Walay, also known as Baba-i-Parchum, who had started the trend of printing flags to make them more affordable, said that it was showing respect to the flag by making it properly according to the dimensions, ratio and colour already notified by the government, which is the standard.

“The national flag is a matter of pride. It should not be messed with,” he said.

“It saddens me when I see people failing to understand this. Sometimes they make the green part too long, sometimes they make the star and crescent too small, sometimes they have the flag colour all wrong. It is not any green, it is dark green. This dark green has a name. It is mongia green,” he said.

“Then the size of the flag is two into three, which means two feet by three feet. Your flag can be bigger than that, it can be smaller than that but it should be made following the same proportions. Also, the star with the five points must have one of its points pointing to the outer upper corner of the green side of the flag,” he explained, adding that a flag as big as they were making now could not be hoisted on a pole. It can only be displayed. “You would probably need a 1,000 feet long pole to fly a 200 feet long flag,” he concluded.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2023