The Yadgar-i-Fatah monument, built to honour Pakistan’s martyrs and commemorate Marka-i-Haq, was inaugurated in Islamabad on Thursday night, on the eve of the country’s 80th Independence Day.
Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Zaheer Ahmad Babar Sidhu, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Naveed Ashraf, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif were in attendance and stood for the national anthem, played by a military band.
Other distinguished military officers and senior officials attended the ceremony.
Visuals broadcast on television showed a large contingent of personnel from the military, paramilitary forces and police presenting a guard of honour, accompanied by a military band.
The monument marks Pakistan’s victory over India in a brief military conflict last May.
The conflict with India — starting from the April 22 Pahalgam attack to the end of Operation Bunyanum Marsoos with a ceasefire between the two countries on May 10 — has been called “Marka-i-Haq” (Battle of Truth) by the state.
More to follow.
