By Aamir Latif
KARACHI, Pakistan
Pakistan's president marked the country's 69th independence day on Friday with a speech vowing to continue to fight "extremism and terrorism".
A 31-gun salute was held in the capital Islamabad and similar ceremonies in the country's four provinces.
People joined celebration rallies in greater numbers than previous years because of a perceived improved security situation compared to much of the previous decade since the growth of a Taliban militancy in the early 2000s.
Hundreds of thousands across the country flooded into the streets raising the green-and-white national flag, with crowds of youths singing and dancing.
President Mamnoon Hussein, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Army Chief General Raheel Sharif and other senior government and armed forces officials attended the main flag-hoisting ceremony in Islamabad.
“There will be no break in our fight against extremism and terrorism,” said Hussein. “The situation we are passing through demands unity. We have to get united to face these challenges.”
He insisted that military operations against armed groups would continue, mentioning the brazen Taliban attack on a school in the city of Peshawar last year, which killed more than 150 people, mostly children.
Another feature of the celebrations was the surrender of 400 purported Baluch separatists militants who had been fighting for the secession of the southwestern Baluchistan province.
The separatists surrendered their arms at an independence day ceremony in the state capital Quetta attended by senior military and government officials.
Narendra Modi, the prime minister of arch-rival and neighbor India, sent congratulations to Pakistan amid attempts to ease the decades-long tensions between the two countries.
Pakistan was founded with the partition of India in 1947, when British colonial rule ended. India celebrates its independence day a day after Pakistan, on August 15.
