Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi speaking at an impressive ceremony to mark Nauroz at the UN on Tuesday said that the idea of Pakistan was born 77 years ago, in 1940, a day after Nowruz. The Pakistani envoy said that this was especially an auspicious time for Pakistan as 70 years of Pakistan's independence will be commemorated this year.
Pakistan, she said, has now seen 70 springs, enjoying the fruits of freedom, growing from strength to strength, playing a key role in international peace and security and taking its rightful place in the international community.
Secretary General UN, António Guterres and President of the General Assembly, Peter Thomson attended and spoke at the ceremony as did the Ambassadors of all the countries where Nauroz is celebrated, including Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, India and Central Asian Republics. The arrival of spring, which Ambassador Lodhi described as "the eternal symbol of renewal and regeneration", has been celebrated in our region for centuries.
"It is when the resilience of the human spirit is revitalized, harmony and tolerance are celebrated, forgiveness is practised, divisions and tensions are removed, and we all become one integral part of an inspiring collective heritage", she added.
Referring to Nowruz as a symbol of equality, manifested by the equal length of its day and night, the Pakistani envoy said this was the same spirit of equality on which the United Nations was founded.
"This should guide our engagement at a moment when we are all striving to make this organisation more democratic - based on the Charter principle of sovereign equality", she said. A couplet by Pakistan's national poet resounded in the hall of the Trusteeship chamber when Ambassador Lodhi cited Allama Mohammed Iqbal on the coming of Spring.