The green-crescent-and star was raised on Wednesday at Bowling Green, a historic spot in New York City, to mark Pakistan\u2019s 76th Independence Day, with Ambassador Masood Khan telling community members that the country is on course towards attaining political stability and economic viability. \u201cPakistan is a great country, a resilient nation,\u201d he told the cheering gathering in which Mayor Eric Adams and his administration\u2019s top officials, including Pakistani-Americans, were present. Bowling Green, the City\u2019s oldest park, was the venue where the British colonial flag was lowered and America\u2019s Stars and Stripes was raised in 1783. Last year Mayor Adams raised \u2014 for the first time \u2014 Pakistan\u2019s flag, alongside the American flag, at the same spot on the country\u2019s 75th anniversary. At Wednesday\u2019s ceremony, Ambassador Masood Khan hoisted the Pakistan flag, while Mayor Adam raised the US flag. Organized by the mayor\u2019s office, the ceremony was conducted by Asim Rehman, a Pakistani who is New York City\u2019s
\ncommissioner and chief administrative law judge of the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH). Rehman is the first Muslim-American and the first person of South Asian descent to lead OATH. Also present were other senior City government officials of Pakistani origin\u2013 Ahsan Chughtai and Atia Shahnaz. \u201cI\u2019m proud to see that today so many Pakistanis are prominent in the city government,\u201d Ambassador Masood Khan said,
\nnoting that New York is known as the capital of the world as it hosts the United Nations Headquarters. \u201cI see Pakistanis present here \u2014 many of you in traditional Pakistani dresses in the colours of the Pakistani flag,\u201d the Pakistani envoy said under bright sunshine after days of wet, cloudy weather. The Ambassador told them not to pay attention to rumours that Pakistani Americans have given up on Pakistan\u2019s economy. \u201cDon\u2019t lose faith in Pakistan,\u201d he said, stressing that the U.S. is \u201cyour homeland, but Pakistan is your motherland\u2013 and that strong bond will not be severed\u201d. Pointing out that Pakistani-Americans had remitted $3 billion to Pakistan in the past fiscal year\u2013 the same amount they sent the previous year \u2014 he said that fact belies the claims that the Pakistani-American community had lost faith in the country\u2019s economy. \u201cThere is no room for despair and despondency\u201d, Ambassador said, urging the community members to seek authentic information about Pakistan, not pay attention to \u201cfake narratives\u201d. A resilient country, Pakistan would have an impressive growth rate this year, and is poised to take off, he said amid \u201cPakistan Zinda Bad\u201d slogans. \u201cWe want you \u2014 the Pakistani-American community \u2014 in general and New Yorkers in particular, to be part of that experience to be part of
\nthat undertaking.\u201d Ambassador Masood Khan thanked Mayor Adams for his presence, saying he was doing a \u201cmarvelous\u201d job. \u201cI want to thank you for taking many of the prominent Pakistani-Americans in your cabinet \u2014 so you made us proud and
\nyou\u2019ve honoured not only individuals, you have honoured the entire nation,\u201d he said. \u201cThank you so much for your support to the Pakistani-American community. Thank you so much for integrating them into New York\u2019s rich social, and economic fabric.\u201d Thanking the Ambassador, Adams said since he took over as mayor last year, New York has become an open city. \u201cThis is not my city. We don\u2019t all go to one place \u2014 we don\u2019t all go to one place to eat or one place to raise our children. We don\u2019t all dress the same. We don\u2019t all talk the same (language). But there is an ability to learn from each other. Because we\u2019re going to find the answers to global problems.\u2019 \u201cWe have been together for so many years\u2013 fighting against those with Islamophobia, fighting against those who want to
\nattack those who wear hijab or turbans,\u201d the mayor said, adding, \u201cWe have been standing side-by-side.\u201d \u201cSo I thank you for allowing me to participate in this flag raising, Happy Independence Day to an amazing country\u2019s 76 years,\u201d Mayor Adams added,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The green-crescent-and star was raised on Wednesday at Bowling Green, a historic spot in New York City, to mark Pakistan\u2019s 76th Independence Day, with Ambassador Masood Khan telling community members that the country is on course towards attaining political stability and economic viability. \u201cPakistan is a great country, a resilient nation,\u201d he told the cheering […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349798,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-349787","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n