LAHORE - This year Pakistan and United Kingdom are celebrating 70 years of friendship. The Queen’s birthday party held at hotel Pearl Continental the other day also featured special photo exhibition to showcase 70 years relations between the UK and Pakistan.
British High Commissioner, Thomas Drew CMG, inaugurated the exhibition at the 91st birthday celebrations of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif was the chief guest. Prominent personalities from various fields like diplomacy, culture, academia and the media participated in the celebrations.
The exhibition showcased the UK and Pakistan’s shared history and shared future – from education to fashion, health and culture to sports, from trade to politics and from defence to infrastructure.
The event also featured the music from British military band and the best of British cuisine, to mark the 65th anniversary of Her Majesty’s accession to the throne in 1952, when she became both the British Sovereign and the Head of the Commonwealth. Some of the photographs featured Her Majesty’s visit to Pakistan 1961 and 1997.
Thomas Drew thanked the guests for joining the party. “2017 marks Her Majesty’s 65th Year as Queen and as Head of the Commonwealth. It is also a special year as we celebrate 70 years of friendship between Britain and Pakistan. The photographs in the exhibition are from our archive, from a competition we have run, and from Pakistani photographer Sara Farid.
“Some of the photographs showcase our shared history. You will see pictures of the Queen’s own visits to Pakistan in 1961 and 1997. You will also see physical embodiments of that history from architecture to railways. But mostly and more importantly they are about our shared future. They focus on what we are doing with our Pakistani friends now to help build for the next 70 years - in education, health, culture, defence, politics, infrastructure, trade or sport.
How we are working together, underpinned by history, culture and the 2% of our population which traces its heritage back to Pakistan, for our shared goal of a stable, secure and prosperous Pakistan,” Thomas said.
Over the coming months, the photography exhibition will tour the UK and Pakistan.
