SPECIAL REPORT | Sunday | 4 December 2011
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—Guinness World Records has officially recognized a world record for Most People Singing A National Anthem Simultaneously. And the honor goes to Pakistan National Anthem with nearly 6,000 Pakistanis succeeding in setting the record in 2011.
Beset by terrorism and political instability as a result of America’s Afghan war, 5,857 Pakistani boys, girls, women, men and youth braved the security situation and the constant infighting on the streets by failed Pakistani political parties in the country’s largest city, Karachi, and gathered on the occasion of the nation’s 64th Independence Day to send a message of hope, confidence and nationalism to their compatriots across the nation.
Pakistani television stations broadcast the event live from the grounds of Defense Stadium in the DHA suburb of Karachi on midnight of 13 and 14 August 2011. In the video, boys and girls can be seen counting down as clocks turn 12 and then everyone starts singing the Pakistani national anthem which is in Urdu/Persian.
In Pakistan, 14th August 1947 marks the day when Pakistanis successfully led an independence movement from British occupation and formalized their centuries-long history of successive empires in Central-South Asia. This history is credited at its peak with producing art and culture in three languages, Persian, Turkish and Arabic, and producing wonders such as the Taj Mahal, located in what is known today as India.
There is another twist to this story. If you replace 5 in the figure 5,857 with 1, you would get 1857 which marks the year of the last rebellion against British occupation to restore the throne of the Muslim Mughal Empire. Pakistan emerged exactly ninety years to that date.
The event in Karachi was organized by several citizen groups, led by I Own Pakistan.
