page_title: National symbols of Pakistan
section_title: Minar-e-Pakistan
hierarchical_section_title: National symbols of Pakistan / Minar-e-Pakistan
caption_attribution_description: English: At the All India Muslim League Working Committee, Lahore session, March 1940
context_page_description: Pakistan has several official national symbols including a flag, an emblem, an anthem, a memorial tower as well as several national heroes. The symbols were adopted at various stages in the existence of Pakistan and there are various rules and regulations governing their definition or use. The oldest symbol is the Lahore Resolution, adopted by the All India Muslim League on 23 March 1940, and which presented the official demand for the creation of a separate country for the Muslims of India. The Minar-e-Pakistan memorial tower which was built in 1968 on the site where the Lahore Resolution was passed. The national flag was adopted just before independence was achieved on 14 August 1947. The national anthem and the state emblem were each adopted in 1954. There are also several other symbols including the national animal, bird, flower and tree.
context_section_description: The Lahore Resolution (Qarardad-e-Lahore)) (Urdu: قرارداد لاھور‎), also known as the Pakistan Resolution, was a formal political statement adopted by the All India Muslim League at the occasion of its three-day general session on 22–24 March 1940 at Minto Park (now Iqbal Park), Lahore. The resolution called for greater Muslim autonomy in British India and has been largely interpreted as a demand for a separate Muslim state. The idea of separate state for Indian Muslims was first suggested by Muhammad Iqbal in 1930 and the name of Pakistan was proposed by Choudhary Rahmat Ali in his Pakistan Declaration pamphlet in 1933. Initially, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and other leaders were in favour of Hindu-Muslim unity, but the volatile political climate and religious hostilities of the 1930s made the idea more appealing.
  In his speech, Jinnah criticised the Indian National Congress and the nationalist Muslims, and espoused the Two-Nation Theory and the reasons for the demand for separate Muslim homelands. Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan, the Chief Minister of the Punjab, drafted the original resolution, but that was not fully acceptable to all the Working Committee, so extensive redrafting followed, by the Subject Committee of the Muslim League. The text is ambiguous in accepting the concept of various Muslim 'zones' within a "United India" due to communal concerns and it does not clearly recommend the creation of a separate, fully independent Muslim state. The resolution was moved in the general session by A.K. Fazlul Huq, Chief Minister of Bengal and was supported seconded by several leaders. The principle text of the Lahore Resolution was passed on 24 March 1940. In 1941 it became part of the Muslim League's constitution. By 1946, it formed the basis for the struggle of the Muslim League for a separate Muslim state. The statement declared:
  No constitutional plan would be workable or acceptable to the Muslims unless geographical contiguous units are demarcated into regions which should be so constituted with such territorial readjustments as may be necessary. That the areas in which the Muslims are numerically in majority as in the North-Western and Eastern zones of India should be grouped to constitute independent states in which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign … That adequate, effective and mandatory safeguards shall be specifically provided in the constitution for minorities in the units and in the regions for the protection of their religious, cultural, economic, political, administrative and other rights of the minorities, with their consultation. Arrangements thus should be made for the security of Muslims where they were in a minority.
  The Minar-e-Pakistan (Urdu: مينارِ پاكستان; Mīnār-ĕ Pākistān) or Tower of Pakistan is a 60 metre tall concrete minaret in Iqbal Park in Lahore. The Minar was built on the site where the Muslim League passed the Lahore Resolution, demanding the creation of Pakistan. Pakistan now celebrates this day as a national holiday each year under the name of Pakistan Day which is also the day in 1956 when the country became the first Islamic Republic in the world. It was designed by Muhammad Wali Ullah Khan and built by Mian Abdul Khaliq Company. The base of the tower is raised about 4 metres from the ground. The next 13 metres form a sculpted, flower-like base and from this point, the Minar tapers as it rises. The base platform is shaped like a five-pointed star and it encloses crescent-shaped pools. It is constructed of reinforced concrete, with the floors and walls rendered in stone and marble.
caption: The Muslim League Working Committee in Lahore, 1940
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