Tryst with Date: Did Pakistan got Independence on 14th August or 15th August?

Why Pakistan does not celebrates independence day on 15 august | I am sure many of us would have this curiosity that why Pakistan celebrates its Independence Day on 14^th August, when both India & Pakistan got their freedom & division at the midnight of 15^th August 1947 as per the Indian Independence Act.

Many people might not know this fact that Pakistan celebrated its first two Independence days on 15^th August, after that they changed it to 14^th August. Even Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Quaid-e-Azam of Pakistan mentioned 15^th August as the Independence Day for Pakistan in his announcement. Muhammad Ali Jinnah live for 13 months after formation of Pakistan & he always assume 15^th August to be the Independence Day for Pakistan.

The words of the Jinnah’s speech are as follows "August 15 is the birthday of the independent and sovereign state of Pakistan. It marks the fulfillment of the destiny of the Muslim nation which made great sacrifices in the past few years to have its homeland," said Jinnah in his radio speech. Every year on 14^th August Pakistan Radio play this recording which mention 15^th August as Independence Day. Even the first commemorative postal stamps, that were released on 1948 mentioned 15^th August as Pakistan’s Independence Day.

Later historians have given few reasons related to change of date, some of them might me Schedule of Lord Mountbatten, Time zone, Ramzan factor.

Lord Mountbatten played a significant role in deciding 15^th August as Independence Day for India to commemorate the day when Japan forces surrendered to the allied forces & it marked as the end of World War II. So, Lord Mountbatten wanted to be in India on 15^th August to witness the Indian Independence, hence he went to Karachi on 14^th August to administer the oath for Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the Constituent assembly of Pakistan. Then on 15^th August he came to India for observing India’s Independence Day. So, this might be the reason that later Pakistan started celebrating its Independence Day on 14^th August as oath was taken on that day.

Some people might be thinking that why Mountbatten went to Karachi for administering oath ceremony, when Islamabad is Capital of Pakistan. So, the fact is, at the time of Independence Karachi was declared Capital of Pakistan. Later after 20 years from Independence, Islamabad was declared as the Capital of Pakistan. One more fact related to partition I want to tell you people is that initially Lahore was given to India & Firozpur was given to Pakistan by Radcliff but later when he realized that there is no metro city in Pakistan apart from Karachi, then he allocated Lahore to Pakistan & Firozpur to India.

Another theory that some historians have given is that 14^th August coincided with the 27^th day of Ramzan month in 1947, a day which was considered auspicious in Muslims. As Pakistan is a Muslim majority nation so they adopted 14^th August as their Independence Day.

Some people give difference in time zone as a reason for that, as India & Pakistan got Independence at the stroke of Midnight of 15^th August so according to GMT Pakistan is half an hour behind that of Indian time. So, at midnight of 15^th August, it was 11:30 PM in Pakistan, that’s why they considered 14^th August as their Independence Day. However, this reason is false as Pakistan standardized its GMT time in 1951, before that there was no time zone difference.

Whether its 14^th or 15^th August, there should be peace & harmony between two nations, who just like two brothers got their freedom together. And they must progress & help each other out whenever needed & never forget the fact that once both nations were one.