The
Indian Independence Act of 1947 gave birth to two nations, India and Pakistan,
on August 15. The two countries came into existence at the stroke of midnight.
However, Pakistan celebrates its Independence Day on August 14 instead of
August 15 when India does.
The main Independence Day
ceremony takes place in Islamabad, where the national flag is hoisted at the Presidential
and Parliament buildings. It is followed by the national anthem and live
televised speeches by leaders.
France’s
Olympique Lyon stunned English football giants Manchester
City 3-1 in a UEFA Champions League quarterfinal match Saturday in
Portugal's Lisbon. Lyon scored the
opener in the 24th minute as Ivorian forward Maxwel Cornet whipped the ball
from outside the penalty area into Man City’s net. Manchester City managed to
pull level in the 69th minute when English forward Raheem Sterling passed to
Kevin De Bruyne and the Belgian star's low shot beat Lyon goalkeeper Anthony
Lopes. In the 79th minute, Moussa Dembele was on a one-on-one against Man City
goalkeeper Ederson Santana de Moraes and the Frenchman put the ball into the
English team's net between Ederson's legs.
Lyon were not
supposed to make it to Lisbon at all for the Champions League Final Eight,
but now they are through to one of two Franco-German semifinals against
Bayern Munich while the giants of England, Spain and Italy watch from the
sidelines. It is an unlikely last-four lineup in this unprecedented finale to
the competition, reduced to a straight knockout tournament from the quarterfinals
onwards after the long delay to the season caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Pakistan head coach
Misbah-ul-Haq rued his side's lack of fortune at crucial times on the fourth
day as Pakistan slumped to a tense three-wicket defeat at the hands of England
in the first Test at Old Trafford, Manchester.
Writing for the PCB's in-house website, Misbah said Pakistan "were right
on top until pretty much the last session of the game" and warned his
players not to be "mentally down" as they try and hit back in the
second Test, which starts on Thursday. In
a detailed piece addressed to supporters following one of the more agonising
defeats in recent years, Misbah paid "full credit to England for the way
they fought back" and admitted his side may have panicked at crucial
moments during Chris Woakes and Jos Buttler's 139-run sixth wicket partnership
during England's chase. He addressed the failure of the Pakistan side to bowl
short at Woakes early on during his innings - a perceived weakness of the
England allrounder - but said Woakes and Buttler "had quite a lot of luck
in that partnership".
Chris Woakes hadn’t passed
fifty since he scored his only Test hundred, against India at Lord’s in 2018.
Buttler had done it only once in his last year of Test cricket. They came together with scorecard reading
117/5. Then things happened
differently. The score card would never reveal the thrills
that occurred. England 219 (Pope 62,
Yasir 4-66) and 277 for 7 (Woakes 84*, Buttler 75, Yasir 4-99) beat Pakistan
326 (Masood 156, Azam 69, Broad 3-54) and 169 (Yasir 33, Broad 3-37) by three
wickets.
Away from the
Cricketing field, Pakistanis made their presence felt at Manchester albeit in
an illegal way .. MailOnline reports that
British Police struggled to contain illegal Manchester street party
'blatantly flouting' the local lockdown to celebrate Pakistan Independence Day.
Hundreds
of revellers gathered in Manchester's so-called 'Curry Mile' on Friday
A group of
heavily-outnumbered police officers fled a mob of hundreds of revellers
attending an illegal party celebrating Pakistan Independence Day in locked-down
Manchester. Party goers gathered in Manchester's so-called 'Curry Mile' on
Friday night, in breach of the city's reinforced lockdown rules which restrict
outdoor gatherings to up to six people with social distancing enforced. Police were eventually able to clear crowds
after shutting the road - but not before hoards of revellers surrounded a line
of officers from all angles while hurling abuse and chanting 'Pakistan'. In the clips circulating, several men crowded
a female officer and shouted in her face before she was briefly separated from
her colleagues. Officers then closed
ranks and forced the crowd back, as the policewoman held her hands up calling
for calm.
Asian people are up to five
times more likely to catch the coronavirus than white people, according to data
from a government-run surveillance scheme. An Office for National Statistics
(ONS) report released today revealed seven out of 1,510 Brits identifying as
Asian swabbed positive for Covid-19 — a rate of around 0.46 per cent. It comes after local public health officials
in swathes of locked-down parts of northern England revealed that South Asian
communities were being disproportionately infected. Oldham, the UK's current
coronavirus hotspot, had to rollback lockdown restrictions last week after a
huge spike among its Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities. Epidemiologists have previously told
MailOnline that some communities which do not speak English as their first
language were not following social distancing rules as stringently because
public health messaging was not reaching them.
At Manchester streets, as the sound of air horns blare in the
background, chants of 'Pakistan' and what appears to be 'England' rang out from
the group. The crowd jeered as the
police hound them off the road. Police eventually broke up the gathering and no
arrests were made. Lockdown restrictions on social gatherings remain in Greater
Manchester and some parts of northern England - despite measures being relaxed
elsewhere in the country. The extra rules were enforced on July 31 following a
local spike in Covid-19 cases.
Greater Manchester Police said it had received 2,459 emergency calls on Friday, compared to 1,590 on the same day last year. Detective Chief Inspector Carol Hobson said: 'It is really disappointing to see behaviour of this type whilst we, as a community, are trying to combat coronavirus and keep each other safe. Deputy Chief Constable Ian Pilling added: 'I can honestly say that in 30 years of policing I have never seen anything quite as outrageous as this behaviour. Afzal Khan, MP for Manchester Gorton, also slammed the celebrations on Twitter. He wrote: 'Disappointed, frustrated, and angered with the appalling behaviour on Wilmslow Road last night. 'Not only is antisocial behaviour of this kind deeply disrespectful to Rusholme residents, ignoring the Covid-19 regulations puts us all at risk.
Meanwhile, a gathering
involving hundreds of people was also seen in east London on Pakistan
Independence Day - with footage showing crowds of people on the street. Local
councillor Kam Rai told the Evening Standard: 'I am fed up of people who think
social distancing and wearing face coverings do not apply to them when it’s
something they want to do.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
18.8.2020
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