Jamiluddin Aali
“The day 14th August is a misnomer. There was no such thing as 14th August - the D Day. It was the night of 13th August when the excitement was at its peak. I distinctly remember the Governor General’s address to the nation. 14th August was announced to be a public holiday. I was already stationed in Karachi at the time of partition. I was an assistant in the Ministry of Commerce at the time. We were given two options to either come to Pakistan for good - the permanent option - or to try out for six months and if we did not like it we had the option of going back to India on the government’s expense. I opted for the permanent option and so I, along with my wife and daughter got on a train. Our train was fired upon but nothing drastic happened.
And so we reached Karachi from Delhi on 13th August during the day. There was a lot of excitement everywhere. The rich and the poor were ecstatic saying now we will be rich. It was the first time in 200 years that everyone was ‘free’ finally. The general consensus was everything will be hunky dory now.
Once in Karachi we were allotted our temporary residences, so we went there directly. We were allotted a barrack that four of us were to share so we erected walls ourselves, and later on made bathrooms as well. We did everything ourselves with the help of our mothers and wives.
Although it was a holiday on the 14th however, we decided to go to office and so finding out where we were stationed we headed straight to our office quarters. We had no furniture and were told to buy things we needed and we would be later reimbursed. We would work from 9-11 without any overtime. We lived like this till 1949 when in the month of Februray, besides other things, we were granted the electricity connection. It was under these circumstances that I did my CSS exams also. Pakistan was considered a very exciting possibility for all - an unlimited possibility at that time.”
Saeed Hai
“I was 16 when Pakistan got its Independence. I have vivid memories of the day when the Muslims of the sub-continent succeeded in getting their separate homeland on August 14, 1947. I and my family were living in our ancestral town of Aligarh at that time. We had all been anticipating the big day for sometime. The people of Aligarh were both excited and fearful on the day when it was announced that Pakistan had been established.
On 14th of August, there certainly was a lot of happiness among the Muslims but there were also a lot of apprehensions of attacks from Hindu mobs. Rumours of Hindu mobs attacking Muslims were circulating all over the city at a time when large-scale riots were taking place in most parts of India.
All of my family's men including our grandfather who was 80 years old at that time took out our guns and took positions on the rooftops in anticipation of mob attacks. Thankfully, there were none. My main memory of the day August 14 is the "Nara-e-Takbeer Allah-o-Akbar" chants which I and fellow Muslims raised throughout the day.
Once the fear of mob attacks subsided, there was plenty of jubilation among the Muslims. Obviously everybody was very, very happy.”
Attiya Shujjat Khan
“I was not really old at that time, we were full of politics as my father Nawab Mohammad Ismail Khan was the leader of Muslim League and the right hand man of Quaid-e-Azam before Pakistan’s creation. He was one of the pillars of the freedom movement. My father sacrificed everything he had for Pakistan but he did 
not come to Pakistan after it was founded. He said how can I leave so many Muslims in India without a leader at this crucial juncture. There should be someone to lead the Muslims of India. The Quaid tried to convince my father saying he was giving him the option one last time but my father kept on refusing saying he was happy and would serve his brethren in India as he always had. We knew 14th August was a great day for all the Muslims though I was really sad that we were not coming to Pakistan. Nonetheless, I was so thrilled on the specific day, we were listening to Quaid-e-Azam’s speech on the radio, there was a general feeling of festivity all around us. My house was decorated with small flags of Pakistan, oil lamps (dias) had been lit up and placed throughout our house. You could hear the magical chants of “Pakistan Zindabad” all around you, while the opposing “Pakistan Murdabad” was coming from the Hindus’ quarters.
By that time the name of our house had been changed from Mustafa Castle to League Castle as all the official correspondence used to be done here. Whenever the Quaid was in India he would stay at our home, I distinctly remember him. I have heard before my birth, even Gandhi ji had once come to our home to stay for a few days with his goat who used to trail him throughout the house.
However, now I am saddened at the lack of zeal and fervour that I once saw in our people, the Pakistanis. I feel greatly depressed at times but I still hope for a better tomorrow.”
Javed Fazal
“Can I and do I want to forget my feelings and sensations on the 14th of August 1947? I was about nine years old, I was in Lahore Cantt, F-20, Mall Wellington was my address. My grandfather, Imamuddin was a committed Muslim Leaguer, a great friend of late Khwaja Safdar from Sialkot. My maternal uncle Akbar mamoo was in the Army, a Captain then. There was an air of high excitement in the whole family. My favourite ‘Ako mamoo’ was to take part in the first Independence day parade early in the morning. I don’t know how I made it through the night. My excitement was that of a birthday which brings presents. I still get a lump in the throat thinking of that feeling to this day; the feeling of getting my own, my very own country. You see, I had spent the last three years wearing a crescent and star cap, in green National Guard uniform (our school’s children’s unit) and a small Pakistan flag in my hand chanting slogans, ‘Le ke rahengey Pakistan,Pakistan ka mutlab kya “la Ilaha IlLillah”. My dream had come true. I belonged and my country belonged to me. On return from the parade my father, more excited than I, gathered the family and we all made wicks out of cotton wool for the earthen lamps (dia). In the evening we filled them with oil in them and then put them in rows on the roof of our house. My father lit the first dia ‘Aur phir hum nay diya se diay jalaey.’ In my own small way, I am still trying to do it and will go on doing it.
This very day in 2008 my feelings are the same. The nine-year-old in me is still very much there and more excited. My country still belongs to me. I have loved it like an old present emotional value and attachment. It’s still my most valuable present, and I will always cherish it.”
AGONY AND ECSTASY 