LAHORE:
Thousands of Pakistanis sang their way into the Guinness World Records (GWR) on Saturday by singing their national anthem in unison at the Punjab Youth Festival 2012. The festival was held at the National Hockey Stadium in Lahore.
When adjudicators of Guinness World Records, Gareth Deaves and Imran Javed, gave the thumbs up to the Punjab youths’ attempt, the whole stadium roared with applause.
Scores of stewards of the GWR closely observed participants singing the national anthem of Pakistan.
After Punjab enters the country’s name in the Guinness World Record Book, it will move towards individual events of GWR at the Expo Centre and attempt to achieve the record for largest mosaic and biggest human flag.
According to the Sports Board of Punjab, at least 24,000 students and athletes and 60,000 citizens were invited to sing the national anthem in order to create a new record in the GWR.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who was attending the event, sang the national anthem along with the huge crowd. “This is not a Punjab festival, but a Pakistan festival,” he said.
The Punjab Youth Festival is a historical step for the bright future and development of the youth, he said. The event has provided opportunities to youth for displaying their talent. “Our youth are talented and if provided opportunities of sports, they can earn a good name for the country.” A march was held by athletes from nine divisions of Punjab. The chief minister said that he has witnessed very few events like the festival. GWR adjudicator Gareth Deaves said he was impressed with the enthusiasm shown by the youth of Punjab.
Speaking to the media, he said it is the first time that the people of Pakistan had taken up the GWR challenge, which speaks of their determination.
According to the official website of GWR, the previous record for most people singing a national anthem simultaneously was 15,243, in Aurangabad, India, on January 25, 2012.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 21st, 2012.
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nice photo..........
yaaaaaaaaaa???????????????? @Aniee Qasim:
palistan zandaabad zabbardast performance for allllllllllll
@joy: its in persian
@joy: Persian - in case Adil does not see your message.
@Nitish: Yes Nitish you are right but breaking this short of records does not mean anything its only symbolic.
the girls in this picture , i know them :) they r my classfellows , i was also present there
I still wonders why people are so negative? Although not the biggest achievement this is but still come on guys appreciate it and hope for few better things in the future and most importantly meanwhile don't forget to play your part, a positive impact , in the progress of Pakistan
It's easier to beat a silly world record like this one than beat the Taliban. So naturally people pick the low hanging fruit. This attitude is not only specific to Pakistan but many countries.
@ Adil: in which language is Pakistan's anthem written?
@FP: Never going to happen.
Despite of the fact that few among us will always find out someting negative,
PAKISTAN ZINDABAD
Out of the many non sensical records on Guiness, this is one of them. Guys ! the book of world records is not how it used to be 20 years back !!
...“This is not a Punjab festival, but a Pakistan festival,” he said... Though not a PML(N) fan, but i would still call it "Beautiful". May Allah SWT unite us all in such spirits.
A slap to all the so called Nationalists mongering hate in the country. C'mon Karachities, break this record...
I wish Pakistan breaks India's economy records, that would be something to write home about.
So what are you celebrating? Progressive Nation? Educative Society? Healthy society.....Sometime I wonder..are we producing generation of Naive Youth
The official figure is 44.200 not 70,000 the media are full of crap
Great achievement! Shame that the national anthem is in a language that most of the 42500 youths obviously don't comprehend. Poor people, they have to either read write or speak around FIVE languages to stay in touch with the world around them. Punjabi / Sindhi / Pushto etc being the mother tongue. Urdu being the national language. English is the formal education / office language. Arabic to read the Quran and follow their religion. Farsi if they want to understand their national poet and anthem! God help Pakistanis when the Chinese become an all weather superpower, the school kids will need a separate donkey cart for their language classes alone! Who knows, one day Pakistan may break the world record for having the highest percentage of the population who can speak the most languages in the world. Compare that to the two giants of the world- most of the Americans and Chinese populaces can only manage one miserly each. Well done Pakistanis. Now, which language do these neandrathals in North Waziristan understand?!
Pakistan Zindabad!!!!!!!!!!