Pakistan at birth: Fascinating facts from the country’s earliest days

Every August, the story of Pakistan’s independence arrives with familiar images: green-and-white flags, the national anthem, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s speeches and crowds celebrating on the streets.

But the birth of a country is rarely as neat as the version we inherit today.

In the days and months surrounding August 1947, Pakistan was still figuring out what its institutions, symbols and even its everyday paperwork would look like.

Here are some fascinating details that reveal just how quickly a new country had to build itself.

Pakistan’s first radio announcement came at midnight

Mustafa Ali Hamdani delivering the first Radio announcement on the creation of Pakistan. PHOTO: Radio Pakistan

Before social media, television or even widespread telephone access, radio was the medium that could announce the birth of a country to millions.

In the early hours of independence, the newly created Pakistan Broadcasting Service went on air. According to Radio Pakistan, the first English announcement was made by Zahur Azar, followed by Mustafa Ali Hamdani’s Urdu announcement from Lahore. The service began broadcasting as Pakistan came into being.

The famous opening — “This is Pakistan Broadcasting Service” — was therefore not simply the beginning of a broadcast. It was effectively the sound of a new state introducing itself to the world.

Azar announced:

“At the stroke of twelve midnight, the independent sovereign state of Pakistan will come into existence. This is Pakistan Broadcasting Service. We now bring you a special programme on the dawn of Pakistan’s independence.”

Hamdani followed with his Urdu announcement from Lahore, marking the arrival of independence in the early hours of August 14, 1947.

Interestingly, Pakistan inherited only three radio stations at independence: Lahore, Peshawar and Dhaka.

The first newspaper headline was remarkably dramatic

The next morning, Pakistan’s birth appeared in print. The front page on August 15, 1947, carried the enormous headline:

“BIRTH OF PAKISTAN AN EVENT IN HISTORY”

The paper’s archive describes the issue as reporting on the extraordinary scenes in Karachi, then the capital of the new dominion.

For a modern reader, the old front page is striking not only because of the headline, but because it captures a country that was still being introduced to itself.

Pakistan’s flag was approved only three days before independence

The flag that now appears everywhere in August — on buildings, cars, balconies and school uniforms — was formally approved by the Constituent Assembly on August 11, 1947.

That was just three days before independence.

Designed by Syed Amir-uddin Kedwaii, the flag that now feels like one of Pakistan’s oldest and most established symbols received its final approval just days before the creation of the state.

The flag’s symbolism is equally significant. The dark green field represents the Muslim majority, while the white vertical stripe represents religious minorities. The white crescent symbolises progress, while the five-pointed star represents light and knowledge.

The national anthem we know today did not exist yet

One of the sounds most closely associated with Pakistan is the Qaumi Tarana. Yet Pakistan did not have the national anthem we sing today when it became independent.

The anthem was officially approved in August 1954, seven years after independence. The lyrics were written by Hafeez Jalandhari, while the music was composed by Ahmad G Chagla.

The anthem is notable for its highly Persianised Urdu vocabulary and formal poetic style, reflecting the literary traditions of the time. Its language was deliberately formal and sophisticated, reflecting the literary conventions of the period.

Karachi was Pakistan’s first capital

 

Karachi was chosen as the capital in 1947 and was already an established port, commercial centre and administrative city. Its position on the Arabian Sea also made it an important connection between the new country and the outside world.

The city was therefore doing several jobs at once: it was the capital, the country’s principal port and a major economic centre.

On August 14, the historic Transfer of Power ceremony took place at the Sindh Assembly Building in Karachi. Lord Louis Mountbatten, the Governor-General of India, addressed the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, marking the formal transfer of power.

But Karachi’s time as capital was relatively short. The capital was shifted to Rawalpindi in 1959 and then to Islamabad, which became the permanent capital.

Jinnah became Governor-General on August 15

Jinnah was sworn in as Pakistan’s first Governor-General on August 15, 1947, with Chief Justice Mian Abdur Rashid administering the oath.

Following the oath, a 31-gun salute was fired, and Pakistan’s first Cabinet was sworn in.

Pakistan’s early banknotes still carried King George VI

Perhaps the strangest-looking relic of Pakistan’s early days is its first currency.

Pakistan’s new monetary system initially had to rely on arrangements inherited from British India. The State Bank of Pakistan’s historical records show that the Government of Pakistan issued an emergency banknote series on October 1, 1948, in Rs5, Rs10 and Rs100 denominations.

Earlier provisional notes issued for Pakistan could still carry King George VI’s portrait, alongside the words “Government of Pakistan”.

Pakistan eventually moved towards its own distinct currency designs. On December 24, 1957, a Rs100 banknote featuring a portrait of Jinnah was issued.

Pakistan’s first stamps came almost a year after independence

PHOTO: National Postage Museum

A new country needs more than speeches and flags. It also needs stamps.

Pakistan issued its first commemorative postage stamps on October 1, 1947, while its first regular series of definitive stamps was introduced on July 9, 1948, nearly eleven months after independence.

The first definitive series consisted of four stamps and was designed by renowned artist Abdur Rahman Chughtai. One of the designs featured the crescent and star and carried the words “Pakistan Zindabad”.

Before Pakistan had its own stamps, existing Indian postage stamps were used with the word “Pakistan” overprinted on them.

It is a small detail, but it shows the practical reality of independence: a country could be declared in a day, but creating all the physical machinery of a state took considerably longer.

Independence was only the beginning

Looking back from 2026, it is easy to imagine that Pakistan emerged in August 1947 with everything already in place.

The reality was considerably messier and arguably more fascinating.

Pakistan may have been born in August 1947, but building the institutions and symbols of the new state was a process that had only just begun.