Chinese troops participate in Pakistan's National Day Parade

Pakistan's National Day grand parade, for the first time, included Chinese troops, underlining the deepening ties between China and Islamabad.

The Pakistan military is said to have displayed its conventional and nuclear-capable weapons at the grand parade in its national capital, reports VoA News.

Addressing the gathering at the event, President Mamnoon Hussain thanked China for sending the 90-member contingent of the People's Liberation Army to the parade, saying the Chinese army had never participated in such an event in any other country.

President Hussain also conferred civil awards on 109 Pakistanis to commemorate their distinguished services in different spheres of life.

Prominent among those honoured were Mustansar Hussain Tarar in the field of literature, Ghazi Salahuddin for journalism, Sarmad Sultan Khoosat and Humera Channa in the field of arts, and the US-based Professor Nergis Mavalvala for services to Pakistan.

Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee decorated 33 recipients of the awards at Joint Staff Headquarters, while six foreign nationals and one Pakistani citizen were awarded by the heads of the Pakistani missions in the respective countries.

The Pakistan Day marks the historic event of 1940, when the Lahore Resolution was passed demanding a separate homeland for Muslims of the subcontinent.