A SOUTHAMPTON organisation hosted an evening of music, food, and games to celebrate Pakistan Independence Day.

Pakistan Welfare Association Southampton organised an event at the Everest Restaurant to celebrate the 71st Pakistan Independence Day.

The event saw entertainment from Rizwan Sahab who played the Pakistani national anthem on the sitar, and singer Mubarak Ali.

Southampton Test MP Alan Whitehead attended the event and presented achievement awards to the family of the late Khurshid Drabu – Britain’s first Muslim judge.

Life awards were also presented to the family of the late Ch M. Aslam, and to former councillor Parvin Damani.

Councillor Derek Burke, Zia Khan and Tony Ford were also presented with certificates for serving the community.

Children who performed at the celebration were presented with gifts as well as a Sprinkles Gelato voucher, and a raffle was drawn for an Umra ticket that was won by Mr Sumro.

Southampton mayor Steve Barnes-Andrews, along with Councillor Toqeer Kataria and former mayor Parvin Damani, also attended the celebrations.

A spokesperson for the association said: “We salute the Southampton community for making this event a historic day.as there were so many women and children attending the function, despite such heavy rain.“A special thanks to Rizwan Sahab and Mubarak Ali, who came all the way from Slough.”They added: “It was a very lively and enjoyable event that was made possible by the teamwork of our committee members volunteers and sponsors. “Thank you to all of you.”