Pakistani Rangers and Indian Border Security Force personnel perform the flag off ceremony at India-Pakistan Wagah Border Post
Indians across the globe today celebrated the country's 67th Independence Day by unfurling the national flag and organising cultural events to mark the occasion.
India's Ambassador to China S Jaishankar hoisted the tri-colour at the Embassy premises in Beijing to celebrate the Independence Day. A large gathering of Indian expatriates working in Beijing attended the ceremony.
Mr Jaishankar read out President Pranab Mukharjee's national address and later hosted a reception on the occasion.
The national tri-colour was also hoisted across southeast Asia, as Indians thronged to witness the celebrations.
In the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, Consul General K Nagaraj Naidu hoisted the tri-colour and read the President's address to the nation at the Indian Consulate.
The ceremony was attended by a cross-section of the local Indian community, including Indian students, a Consulate statement said.
In Islamabad, Indian High Commissioner TCA Raghavan unfurled the national flag.
Mr Raghavan, who arrived in Pakistan last month, read out the President's address to the nation on the eve of Independence Day to a gathering at the High Commission.
The children and wives of the mission's staff performed patriotic songs. Gifts were later distributed among the children.
Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, YK Sinha, also unfurled the national flag at the embassy in Colombo. He highlighted the growing economic and commercial partnership between India and Sri Lanka and noted that since the operationalisation of bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2000, trade has multiplied by as much as eight times.
In Bangkok, India's ambassador to Thailand Anil Wadhwa unfurled the flag and read out the President's speech.
School children sang patriotic songs while 14 dancers from Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang district performed the Snow Lion dance much to the delight of hundreds of Indians present at the Embassy.
In Israel, some 300 Indians gathered to celebrate the Independence day in Herzliya with Ambassador Jaideep Sarkar applauding the role of the Indian Jewish community in strengthening bilateral ties.