KARACHI: Impressive show by children in SeaKarnival rehearsal
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Jan 17: A colourful ceremony was held at Beach Avenue in Defence Housing Society here on Friday to kick off the preparations for the Jan 19 ‘Karavan SeaKarnival Parade’, a mega event organized by a non-governmental organization (NGO) Heritage Walley — Friends of the Heritage Foundation.
The Nazim of Karachi, Naimatullah Khan, who was the chief guest of the ceremony, could not turn up due some urgent piece of work causing disappointment to a large number of schoolchildren and other guests who kept waiting for him for several hours. However, the organizers went ahead with the programme one hour after the scheduled time for the start.
It was a full-dress rehearsal for the mega event by the children who started their work to install a huge mural titled: “My Karachi — City of Quaid, City of Peace” at the site where the parade is to be held. Children from more than 300 schools have participated in painting the huge mural.
Most of these are government schools while many private and special children’s schools are also participating in the carnival events.
In Friday’s rehearsal, each school had brought at least one three metres long and 1.5 metre wide mural, depicting a dream city, sketched and painted by its students in the age group of 8-14. The purpose of the mural painting is to put on display the children’s perception of an ideal city. apprise the world what they want
The paint and painting kits were provided to the schools by a private firm. By piecing together all the small murals, the children will make it the huge one stretched over one-and-a-half kilometre. They have painted different things they observed in Karachi and highlighted them in colours.
Many of the murals portrayed a pollution-free city and pollution-related problems like smoke-emitting vehicles, industrial chimneys, etc. Quite a big number of murals focused on various aspects of heritage and culture in Karachi — of the past and present.
The children also expressed their views during the programme. In their speeches, they stressed the need for hard work by the new generation in order to turn Karachi into a city free of pollution and hatred. They emphasized on the restoration of the city’s old glory. “Peace and amity are essential to accomplish the task, they said.
They conveyed the message of co-existence to the people of diverse cultures living in the city and said everyone should work for a lasting peace in the interest of humanity and cultured society.
The speakers said that Karachi once had been a peaceful city where the inhabitants used to welcome anyone from other parts of the country with open arms. They regretted that tension, bloodshed, hatred and intolerance have replaced love, affection and fraternity in the city. Progress and prosperity have drastically been hampered by violence which had brought commercial and trade activities almost to a standstill.
“Karachiites want peace and progress,” one of the speakers declared and urged those at the helm of affairs to fulfil the dreams of children and peace-loving inhabitants of the city.
Among the speakers were Yasmin Lari, Farzana Saleem and Shahnaz Ramzi.
As soon as the organizers announced start of the ceremony, a police band played national and folk tones. Other bands also followed suit. The students, carrying flowers, paraded along the caravan route.
TRAFFIC ARRANGEMENTS: Traffic police announced on Friday that the road between Village Restaurant and Sea View would remain closed for normal traffic on Sunday (Jan 19) in connection with Karavan SeaKarnival Parade, adds PPI.
Commuters have been advised to use alternative route of Saba Avenue.
Special cards would be issued to the residents and other commuters to ensure movement of legitimate vehicles on alternative route. A traffic plan has also been prepared for the purpose.
