KARACHI: Bonsai plants are a sign of culture and art aesthetics, observed Fatima Suraiya Bajia in her inaugural speech while opening the Bonsai Exhibition 2007 at Zamzama Park’s Bonsai Centre.

The bonsai are ancient, a product of intellectual refinement and practice in horticulture, first in China, later in Japan and now loved and admired globally. The Pakistan Bonsai Society joined the refined art and science of bonsai-making in 1988 and since then, it has touched the highest echelons of this precise craft that is now considered a science of floral refinement. The art of this branch of horticulture was introduced in Pakistan under the aegis of the Japanese Cultural Consulate and must now reach every home in Pakistan, continued Bajia, who has for years worked untiringly, encouraging social uplift and the promotion of fine arts and cultural activities in Pakistan.

The Pakistan Bonsai Society has established a permanent office, with a display and training centre, in Zamzama Park, DHA Phase V, where the citizens can view these fine specimens without having to pay an entry fee.

Experts from Japan and South Africa have visited the centre to introduce new techniques and report findings to the members of the Pakistan Bonsai Society. As a result of this process of technical refinement, Pakistani citizens have exhibited their efforts abroad and topped many exhibitions.

Over 300 exhibits are on display, the result of the efforts of 15 participants including Lt-Gen Tariq Wasim Ghazi, Dr Capt Saeed Faiyaz Khan, Aslam Suliman, Cmdr Khalid Sohail, Dr Shaukat Syed, Mohammed Ovais, Dr Jamsheer Talati, Sofia Ahmed and Abdul Aleem.

Although viewed as an aristocratic hobby, it can be practised by all and Mohammed Ovais, the honorary secretary of the Pakistan Bonsai Society declared that “we are ready to help all enthusiasts.”

“We are delighted and honoured to be invited to this exhibition,” observed Madan Mohan Sharma, spokesperson for the Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti of Jaipur, India. Having come to Pakistan to provide prosthetic limbs to the country’s disabled, they brought equipment weighing some four tons by ship and fitted more than 550 artificial limbs in Karachi. They also organised a camp in Islamabad.