Karwan-i-Hayat, with its motto “for better mental health”, could not have chosen a better time to come up with a lively fund-raiser. With too few parties to attend and several of those announced suddenly cancelled, and with all the talk of war, Taliban and terrorism wherever you go, Karachi society craved for a break.
It came in the form of a sparkling dinner-theatre offered by the Karwan, written by Imran Aslam with its crackling lines and marked for its sheer topicality. The Karwan of devoted men and women has been offering free psychiatric treatment to the under-privileged for the last 18 years, and wants larger funds for better service.
The guests paid Rs1.4 million after all the expenses, including dinner, were met and laughed away the evening. A year before, when the nephew of Nusrat Fateh Ali was to sing for them but did not turn up, as someone in Lahore had offered him a larger sum to sing on the occasion of Basant, the net collection was only Rs0.7 million. Singer Tina Sani had filled the void with a good performance.
The audience at the play also gained the opportunity to see the new Country and Golf Club of the Defence Housing Authority, with its great greens far from Carlton Hotel.
Imran Aslam did not like revealing the name of the play until the day before the show and when he did, it was the very topical Osama Hai To Samnay Aao. The dialogue was in English.
The five characters of the play included a female CNN journalist who got more confused about Pakistan after coming here. It had lines such as: “The Afghans did not declare war, but the Hashwanis did and were reaping the rewards.” Everyone laughed except Akbar Hashwani. Someone sitting next to him said: “Maybe he is not getting the rewards from his younger brother.”
There was a quip on the foreign office briefings, saying: “Its briefings were anything but brief.”
It was not a play as much as a skit, whose lines Imran Aslam could keep on changing day after day by taking out absolute comments and putting in new ones. The play was directed by Yasmeen Ismail, who had done a good job but could not turn up to receive the applause as she was ill.
Faiza, who played the second character in the play, said she was looking forward to the arrival of American soldiers in Afghanistan. She was hoping to greet Tom Hanks and take him shopping to Bohri Bazaar!
The central character was the corpulent Sajeer, who had the best lines delivered well.
Munira Chinoy as the chairwoman of the fund-raising committee was thrilled by the net proceeds of the evening and the turn-out of the audience. So was Nadira Sohail, director of Karwan and Masud Sohail, chairman of the Pakistan Petroleum and the Karwan treasurer.
The Karwan chairman, Masroor Ahmed, quoted WHO reports, saying that 10 per cent of the people of the world suffer from mental illness, which means the percentage could be higher in Pakistan with its varied tensions.
Karwan distributes free medicines worth Rs128,000 each month and now wants to build a 50-bed facility — 25 each for male and female patients. The care and rehabilitation centre will cost Rs33 million and the Sindh Governor has been approached with a request for a 16-acre plot, resulting in an encouraging response from him. It would be a big leap from the 450 patients it serves on a monthly basis now.
The excellent floral arrangements were by the Floral Art Society headed by Kaukab Shahbar. At the end of the evening, many flower stands went for Rs500 each, to boost the income.
Corps Commander, Lt-Gen Tariq Waseem Ghazi was at the front table with his wife. Standard Chartered Bank chief, Azhar Hamid and his wife, Nino, were there as also Habib Bank chief, Zakir Mahmud and his wife.
Tariq Kirmani of the PSO was there and so was V.A. Jafarey, the finance advisor to Benazir Bhutto when she was the premiere.
Mental illness in Pakistan is receiving more and more attention now. While organizations such as Karwan are offering valuable treatment, Special Olympics are trying to show that with the right kind of encouragement and assistance, handicapped boys and girls can also excel in sports and make a name for the country at the Special Olympics.
The US and politicians
The new US Consul-General, John Bauman, wanted to have an earnest talk with the political leaders in the city, instead of being content with the casual chat at parties. The options were calling on some of them or inviting them. He did not regard the time right for either. So Ahsan Mukhtar Zubairi offered to invite two leaders from each party at his house and let them exchange views. Bauman loved that.
All the major political parties were represented but not the religious ones, as many of them were preoccupied with battling the Americans.
The former chief minister of Sindh, Aftab Shaban Mirani, and Sindh PPP chief, Nisar Khuhro, were there to project the PPP point of view.
Ex-governor, Mamnoon Hussain, represented the Nawaz Sharif Muslim League. The gentle confectioner is acceptable to all the politicians.
Former MQM Senator, Aftab Shaikh, and former mayor, Dr Farooq Sattar, were there to talk about Karachi’s problems and the handicaps faced by their respective parties.
Dr Sattar looked smart and well-dressed.
Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi’s eldest son, Murtaza, also a former federal minister, represented the National People’s Party. Dr Arif Alavi represented Imran Khan’s Tehrik-i-Insaf.
Former bureaucrat seeking a political life, Imtiaz Shaikh, was there representing the group of political parties from Sindh which are coming together.
Non-politicians of the season, adding to the political debate were Makhdoom Khaliquzzaman and Nafis Siddiqui.
It was a pretty harmonious discussion with no party trying to cut across the other. Maybe the meal was too good for the guests to be nice to each other. Anyway, Gen Musharraf is not giving any of them great importance while focusing on strengthening his presidentship.
Mr Bauman had a long chat with Imran Khan earlier and appeared impressed. But others would say that he was an excellent cricketer and that bowling on the political mat was far different from bowling on the cricket pitch. Imran Khan certainly impresses foreigners with his Western and cricket credentials and his reformist ideas. But having a large political party or a winning group is a different ball game.
The French honour
Not enough is known about the award of the French honour of Officer de PO-order National de Merit by the French government on Shams Lakha in Karachi as the ceremony took place in Islamabad.
Nafis Siddiqi tried to make up by giving a dinner in his honour and inviting a variety of guests, who included Sindh Finance Minister. Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, who loves meeting people.
National Bank chief, Ali Raza, was there as was also MQM’s Nasreen Jalil and her husband, M.A. Jalil.
The diplomatic presence was strong and included Russia’s Yuri Materiy, France’s Gilles Bonnaud, UAE’s Abdullah Amir Al Falasi and Oman’s Osama Jamali. When anyone addresses him as Osama, everyone turns round and looks at him as if they did not know him earlier.
Neighbour Yaseen Lakhani, chairman of the Karachi Stock Exchange, Hamid Adamjee; textile magnate, Anwar Ahmad Tata; Moin Fuddah of the Commercial Union and Aziz Memon of the Kings Group were the invited businessmen. Representing the media as well as the PPP was Kazi Asad Abid, while Tahir Khan was there as the advertising tycoon.
Lakha’s service as the president of the Aga Khan University was lauded by many guests.
The new deputy governor
Jawaid Iqbal of CMC, which he describes as an “Image-marketing company” and his wife, Zeba, had invited guest earlier to a dinner to meet the new deputy governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, Tawfiq Husain, formerly chief of the American Express Bank. But the Afghan war intervened and he put it off.
With the war continuing in Afghanistan indefinitely, he was not ready to wait any longer and so new invitations were sent out. After all, Tawfiq is the first non-Pakistani banker to join the SBP in recent times, if you leave out Dr Ishrat Husain from the World Bank. He is certainly the first deputy governor of the kind and with vast powers in the area of controlling or regulating commercial banks.
British Deputy High Commissioner, David Pearey, was there explaining the inter-national coalition’s strategy in Afghanistan, as was also the Italian Consul-General, Fabrizio Nicoletti.
The visiting chiefs of the new Pakistan-Oman Investment Company were also there with Javed Iqbal, the chief executive of the company.
Correction
Nisar Memon, whose daughter is getting married to a son of Yusuf Talpur, is not the former president of Reformers, as reported in last week’s Rambler’s Diary, but a KDA engineer. The error is regretted.
Karwan-i-Hayat, with its motto “for better mental health”, could not have chosen a better time to come up with a lively fund-raiser. With too few parties to attend and several of those announced suddenly cancelled, and with all the talk of war, Taliban and terrorism wherever you go, Karachi society craved for a break.
