Iftar parties were not the trend during Ramazan this year. The reason could be the preoccupation of the people with the elections, and the political uncertainty that followed.
Of course, the politicians were meeting each other through Iftar parties and seeking the political support of each other to hop into power. But, as a social trend, Iftar parties were not in vogue this time. As usual, Governor Mohammadmian Soomro gave his Iftar party for the Press, but without fanfare. And information minister Nisar Memon rushed to Karachi to host an Iftar party for the pressmen after he had done that chore in Lahore immediately before his job expired.
Reports say he has not been successful in getting a Senate seat with the help of Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi or Pir Pagaro, whom he is said to have approached. But the former IBM chief is not the kind of person who gives up his pursuits easily. Of course, his position would have been far different if he had stayed by the PPP, as he had planned before hoping into the official bandwagon and becoming Minister for Information and be seen on PTV a great deal of the time. PPP leaders say he had settled with them to join the PPP and contest election for the parliament from Thatta. But when the offer for ministership from the generals came, and he was not ready to part with the ministership in hand for the later parliamentary membership and uncertain ministership. Now he joins the ranks of the many caretaker ministers who reigned briefly and vacated the office soon after getting in and enjoying a string of welcome parties.
A party with a difference
One host who sprang a surprise and came up with an Iftar party in the city was not a Muslim but was a diplomat. The Italian Consul-General Fabrizio Nicoletti gave an Iftar party for a sizable number of guests. He is taking great care to protect his consulate on Shahrah-i-Iran, Clifton, from possible terrorist attacks. The front of the consulate is covered by heavy blue plastic sheets over the steel structure. And he has not been able to get staff from Italy. For reasons of security, no one is willing to come even for the post of the visa officer. The suggestions coming from Rome are for the closure of the consulate. But Fabrizio wants to keep it open and be in business. As someone who is from Sicily, he is not easily put out by threats of terror. Italy is also close to many Muslim states of North Africa and there has been a great deal of research done regarding Islamic theology and history.
Many of the guests at Fabrizio’s residence with its coconut trees soaring into the skies, were connected with Italy one way or another. Syed Dehlavi was ambassador to Italy and so was Zia Ispahani, who recalls Roman nights very fondly.
Saeed Ahmad of Anchor Shipping and Trading is president of the Pak-Italy Business Forum. He has been given a notable Italian award and he has been associated with Italy’s Lloyid Tristino Shipping Line for over three decades. M.I. Akbar represents Air Italia here along with 15 other foreign airlines. He has also been given an award by Italy, though he is an honorary consul of Spain. Aziz Memon is secretary of the Pak-Italian Business Forum and runs a chain of Italy’s Union Colours of Benetton in Pakistan.
Farooq Rahmatullah of Shell Pakistan was there with his wife. Discussing the political situation with other guests was Kamal Azfar who wears a Jinnah cap to protect himself in cold weather.
Begum Ghamar Isphani was there talking about social issues with Najma Hussain of the B.N.S. Cargo, which is not affected by the global recession, she says. Former customs collector, Mehdi Hasnain was there meeting his friends after a long time. Sardar Sherbaz Mazari was showing hardly any interest in the political happenings or free-for-all. He was asked about a Mazari who had become deputy speaker of the Punjab Assembly. The Mazaris are a big tribe, he said.
Salam Majeedullah, former chief of Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, who has become a progressive farmer, was there baffled by the crowd of political developments which made little sense. Asghar Khan, popular businessman from the Frontier, was there with his wife Zareena who is the secretary of the Cardiovascular Foundation and has helped in raising a good deal of funds to help the Cardio-vascular Institute.
Reckitt Benckiser
Sabir Sami is the youngest among the chief executives of major companies in the city. He heads Reckitt Benckiser following departure of Tariq Ikram to become Chairman of Export Promotion Bureau with ministerial rank. The former Reckitt and Coleman is now Reckitt Benckiser following the merger of the new entity.
Sabir Sami held an Iftar party for pressmen and invited a sizable number of them, where there was no business talk but simply social mixing. With him was his chief financial officer Nadir Khan.
Later, the talk turned to the tough situation chief executive officers were facing in the West, the US in particular, because of dishonest or unfair practices. Along with them the chief financial officers were also under attack in many companies. Sami said the CEOs could not indulge in gross malpractice without the help of the chief finance officers. We don’t have that kind of problem here as those who own the private sector companies own 60 per cent of the shares and more and are free to do just about anything, unlike in companies where no one owns a majority or even a large part of the shares of big companies, as they do in the West.
Introducing the pressmen to Sabir Sami was Zainab Ansari, who has her own public relations firm, Xenith.
Bapsi Sidhwa
Bapsi Sidhwa, the Karachi-born author of famous novels and later resident of Lahore, who now teaches in an American University has a way of finding herself in Karachi in Ramazan. Last Ramazan, she was here to launch the Bapsi Sidhwa Omnibus published by Oxford University Press carrying her four novels — The Crow Eaters. The Bride, Ice-Candyman and The American Brat. This time when she addressed a meeting, the hall was overflowing, demonstrating her popularity in the city of her birth.
This time, too, she read from her books The Crow Eaters and The Ice Candy Man, which deals with partition of India with its chilling trauma for millions of families and which has been made a film by Indian producer Deepa Mehta. Mehta is now trying to make a film of The Crow Eaters which deals with Parsi family life.
This time her major concern was the earth-shaking impact of 9/11, both on the US and the rest of the world. With Ameena Saiyid of the OUP presiding, she spoke of the impact of 9/11, particularly on the Muslims living in the US and Western Europe. She spoke of the rightfully negative role of the US Far Right in that country and its success in negating the liberal trends in the US.
She has also contributed an essay to the volume entitled, To Mend the World: Women Reflect on 9/11. She wants the Western world to look into the roots of the grievances of the Muslims which makes them revolt and take to violence instead of simply punishing them severely, as in Palestine. She has also written a play in this regard and that is likely to be staged abroad in March next year.
Ameena spoke of the new OUP books to come, including Cactus Town by Aamer Hussain from Karachi, who lives and teaches in Britain. It is a collection of short stories, largely about the life of Pakistani migrants abroad.
Also coming up is The British Papers which is a compilation of confidential British diplomatic dispatches dealing with events in the Subcontinent between 1947 and 1969. It is compiled by Roedad Khan, a retired civil servant. Another compilation is The White House and Pakistan, secret de-classified documents 1969-74, which also covers Dr Kissinger’s secret visit to Beijing from Islamabad in July, 1971, as well as the events leading to the 1971 India-Pakistan war.
Earlier, Ameena Saiyid and her husband Aamir Saiyid gave a dinner in honour of the author who stayed with her here. Guests ranged from the US Consul-General John Bauman, Lonnie Kelly, his press chief, and Ghinva Bhutto, who invited her to visit 90 Clifton, which she did the next day.
Iftar parties were not the trend during Ramazan this year. The reason could be the preoccupation of the people with the elections, and the political uncertainty that followed.
