KARACHI: “The Sikh community may be a minority in Pakistan but we believe in freedom so we just had to be a part of the 4th Freedom Drive,” said Sardar Ramesh Singh, patron-in-chief of Pakistan Sikh Council, wearing a mongia green turban and happily waving the matching green Pakistan flag at the Frere Hall grounds where the participants in the 4th Freedom Drive organised by the Motor Club of Pakistan to celebrate Independence Day were gathering before heading to the Quaid’s mazar on Wednesday morning.

“We headed to the Quaid-i-Azam’s mausoleum the first thing after saying our morning prayers today. Then when I got a call from Tushna about the Freedom Drive, me and my friends came here. Now it looks like we are going to pay our respects to the Father of the Nation a second time on the same day. No better day to be doing it than August 14,” he smiled before getting in his white Toyota Prius.

Dressed in brilliant white with the right shade of green dupatta hanging loosely around her neck and green flag shaped earrings prominent on her ears, Pakistan’s top lady race driver Tushna Patel was there with her equally brilliant star driver Ronnie Patel. “Besides taking part in the drive, we are also here representing the Parsi community that is all for peace, harmony, Pakistan and Kashmir,” said Tushna who had brought her black Toyota Hilux Vigo with many Pakistan as well as Azad Kashmir flags to pass around to those who didn’t have them.

“The opinion of the people of Kashmir matters the most. My heart goes out to them. They couldn’t even get out of their homes to say their Eid prayers because of the curfew. Meanwhile, old and sick people there can’t even go to a hospital if in need of medical attention,” said Tushna.

Representing the Bohra community, Hozaifa Hashim pulled up in his white Toyota Hilux. “Every year, me along with my community members have a Pakistan flag hoisting ceremony at a different place. This time, we had it at Hyderi at 8am. I came straight from there for the Freedom Drive,” he shared.

The 4th Freedom Drive, with sport utility vehicles (SUVs), sports cars, 4x4s, modified 4x4s, modified supercars, classic and exquisite cars, heavy cruiser bikes and cyclists was much bigger than Motor Club of Pakistan’s previous three drives. Starting early from Khayaban-i-Ittehad the participants first drove to Frere Hall where they were joined by more motor and bike enthusiasts. There were also some 25 Harley Davidson heavy cruiser motorcycles, a Jaguar XJ sport V8 1998, a Mercedes Benz W107 560 SL 1977, a BMW Z3 1997 convertible, a Jaguar X type 2006, an American Cherokee Jeep besides the many 4x4 Toyota trucks that were a part of the drive.

Entrepreneur Shahzad Qureshi, the founder of the Urban Forest, was in his blue 1998 Jaguar XJ sport V8, which he had driven all the way from the UK. “I took off from Liverpool on June 1, to pass through London and through Europe making two stops to catch ferries to cross the English Channel and then again to get to Greece from Italy to get to Turkey and Iran to enter Pakistan and then driving through Quetta and the rest of Balochistan to reach here for the Freedom Drive,” said Shahzad.

Navaid Rasheed on his CVO 110 Road King, meanwhile, said that the heavy bikers had been out and about on the roads since very early on Wednesday. “Though there are many of us participating in the Freedom Drive here, there are more of us scattered all over town as they celebrate Independence Day,” he said.

From the Frere Hall grounds, all left in the form of a motorcade for Mazar-i-Quaid while carrying the national flag. Once there they became part of hundreds of thousands of others with green flags who had also come to pay their respects.

“The main objective of our annual Freedom Drive is to develop and strength nationalism and patriotism in our nation, especially among our youth so they may play a vital role in the progress of our beloved country,” said Razi Nayyer, founder and president of the Motor Club of Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2019