Karachiites Celebrate the Colors of Karachi

Mohammed Ammar Bin Yaser

We Karachiites are an unthankful lot. We take this city for granted, never pausing to appreciate the bounties this City of Lights has blessed us with. But it’s never too late- specify date the final year students of the Mass Communication department of Karachi University organized a seminar, Karachike Rung to bring under spotlight the social and cultural live of the city in all its hues and strips. The event was part of final year assignment, for which they will be awarded credits. So the young soon-to-be-graduates made some valiant efforts to make the event a grand occasion and managed to invite some of the city’s bigwigs to grace the event.

The panel of speakers was wide-ranging, representing various walks of life that included government officials to NGO heads, to people from the world of academia, arts and sports; the constellation roughly represented the whole of Karachi’s social and cultural strength.

The deputy mayor of Karachi Mrs. Nasreen Jalil presided over the event and spoke about the importance of citizen’s responsibility. She catalogued some of the major development projects that are in the pipeline and said that the City Government has been promoting the concept of ownership among the youth of Karachi, urging students to take the city as their own and to selflessly serve for the betterment of the society as a whole.

The speakers candidly discussed some of the unmistakable attributes of the city, dilating upon its rich cultural heritage and political significance during the creation of Pakistan in 1947. Dr. Nomal-ul-haq, a born Karachiite who taught in a number of Ivy-league universities, nostalgically conjured up some anecdotes from the ‘good old days’ that he spent in the city and marveled at Karachi’s boundless ability to welcome and raise people from every part of the country with open arms.

The Vice Chancellor of the university Dr. Pirzada Qasim called Karachi”a mini Pakistan” that contains everything that the country has to offer. He asked students to unselfishly serve the city and hinted at introducing credit hours in the university curriculum that would make it part our course to participate in some sort social work for the city, such a step would instill a sense of responsibility among the youth to serve Karachi better in their professional lives.

Dr. Fehmida Riaz, renowned poetess and feminist talked about the literary significance of the city and how Karachi played a starring role in shaping Urdu literature as it is today. She said Karachi was once the hotbed of literary activities in the Indian sub-continent, and produced some of the timeless poets and creative writers who continue to grace the shelves of the admirers of Urdu literature to this day.

The speakers acknowledged the unprecedented tide of developments that have been going on ever since the current city government took office and wished that that the spree continues. They welcomed the earnest efforts of the City Nazim and praised his teams’ vision for the metropolitan.

The Vice Chancellor also presented shield of honor to the chief guests Mrs. Nasreen Jalil and Dr. Noman ul Haq, who is currently a visiting faculty at LUMS.

Others speakers on the occasion include Arshad Mahmud, renowned music director, Dr. Mohammed Ali Shah, a leading orthopedic surgeon and Shoaib Mohammed, test cricketer.