With Quaid’s mazaar, students hope to show the soft side of Pakistan

Unique Pakistan organised the exhibit at Sadequain Gallery at Frere Hall.

KARACHI:

A gaggle of students gathered at the Sadequain Gallery at Frere Hall on Friday afternoon for the launch of the ‘Aisa Bhi Hai Pakistan’ exhibit and show off their work.

Organised by a group called Unique Pakistan, the event features a display of photographs submitted by amateur photographers throughout the country. Another display holds models of iconic buildings and structures - including the Khyber Pass and Minar-e-Pakistan - made by students of the Beaconhouse School System.

Mariya Sheikh, a seventh grade student at Beaconhouse Discovery Centre Smart School, made a model of the Do Talwar roundabout in Karachi. The models, made out of thermopole sheets, were painted over. Some of them also included a couple of dolls to depict village scenes.

“The school gave us all the material,” Sheikh said. Rabia Khalid, also in the seventh grade, chimed in. “We had to make Do Talwar because all of the good ideas were taken,” she said. According to organiser Sonia Shekdar, the event was aimed at, “asking people to get engaged and show positivism.”

“There is a lot of negativism,” the earnest young woman told The Express Tribune. “All the time you see bomb blasts and terrorism.”

While Unique Pakistan spoke to schools for submitting the models, the photo exhibit was advertised on Facebook, she said.

The students were entirely devoted to taking photographs of each other, and one was overheard telling his friend, “The man who made this painting on the roof died while he was painting it.”

That painting on the roof is the iconic mural by the late Pakistani artist Sadequain.

Noman Minai, who founded Unique Pakistan, said that the idea behind the project was to promote positivity.

“This does not mean that we should hide the bad things that happen in Pakistan, but it means that we should show the good things too,” Minai said in a speech at the event.

He also noted that there was a need to “change things locally” before Pakistanis attempted to change their image abroad. Minai narrated an anecdote about how a banner the group wanted to put up was not approved at a certain place because it was in Urdu.

“Every Pakistani is a brand ambassador,” Minai said.

Friday’s event was the second by the group, which has organised a one-day photo exhibit in the past.

Former minister Javed Jabbar, the guest of honour, said that he was able to talk “in the shadow of Sadequain sahib”.

Jabbar said that he believes that Pakistan is the most unique country. “Our uniqueness is unlimited,” he said. He called for Pakistanis to forget their differences and congratulated the organisers for holding the event. He also distributed certificates to the winners in the photography contest. The first prize in the ‘people and culture’ category went to Singapore’s Royden Choo and the first prize in the tourism category went to Umair Khan from Haripur.

The exhibit continues till Sunday, November 18.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2012.