13th May 2018

A sweet memory and a 'Thank You' to many.

Sabeen Mahmud and I

Life at PN/T2F has been wonderful, exciting, and - occasionally - crazy, too. As many of you know, Sabeen Mahmud started this project 10 years ago. For the entire world her assassination on 24th April 2015 was a great shock and a larger moment of disbelief. For people like me who still go to T2F it seems that looking at her door often makes us think she is busy inside and will step out any moment – until the truth, once again, comes to our mind. It leads to a few tears, or just a long silence.

I was among the original Board of PN/T2F governors (there were 5 more in it, other than Sab and I: Mahenaz Mahmud (Sabeen's mother), Nuzhat Kidvai (my wife), Dr Ghazala Aziz, Actress and Designer Sonya Rahman, and Seema Malik.

Soon after Sabeen's assassination I resigned from the Board. It was impossible to work there without her. But, again, 26 years of a very close association with her was a tragedy I just couldn't leave. I constantly helped the Executive Director Marvi Mazhar (whose departure was sad and I have mentioned this elsewhere) wherever/whenever I was needed.

PN/T2F is a great place and will get better and better as long as it follows Sabeen's policies and adds more (but similar) new policies as time goes by.

It's encouraging to know how more such places are now opening up in Karachi, thanks to Sabeen's ideas and constant insistence that we need many such places all over Karachi and in the rest of Pakistan.

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Towards the end of 2016 Mahenaz Mahmud decided that she would not want to continue this operation, though some of us did advise her against it because PN/T2F was a gift to Karachi. But her tragedy, of course, was far greater than those many of us felt. Finally she decided to get in touch with Khalid Mahmood (he had joined as Director on the PN/T2F Board later) and owned the building PN/T2F was in. He had given it to Sabeen at 50 paesa per month for each of the two floors for as long as PN/T2F worked and, he too, felt that PN/T2F should continue.

Finally KM agreed to take over the Chairmanship of the Board and asked that all Board Members resign and he would choose a new set of Board Members who lived in Karachi. He did ask Mahenaz several times but she did not accept to be on the Board — but he gave her Sabeen's room to use as long as she wanted. (She has, only recently, left the room and said that she hardly ever comes there.)

Eventually he succeeded in getting 5 more members and asked me to join the Board, too, as he wanted an older person who had been around at PN/T2F to be on the Board. I agreed, specially with Nadeem Khalid and Khalid Ahmad also pressurising me.

It was required that we choose an Executive Director to join us and several were interviewed.  Rabeea Arif (who had worked with us for many years) was chosen to join us on August 1st, 2017. Sadly, just a few days of her agreeing to join us she called up and said she was marrying and moving to London right away. Pity for us — but Congrats to her :)

I arrived back from visiting my daughter, Ragni Marea, in NY on the night before and was asked to resign from the Board of Governors and take up the Executive Director post starting on the 1st August. (You can't be on the Board and be an Executive Director under Government Regulations.)

I took over this position and we kept looking for a Executive Director to eventually take over. Instead of the 2-3 months it took us almost 10 months to find a person who would be ideal for this position and we now have Arieb Azhar.

Arieb Azhar

Arieb Azhar, in case you don't know him, is a Pakistani musician who sings sufi and folk pieces. He also has a group that holds Music Festivals locally and abroad. AA also writes in Dawn on culture and society. He spent his studying time in Croatia and sings beautiful Croation folk songs.

AA is the second son of Aslam Azhar, the first Head of PTV, often called 'the father of TV' here. His plays were well known and Galileo is still talked about. His mother is Nasreen Azhar, a senior WAF activist. Here they are in Hyde Park.

Nasreen and Aslam Azhar

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Running PN/T2F has been wonderful, as I said earlier. I'd now like to thank the Chairman and the various Board Members who made this possible.

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Seher Naveed

I met Seher fairly recently though I had seen her art work earlier. She is also at Vasl and is extremely pleasant and advises us, through Shaheen Jaffrani (our Gallery Manager), on various art related events. Thank you, Seher. [Vasl is on the same building as PN/T2F are and Khalid's wife (Naila) and Faisal's wife (Adeela) run it.]

Faisal Siddiqui

Faisal Siddiqui is a brilliant Lawyer and a lovely columnist in Newspapers and Magazines. Although I have followed his work for a while, I have go to know him better since he joined us at the Board. Faisal loves the Truth and fights really hard for it. He certainly is great to have on this team and advises us on a number of things. Thanks Faisal. 

Aisha Gazdar

Aisha Gazdar is someone I have known for a very long time, but only because she is the daughter of film-maker Mushtaq Gazdar whom I knew from my childhood because his father and my father were very close friends. Her role has been very helpful to me because she asks a lot of very pertinent questions. Thanks Aisha.

Nazish Brohi

Nazish Brohi - a delightful activist, a WAF member, a wonderful columnist, and someone who brings a lot of sense here. I have known her for years and am so glad that she is on the PN/T2F Board. Keep doing wonderful things, Nazish. You are really superb.

Khali Ahmad

Khalid Ahmad: Having known him for lord knows how long, KA is an Activist, Theatre Director, Film Director, Story Writer, Actor, brilliant reader, Trainer, Flautist, music lover, Urdu lover, and a truly amazing friend. He can be contacted for so many things with his various backgrounds. Being on Board at PN/T2F his understanding is always needed in meetings and personal discussions for the ED. Thank you so much, Khalid.

Nadeem Khalid

Nadeem Khalid is such a wonderful person (as are his wife, Hoori Noorani). His understanding of Music, Literature, and Plays, is great and his understanding of Accountancy is superb (after all, he owns Herbion). In our worse periods - and there were many that he and KM saw - he loaned PN/T2F money to make sure that it paid its salaries and bills, he checked our accounts along with others, and helped us discover the amounts that people had been stealing while we were borrowing funds from other people. Thanks a lot NK. Your help, and your insistence that PN/T2F will survive and get better, has been great, both  to the institution and to me.

Its a pity that an organisation that did its best to support what was being left alone by Governments and most of the Media (Arts, Scientist talks, Discussions, Müshaerās, Qavvaalis, and even Classical Music) and offered help to people from every religion or creed … was being stolen from by its staff and even lied continuously to by a few of them.

Khalid Mahmood

Khalid Mahmood. What can one say about you? You completely surprised Sab and me when you gave her this place. I still can't get over it.

Your involvement - despite being the Head of the remarkable Getz Pharma and supporting the  Zindagi Trust (and much more, I am sure), your constant travels to different places inside and outside Pakistan, your opening factories in new countries - these are things that should have kept you busy, busy, busy. But you still find time to come and help us. Often. All it needs is a phone call and you are here.

(How can one even forget the work you have done outside T2F: Two examples: Your help with the EACPE for the films they have students make every year; and your generous support in the publishing of Hasan Aziz's wonderful book on Qavvaali: Kalām-e-Arifāñ.)

Honest, KM, I really do not know where to begin. And when I end I'll still be remembering what I must have left out by mistake. You gave us loads of money on loan when we would not have survived. You still haven't taken it back and will only take it back when PN/T2F is on its own feet. You increased the Salaries of people on the staff, you improved the Health Insurance policies of the Staff through your organziations, and have done much much more.

Just thanking you (and NK) doesn't seem to be enough but I guess that's all we can do. You are now busy with another building for PN/T2F and Vasl that will give it an even better area. Hope it gets built soon. Lots of thanks not just from me but everyone of us who always admire what you do.

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Having left the Board of PN/T2F doesn't mean that I have left them in any way. I will remain an Adviser to the Board (along with Asif Aslam Farrukhi) and will always be there, anyway. It is just that 10 months have taken a lot of time away from my own work and I need to get back to most of it.