Keeping you updated on your birthday

On one of your previous birthdays many years ago

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Soon after you were assassinated and left us, the Government here named a Road after you … but, as usual, the name started with a 'Seen' (س) instead of a 'Suad' (ص). The Road had been named after you by Nafisa Shah (and Nasreen Jalil helped, too).

I was most upset and wrote to both of them and to Farooq Sattar to please change the name. No response.

I wrote to Awab Alvi, since his father is the President, and Awab was a friend of ours — in fact those two were the first to arrive at JPMC when we took you there — to try and intervene via his Dad. No response. 

Sharif Awan said he'd get it done and tried and tried. Nothing happened.

Isa Daudpota's father's name on the road read Dr Daud Pota. He said he had tried but no one wants to change it. I should give this up.

I tried even going there and painting it but friends told me I could be arrested … so I gave up this idea. After all, who wants to be on the wrong side of the Police, or Rangers, or worse: Bhatta-khors.

This year I started again.

I wrote on FB and Twitter that this had happened and no one has helped.

Kasim K said I should paint it. Two others also said the same thing. I said I'd like this to happen officially. Their responses were really 'snickering' for my waiting for someone to do this.

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Then I saw a message from Sen Murtaza Wahab of PPP asking me to send him the picture of the road. I sent it to him. He said he wanted a family member to write a letter and state the wrong name and say how the person was related. I spoke to Mimi and she spoke to Marvi who wrote a letter. Mimi signed it and added pictures and off it went.

Two days later we received a picture from Sen MW saying this was temporary but it had the name spelt right. The next morning he sent the final picture and the road was now with a 'Suad'. Wow! I have never seen anyone do anything good that fast in our Governments.

Marvi has worked with Sen MW so she set up a group on What's App with Mimi and him and me … and we reached a point where Mimi said she wanted to place a tree there. He agreed. I insisted that it be before your birthday. He agreed. And it was decided by Mimi that it would be today.

We all arrived there and you'll see details through Mimi's and Marvi's pictures. The one below is the tree that I planted just behind the board, with Nuzhat joining in. The others were planted by Mimi & Marvi. Think one was done by Seema, but she was not there when Nuzhat and I arrived. May have left earlier.

Here's the 4 of us 

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Sadly Sen MW could not be there because this morning he got tested and was found to have Covid-19. We all really missed him. But a great deal of thanks, Sen MW for all your help and sending the right people to help us plant the tree. Get well soon.

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