KARACHI: As a socially distant Hajj began in Saudi Arabia this week, Pakistani celebrities recalled their experiences of performing the pilgrimage in recent years, before the coronavirus pandemic made large gatherings impossible.
Only a few thousand pilgrims who reside in Saudi Arabia are gathering this year on Mount Mercy on the plains of Arafat for Islam’s most important ritual.
“It was something I had never experienced in my life before,” said prominent film and television actor Feroze Khan, adding that he would still often feel overwhelmed by the memory of being able to perform Hajj last year.
“I have a firm belief that if a person reaches that holy place just in the obedience of his creator, then he or she must get some reward in return,” Khan said. “I had a feeling that an invisible dead layer was peeled off from my heart … to make it much lighter.”
Famous model and beautician Nadia Hussain, who went for Hajj three years ago, said she was relieved when she heard that a ‘limited’ Hajj would be held this year, rather than the event being canceled entirely.
Though Hussain and her family booked the luxurious executive Hajj package, on the day of the pilgrimage, they decided at Arafat to experience the “hardship”of the blistering sun among the crowds.
“So we [Husain and her husband] both came out of our air-conditioned tent and walked to Masjid Nimra to listen to the sermon,” the model said. “Though in Arabic, and very little that we could understand, the experience to be there in the heat with thousands of others was an exhilarating one, which I would always remember.”
Pakistani actor and singer Dua Malik, who went to Hajj with her husband in 2017, said Hajj taught her how to coexist with others: “You have a very little space left for yourself to adjust to ... while not disturbing others around you.”
That lesson, Malik says, led her to continue her education and become a professional psychotherapist.
Renowned writer and poet Asma Nabeel, a cancer survivor, went for Hajj soon after her recovery began.
“What we used to hear about the hardship of the pilgrimage proved to be true when I myself was there three years back,” Nabeel said, recalling how she nearly fainted due to dehydration while sitting in the scorching heat at Arafat with her mother and aunt.
“After the incident, I really was afraid whether I would be able to do the remaining rituals,” she said, “But suddenly the rain started pouring and the weather became cooler.”
Memories of Hajj: Pakistani celebrities remember the pilgrimage before the pandemic
https://arab.news/nswyz
Memories of Hajj: Pakistani celebrities remember the pilgrimage before the pandemic
- Thousands of Muslim celebrities go for Hajj each year before this year’s event was downsized due to COVID-19
- Pakistani models, actors and writers speak to Arab News about their Hajj experiences, express sadness and hope
Sindh assembly passes resolution rejecting move to separate Karachi
- Chief Minister Shah cites constitutional safeguards against altering provincial boundaries
- Calls to separate Karachi intensified amid governance concerns after a mall fire last month
ISLAMABAD: The provincial assembly of Pakistan’s southern Sindh province on Saturday passed a resolution rejecting any move to separate Karachi, declaring its territorial integrity “non-negotiable” amid political calls to carve the city out as a separate administrative unit.
The resolution comes after fresh demands by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and other voices to grant Karachi provincial or federal status following governance challenges highlighted by the deadly Gul Plaza fire earlier this year that killed 80 people.
Karachi, Pakistan’s largest and most densely populated city, is the country’s main commercial hub and contributes a significant share to the national economy.
Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah tabled the resolution in the assembly, condemning what he described as “divisive statements” about breaking up Sindh or detaching Karachi.
“The province that played a foundational role in the creation of Pakistan cannot allow the fragmentation of its own historic homeland,” Shah told lawmakers, adding that any attempt to divide Sindh or separate Karachi was contrary to the constitution and democratic norms.
Citing Article 239 of Pakistan’s 1973 Constitution, which requires the consent of not less than two-thirds of a provincial assembly to alter provincial boundaries, Shah said any such move could not proceed without the assembly’s approval.
“If any such move is attempted, it is this Assembly — by a two-thirds majority — that will decide,” he said.
The resolution reaffirmed that Karachi would “forever remain” an integral part of Sindh and directed the provincial government to forward the motion to the president, prime minister and parliamentary leadership for record.
Shah said the resolution was not aimed at anyone but referred to the shifting stance of MQM in the debate while warning that opposing the resolution would amount to supporting the division of Sindh.
The party has been a major political force in Karachi with a significant vote bank in the city and has frequently criticized Shah’s provincial administration over its governance of Pakistan’s largest metropolis.
Taha Ahmed Khan, a senior MQM leader, acknowledged that his party had “presented its demand openly on television channels with clear and logical arguments” to separate Karachi from Sindh.
“It is a purely constitutional debate,” he told Arab News by phone. “We are aware that the Pakistan Peoples Party, which rules the province, holds a two-thirds majority and that a new province cannot be created at this stage. But that does not mean new provinces can never be formed.”
Calls to alter Karachi’s status have periodically surfaced amid longstanding complaints over governance, infrastructure and administrative control in the megacity, though no formal proposal to redraw provincial boundaries has been introduced at the federal level.
