Old Ravians feted

Some old Ravians have the knack of speaking of serious subjects with a lot of humour, and they demonstrated this gift at the fourth annual dinner of the Old Ravians Association, held at the elegant Nascom Club on Friday. The dinner programme started around 9:30 late night and continued till the wee hours of Saturday morning.
A galaxy of old Ravians and their spouses, dressed in their Friday best attire turned up for the event. Among them was immaculately dressed Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, an old Ravian, as the chief guest on the occasion.
Speaking extempore, Kasuri said he was among the two persons in the foreign office engaged in formulating the foreign policy of Pakistan. He was, in fact, referring to some of the charges often made in newspaper opinion pages that foreign policy-making was the responsibility of only a bunch of six people, from which the foreign affairs ministry was excluded.
Kasuri was quite upbeat on this matter. He asserted himself on every occasion, saying he had the courage to refuse sending Pakistani troops to Iraq or to side with the Americans in the Iran issue. He was not bending backwards to the US, he said. He also wanted to reach arrangement with India in securing peace - peace with honour without Pakistan giving anything away.
However, from Pakistan he expected caution. They were often assailed with the memories of the grand Mughal Empire, which was there no more. Aitzaz Ahsan also made a wity speech, telling everyone that the dinner had been delayed because of a conspiracy on the part of the hosts who had not cooked it, they were buying time and sending up a number of people to speak. A seasoned debater, Aitzaz, said some times things are purposely delayed.
In this regard, he referred to the occasion when once he spoke in the National Assembly for a number of hours, after the Nawaz government had been restored by the Supreme Court. He (Nawaz) wished to slap emergency and appoint Mian Muhammad Azhar as the administrator of the Punjab, removing governor Chaudhry Altaf (Gujrat) that would have been unconstitutional.
Aitzaz said the Assembly was in a hurry to slap the emergency and President Ghulam Ishaq was proving difficult. In the meantime, Aitzaz had had learnt that two emissaries had been sent to persuade the President to do the needful. So he kept on speaking until after an hour, Speaker Gohar Ayub Khan, asked Aitzaz Ahsan, haven't you spoken enough? He replied, 'Sir, but I have not been given the text of the Resolution on which I have to speak.'
But Aitzaz had a rapier's thrust when he talked of things both present and past. 'The Military does not have legal or moral justification to take over the administration so it invents one and orders to change the nature of things. Now there is an effort to subordinate the needs of 160 million people of Pakistan to the requirements of one million military personnel.
The step would be contrary to the Quaid-e-Azam's concept of creating Pakistan as a welfare state, said Aitzaz. Masud Mufti spoke mostly of writers in the Government College at that time, specially mentioning Professor Ashfaque Khan, of the English department, who wrote on economic subjects as well as of Professor Manzur who used to say that 'Literature and polemics do not come together.'
Masud Mufti also remembered Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Jamila Hashmi, and poet Shahzad Ahmad who were editors of Ravian magazine, that only published students' pieces. 'I have written a letter of protest to the principal because the College was neglecting its tradition and publishing writings of established writers.'
Lieutenant General Saeed-uz-Zafar, who was quoted as saying at one time that people in the army speak truth only retirement, spoke of the low morale of the people who were now looking up to Shariat courts to solve problems. He expected the Ravians to come forward and set things right.
Nuclear hero Dr Samar Mubarkamand, earned a standing ovation when he came to speak. Apart from the courage to know he said he had also learnt the courage to dare for one's country. He retold the story of how the nuclear bomb was assembled before it was exploded on May 28, 1998. 'We had to sit on top of bomb laden in crates and fix it 200 meters deep after reaching in a hole down the water level. What would have happened if the electricity had failed or pump did not work?'
Association President Saeed Mehdi said he was given five minutes to speak, and he must step down. 'A Ravian must learn from the college's motto, and know when to make an exit.' Secretary General Mumtaz Shaikh conducted the function, with a lot of insight into the personal qualities and achievements of all the speakers. Police Officer Zulfiqar Ali Cheema regaled the audience with a hilarious speech in which he made a number of references to topical events.
Soprano Dr Masuma sang a motivational poem from Iqbal, because Dr Allama Iqbal was one of the many famous students produced by the College. The function ended with music and songs from prominent singer Javed Ahmad and Saima Jahan.