Prominent Pakistani Minorities Citizens in History and their contributions.

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Hal Bevan Petman

When Hal Bevan Petman looked at people, he really saw them. Arguably the best portrait painter who lived, painted and died in the Indian subcontinent, Petman left an indelible mark on those familiar with him and his work. His portraits exude an almost incandescent radiance, warranting more than a mere glance.

Henry Charles 'Hal' Bevan Petman, (1894-1980), was a British portrait painter who came to the Indian sub-continent in the 1920s, and made it his home.

Very few guys know this great Pakistani/British artist, he stayed through during the Partition of India and chose to reside in Pakistan, till his demise on 9 May 1980 in Rawalpindi. He painted significant civil and military personalities, landscapes and still life. His works included many Pakistan Army officers, two of whom became Pakistan's Heads of State: Field Marshal Ayub Khan and General Yahya Khan. He is buried in the Christian Graveyard in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Born in Barton Regis Rural District, Gloucestershire, England on 28 October 1894, to Bertram Amor Bevan-Petman (1870–1931) and Maria Minnie Bevan Petman (1869–1942), his family was of Anglo-Indian ancestry, and included prominent lawyers and judges who served at various eminent positions during the British Raj. He was educated at Clifton College, Bristol from 1908 to 1910 and resided through this period at North Town Boys House; and played cricket for the Clifton College XI at Lord's against Tonbridge in 1914. Bevan-Petman subsequently applied to and was accepted by Slade School of Fine Art in 1914, and received a two-year scholarship amounting to £35. This scholarship was then renewed in 1916. During this scholastic period he received the First Prize for Figure Painting and Figure Drawing. Furthermore, he was awarded certificates in Perspective, History of Art, Figure Drawing, and satisfied the requirements for a Diploma in Fine Art in History of Art (Painting in Spain and the Netherlands). He graduated from Slade School of Art in 1917 after being awarded a certificate in 'Painting from Life'.

Hal Bevan-Petman painted many landscapes during this era and on one occasion was commissioned by the India Tourism Office for a 'See India' poster. The mountain ranges of Kashmir appear frequently in his landscapes and are considered rare. During this time, he also taught a young Amrita Sher-Gil (1913 - 1941), who went on to become a talented Indian painter. He also had clients from Indian Royalty for whom he did portraits and the occasional risque renditions. This included the Nawab of Bahawalpur, who corresponded with Hal on a regular basis. Such commissions have remained very private,elusive and very rarely displayed. During his time in Pakistan he painted practically every notable personality and/or their spouses, ranging from Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, various subsequent Presidents and Military Commanders. He was commissioned to paint military battle scenes which adorn the walls of various Pakistani Military Academic Institutions. He also painted several war heroes who were decorated posthumously with the Nishan-e-Haider, Pakistan's highest military award. One of the most celebrated amongst them is Major Raja Aziz Bhatti Shaheed.

He is known to have built a considerable reputation in the art scene and was commissioned by the Pakistan Army to paint many Generals, Commanders and Battle Scenes. Most of the portraits are held in Private Collections, and many adorn various Pakistan Army's Educational Institutions, Messes and Regimental Headquarters. The Ladies portraits of various socialites and influential personalities are considered romanticized renditions with almost hazily surreal backgrounds. Queen Elizabeth II was presented four paintings by the Government of Pakistan in 1961. These paintings are on display at Sandringham House and are part of the Royal Collection.

He died on 9 May 1980 and is buried in the Rawalpindi Christian Cemetery, flanked by the graves of his wife Beryl and sister-in-law, Eve Strauss née Dyer respectively.


Mr. Hal, in the sitting room of bungalow number 8 at the Rawalpindi Club in 1960's

 

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Willam D Harney


As the clouds of war gathered in the last week of Aug 1965, Flt Lt Willam D Harney was detached to Peshawar ( along with a detachment of Bomber AirCrew ). On night of 12 Sep, Harney was detailed to fly a two-ship formation of B-57’s to strike Ambala, one of the most heavily defended Bases of the IAF, deep inside enemy territory.
The TOT was one hour past midnight. As the formation took off they observed that nothing was visible; the Indian cities, Villages, bridges and other ground features seemed to be all covered under a black pall. Harney was meticulously guiding the bombers to Ambala, from where the IAF was continuously launching air operations in West Pakistan. Formatting in battle formation behind the leader was another roaring B-57 bomber piloted by Wg Cdr Nazir Latif and Sqn Ldr Aurangzeb khan as his navigator.

The Aircraft were strictly maintaining a complete R/ T silence and in such a poor visibility conditions, the mission had become more challenging for the navigators of the formation. On reaching the IP (Initial Point ), Najeeb Started to Descend through the thick layer of haze and headed for the target. As the formation approached near the target, Harney asked the formation to carry out final checks. One minute short of target, he started with the final countdown. As they approached close to the target, Harney felt a tingling sensation down the spine; knocking of the anxiety; he immediately carried out the Bombing checks.
As he approached the target, all the tales about the strong defences of Ambala and its defence preparedness started to buzz his mind. Keeping faith, he disregarded his thoughts, got ready for the ordeal and went in for a run.
He looked down to pick up visual with the target but failed to make out anything due to complete blackout. As the Aircraft pulled up for attack, suddenly the sky around the aircraft lit up with ack-ack fire making a barrage of tracers and shell bursts. The devastating fire had filled the whole place and his cockpit filled up with flashing lights. Racked and rocked the formidable B-57 moved on. Through this sparkling web of concentrated fire, he could make out Aircraft hangers silhouetted against the dim moonlight.

Soon he started with the countdown and as he announced that the Aircraft is overhead the target, pilot pressed the trigger. In seconds, four thousand pounders jerked out of the bay and tumbled down into the darkness below. With all the fireworks around, the formation pulled up for the second run to ensure complete destruction of the Airfield . The second run was no different from the first. Leaving the Airfield in huge ball of fire, they exited at deck level . Harney calculated the fuel and gave heading to the pilot to return home. They knew they had a long way to go back and they were running low on fuel. By the time the formation exited, the myriad fires at the Base presented quite an impressive spectacle.


Flt Lt Willam D Harney was awarded Sitara –e- Jurrat. He retired as Sqn. Ldr on April 13, 1974.

 

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Rana Bhagwandas - a highly respected member of the country's judiciary - was the first Hindu and the second non-Muslim to serve as chief of the highest court in Pakistan.

He was the acting Chief Justice of Supreme Court during the 2007 judicial crisis. He also briefly acted as the CJ when incumbent Iftikhar Chaudhry went on foreign tours in 2005 and 2006. He had been a Supreme Court judge since February 2000. He retired in December 2007

The former judge of the country's apex court was highly respected for his professional competency and personal integrity.

Considered an expert at constitutional law, Justice (retd) Bhagwandas also had a postgraduate degree in Islamic Studies.

Rana Bhagwandas served as the Chairman of Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) from November 2009 to December 2012 and till his demise remained Member of Selection Board of Sindh Madressatul Islam University, Karachi.

Born in Naseerabad, Larkana District (now Qamber Shahdadkot District) in Sindh in Dec 1942, he joined the bar in 1965 and assumed his responsibility as lower court judge in 1967 later also served as a session judge, and subsequently, a judge of the Sindh High Court in 1994.

The former acting chief justice of the country was a firm believer in the sanctity of the Constitution of Pakistan and its legal system.

He repeatedly established that the law is equal for all religious communities in Pakistan and while staunchly defending Pakistan's society and legal system against charges of bias and suppression of minorities, Justice (retd) Rana Bhagwandas was also a vocal opponent of the practice of honour killings of women in the provincial rural areas.

 

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Group Captain Cecil Chaudhry Sitara-e-Jurat.

December 07, 1971
Zafarwal-Shakargarh Sector

“Lead you are on fire! your left wing is hit. Eject”

His No.2 Flight Lieutenant Irfan was shouting on the radio. But he ignored and focused on the tanks in his gun sight. Suddenly his aircraft jerked and he saw that his left wing was on fire. Seeing this, he jettisoned his fuel tanks and pulled up.

”Lead you have a sheet of fire under you! Eject.”

His No.3 Rashid Chauhdary shouted this time.

“O.K! You bomb the bastards. Leave me alone”.

He replied and turned the aircraft towards Pakistani area. Suddenly the engine took a violent jerk and all the instruments in the cockpit went haywire. He looked back and saw nothing but fire.

“Eject Lead”, Irfan shouted.

“Relax No.2. Keep calm and carry on the mission”. He calmly replied.

The pilot, his No.2 Flight lieutenant Irfan and his No.3 Squadron Leader Rashid Chauhdary, were accompanied by Group Captain Sajjad Haider and Wing Commander Imam Bukhari. Where the formation Leader was hit by an anti aircraft shell.

With a loud shriek, the left wing separated and the plane started to role horribly. it was suicidal to eject from a rolling aircraft. Remembering God, he ejected. Something felt like piercing thorough his right side of face and arm but he ignored. When he opened the parachute he felt a deep pain in his ribs.

It was not clear that where he was falling now. The area where he got shot was the Indian Territory and he tried to turn towards Pakistani Territory. Suddenly his aircraft exploded like a bomb, filling his heart with sorrow as if any good friend has died. He could see his fellows flying over the enemy area, bombing and firing. The vision got clearer as he got close to the ground. After 2 minutes, he landed on the ground.

The smoke rising from the destroyed Indian installations told him that opposite side is Pakistani side. He was the king of skies just moments ago, but losing his plane made him feel helpless. He walked a few steps when a machine gun burst hit the ground in front of him.

”Hands up, throw your revolver”, a loud voice alerted him.
He looked at his left side and saw a troop of 7 soldiers, with the uniforms without any insignia or identification mark on it. It could be any one, whether Indian or Pakistani. It was a fighting patrol.
“Who are you?”, asked the patrol leader.

“I am a Pakistani”, replied the pilot.

“Show me some identification”, Patrol Leader asked.

Not in a million years. Who the hell are you to ask me for that? Call your superior to talk to me, Pilot leader replied bluntly. The Patrol leader came with a gun brandishing towards the pilot and forcefully searched him and discovered an ID card of PAF from Pilot’s pocket, and his hand lowered.

“Sir take off your helmet please”, in a lower voice Patrol Leader said.

As he took off the helmet, Patrol leader introduced himself as a Pakistan Army Sergeant. Pilot told him the complete account of being shot down over the battle area and landing in the trees.

“Sir you are lucky it was us”, Patrol Leader told with a smile.
What you mean?, asked Pilot.

“Sir there is a mine field just a few steps away from you”, Patrol leader told.

A chilled wave travelled through the pilot’s spine.

Suddenly Indians started firing and the bullets were flying around them inches away, as their position was just 200 meters away from the enemy.

“Sir please go back, we will take care of these goons”, patrol leader replied while pointing towards the indian bunkers and ordered one of his men to escort the pilot, he took off his steel helmet and gave it to the Pilot.

“You wear it, you need it”, pilot handed it back.

“No sir you need it. Pilots like you are only few while soldiers like me are countless. Your safety comes first”, Patrol leader replied.

They just walked only a few hundred meters when he felt immense pain in his left ribs and right side of his face and arm. Solider accompanying told him that his face is bleeding and arm too. It actually happened when he was ejecting something scratched him. It was later discovered that his ribs were also broken when he opened his parachute.

He was taken to the nearby army field head quarters, where a Major and a Captain greeted him. Meanwhile enemy started shelling the area, but they were still standing outside the shelters.

“Why don’t you go inside? Pilot asked them in a surprised manner.

“Sir it’s our music and we are really enjoying it and it is to be enjoyed in the open. Not in a 4x4 bunker”, major replied with a smile.

The Pilot was taken to the airbase by a helicopter after 2 hours. His x-ray confirmed that he has 2 ribs broken. Medical Officer Squadron Leader Arif told him that he is not fit for action. But pilot requested him to declare fit as he is not feeling any pain. Seeing this Arif declared him fit for flight.
The Pilot continued his flight missions and struck the enemy brutally till the war ended. He flew 10 sorties after his ejection, destroying numerous enemy vehicles and and a SU-7 of the IAF. Everytime his plane landed on the ground, the crew took him out as he couldn’t move and he always requested his crew not to tell anyone about his severe condition. He got treatment after the end of war.

Today the world knows the valiant aviator as Group Captain Cecil Chaudhry Sitara-e-Jurat.

 

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Ardeshir Cowasjee
1926-2012

25th November 2012 | Dawn.com

One of Pakistan’s oldest and most renowned columnists, Ardeshir Cowasjee, passed away in Karachi on Saturday at the age of 86. Cowasjee's weekly columns graced the Dawn newspaper from 1988 to 2011.

“Now, old at 85, tired, and disillusioned with a country that just cannot pull itself together in any way and get on with life in this day and age, I have decided to call it a day,” he wrote in a column in December 2011 for Dawn. He went on to write two more columns that year before he finally put his pen to rest.

Here are some photographs, spanning over three decades, looking at the life of Ardehsir Cowasjee.

Home with cockatoo Ben, and Billie. – Photo courtesy Sama Books

With Amina Jilani and Humayun Khan, former Deputy Commissioner of Bannu and Swat. – Photo courtesy Sama Books

With Syed Sajjad Ali Shah, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. – Photo courtesy Sama Books.

With Sardar Ataullah Khan Mengal, former Chief Minister of Balochistan. – Photo courtesy Sama Books

With Asfandyar Wali Khan, President, Awami National Party. – Photo courtesy Sama Books

With Akbar Bugti and EIahi Bukhsh Somroo, former Speaker of the National Assembly. – Photo courtesy Sama Books

With Fatehyab Ali Khan (L), former Chairman of the Pakistan Institute of Internal Affairs, and artist Ahmed Saeed Nagi (R). – Photo courtesy Sama Books

Ardeshir Cowasjee with wife, Nancy Dinshaw. – Photo courtesy Sama Books

With daughter Ava, and son, Rustom. – Photo courtesy Sama Books

With parents, Mecca and Rustom (sitting R and C) and brothers John (sitting L) and Cyrus (Standing L). – Photo courtesy Sama Books

Ardeshir (standing L), Cyrus (R) and John (sitting). – Photo courtesy Sama Books

With brother in law, Ambassador Jamsheed Marker. - Photo courtesy Sama Books

In the garden with Billie, his Jack Russel terrier, and in the company of (L-R) Nadirshah Eduljee Dinshaw, Eduljee Dinshaw, and Hormusjee Jemsetjee Rustomjee. – Photo courtesy Sama Books

Cowasjee at home, instructing his cook to make some tea - Photo courtesy White Star

Cowasjee at his breakfast table. - Photo courtesy White Star

Climbing the stairs at his home.- Photo courtesy White Star

Born: April 13, 1926, Karachi, Pakistan
Died: November 24, 2012, Karachi, Pakistan

Children: Rustom Cowasjee

Books: Vintage Cowasjee: A Selection of Writings from Dawn, 1984-2011 with a Foreword by Amina Jilani

Education: DJ Sindh Govt. Science College, Bai Virbaiji Soparivala Parsi High School

 

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Jamsheed Kaikobad Ardeshir Marker

Jamsheed Kaikobad Ardeshir Marker, Hilal-e-Imtiaz is a veteran Pakistani diplomat. He is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as having been ambassador to more countries than any other person. He speaks English, Urdu, Gujarati, French,German, and Russian and was Pakistan’s top envoy to the United States and more than a dozen other countries for more than three decades and earned the distinction as the world’s longest-serving ambassador.




There is no better description for Jamsheed Marker than the foreword penned by historian Stanley Wolpert for the former diplomat’s autobiography, Quiet Diplomacy: Memoirs of an Ambassador of Pakistan: “One of Pakistan’s wisest diplomats, whose career as its most brilliant Ambassador started in 1964, ending with the Security Council of the United Nations in 1994.”

Jamsheed Kaikobad Ardeshir Marker (1922-2018), who died at his home in Karachi on June 21 at the age of 95, served Pakistan for three decades from Ghana to Romania and Bulgaria, the USSR and Finland, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Japan, France, and the United States of America. The multilingual diplomat—he spoke six languages—was honored for his lifetime of service with Pakistan’s second-highest civilian award, the Hilal-i-Imtiaz, in 2003. However, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Pakistan recognized his skills and talent only after realizing how greatly admired he was among the international community. In 1997, then-U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan tapped him to head a campaign to persuade Indonesia to do the legal thing by East Timor and allow it to become independent. Marker was instrumental in the success of that mission, as outlined in his second book, East Timor: A Memoir of the Negotiations for Independence.

Born on Nov. 24, 1922, Marker was from a distinguished Parsi family of Quetta. He rose to prominence in the 1950s as a radio cricket commentator alongside Omar Kureishi. The diplomatic career that defined the rest of his life began in 1964 when Aziz Ahmed, the foreign secretary under President Ayub Khan, offered him an ambassador’s post in Africa. As detailed in his memoirs, Marker picked Ghana for his post because he hoped to witness and get to know Kwame Nkrumah, the Ghanaian revolutionary who led his nation to independence from Britain.

In his 1997 book Pakistan: A Dream Gone Sour, Marker’s friend and one-time co-author Roedad Khan says that they were both attracted to Marxism while studying at Lahore’s Forman Christian College. If this was the case, Marker’s disenchantment from that political philosophy likely began in Ghana and filled the years that followed, culminating in the career of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. His views on the Ghana founder can be applied to lot of socialist leaders that he also got to observe, and of course Bhutto of Pakistan, whom he would serve later on: “Nkrumah’s policies, an amalgam of dynamic idealism, vainglorious self-promotion and ruthless repression, constituted a vivid enigma whose early impact continues to resonate on the African continent.”

Charisma accompanied autocratic enforcement of socialist utopia tipped with nationalization and state sector dominance, eventually resulting in the perfect mix for dictatorship. Marker could see the crisis that could result from replacing capitalism with socialism without adequate planning and told Nkrumah that Ghana was a rich country with poor people.

There is wisdom in this remark. The post-colonial presumption was that the resources exploited by colonial states would now be fully available to the liberated nations and that, by replacing capitalism with socialism, these would enrich the people. Marker appeared to realize that they were wrong on both counts. Without making too much a point of it, he outlined the crises facing Pakistan in his survey of the Foreign Office led by Bhutto: “My third observation was that the policy orientation of the Foreign Ministry was more than a few points to the left of the center, and that it was being pushed further in that direction by Bhutto, despite Ayub’s reluctance and disinclination, and notwithstanding the undisguised suspicion of the Americans.”

Marker’s disenchantment with socialism was perhaps also linked to his career trajectory, which saw him represent Pakistan in many states that were trying to distance themselves from capitalism. After Ghana, he was sent to the Socialist Republic of Romania, which was followed by his first major mission in Moscow in 1969. The following year, election results prompted East Pakistan to succumb to a national campaign for independence. The global community reluctantly sided with the people of the newly minted Bangladesh. Moscow also backed India’s support for the new nation on the basis of a mutual defense treaty in 1972. Pakistan’s struggling democracy was perhaps summed up best by American diplomat Henry Kissinger, who told Marker: “Everywhere else in the world elections help to solve problems; in Pakistan they seem to create them.”

The author, Khaled Ahmed, right, interpreting for Marker in Moscow, 1971

While Marker’s autobiography is full of insights worth reading in full, the chapters on the USSR are particularly interesting in that they show the former diplomat in his true colors under pressure, standing up to the wrath of the Soviet leadership and defending a dictator at home who had mishandled the uprising in East Pakistan. It is apparent that this was not to Marker’s liking, but he was nonetheless the best ambassador Islamabad could have had in Moscow after losing East Pakistan. He was well-liked despite his tit-for-tat meetings with Soviet ministers and his circle of diplomatic friends was wide and his personal conduct immaculate, complete with an undying admiration for Russian literature and music. Everybody in the embassy thought he would be drummed out as a non grata ambassador, but just the opposite happened. When he left the Soviet Union in 1972 for a post in Canada, he was made a permanent citizen of Moscow by a visibly moved Soviet bureaucracy.

Marker, by now his nose for character quite developed, thought East Pakistan fell because of three men: “Mujibur Rehman, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and Yahya Khan, the first two because the compulsions of their fascist character precluded the compromise and sharing of power implicit in a democratic polity; and the third because he completely lost his earlier political acumen, and committed strategic blunders of the highest magnitude.”

Marker did not win the battle for East Pakistan in Moscow, but he benefited in the shape of the friends he made in the world of diplomacy: the Western world sent its best men as envoys to the USSR. His friends Gunnar Jarring and Javier Pérez de Cuéllar both played their roles at the U.N. By then, Pakistan had also recognized that he was a good man to have for matters of multilateral diplomacy and began asking him to attend important sessions at the U.N.

After a decade spent at postings in Tokyo, Geneva and Germany, Marker found himself in France in 1982. It was during this tenure that Shahnawaz Bhutto was found dead in Nice. Recalling the incident in his book, he says: “The final report, conveyed to me verbally by [French official] de Grossouvre after about six weeks, was that the incident had commenced in a restaurant in Nice, where the immediate Bhutto family, comprising Begum Nusrat, Benazir, Sanam, Murtaza, and Shahnawaz, together with their wives, had gathered for dinner. There was a heated conversation, reportedly over money matters, and the brothers came to blows.”

He goes on: “The party then broke up, and Shahnawaz and his wife, after returning to their hotel room, were followed by Murtaza, and another altercation took place between the brothers. The French police, when they arrived at the scene a little later found that Shahnawaz was dead and accordingly arrested his wife and Murtaza. The latter was released on production of a Syrian diplomatic passport and immediately fled the country. Shahnawaz’s wife was charged under a French law that imposes culpability on any person that fails to assist or call for assistance, in aid of a victim in distress.”

He concludes: “I was told that she had obtained a lawyer and was prepared to defend herself but was dissuaded from doing so by the family, and eventually left the country. Although no autopsy was carried out, the French thought that a drug overdose was the cause of death. I was told that the French Law Minister Robert Badinter, who was a friend of the Bhutto family, had helped in bringing the unsavory affair to a close.”

Four years later, in 1986, Marker was appointed Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S., serving in the position for a year that would serve as the climax to his distinguished career. He has been attributed with helping negotiate the Soviet military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, while also dealing with General Zia-ul-Haq’s furtive development of nuclear weapons at home. Marker, thanks to his contacts across the world, was just the man to repeatedly postpone the many threats of sanctions facing Pakistan over its uranium enrichment, especially following the passage of the Pressler amendment a year earlier.

Writing in The New York Times in 1989, journalist Robert Pear noted Marker’s diplomatic success in the U.S.: “Jamsheed KA Marker, the Ambassador of Pakistan, is described as tough, shrewd and cultivated by State Department officials and members of Congress. Of all the diplomats in Washington, few work so intimately with the Reagan Administration as Mr. Marker. He has helped forge a joint strategy with the United States in one of the great geopolitical battles of the 1980s, the effort to expel the Soviet army from Afghanistan. In the process he has dramatically strengthened relations between Pakistan and the United States, American, officials say.”

For his part, Marker loved then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan, and was frequent host to diplomats Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski. He also got along with the intellectually aloof Egyptian diplomat Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and enjoyed the company of many U.S. Congressmen. Facilitated by his friend Roedad Khan, Marker also felt comfortable with Zia-ul-Haq and Ghulam Ishaq Khan. This bonhomie did not continue into the government of Benazir Bhutto, formed after elections in 1988, despite Marker’s brother-in-law Darayus Cyrus Minwalla’s enthusiasm for the PPP leader.

As he notes in his memoir, Marker chose to resign rather than continue under potentially trying circumstances: “In this instance, there were two other factors that motivated my decision. One was my reservations with regard to Benazir’s style and management, not to mention the choice of her collaborators as there was a whiff of incompetence and corruption. The other was my conviction that any Pakistani ambassador in Washington must have direct access to, and must possess the confidence of, the head of government. In my case this was clearly not so.”

In 1990, after the dismissal of Benazir Bhutto on corruption charges, Marker was appointed Pakistan’s Permanent Representative at the United Nations. He would continue in that role until 1995. Pakistan was part of the Security Council at the time, and he presided over its proceedings three times in rotation.

One of Pakistan’s elder statesmen, Jamsheed Marker’s passing leaves a void that might be impossible to fill. Patriotic, principled and fiercely intelligent, he fought to keep the country engaged with the global community even as internal forces backed isolation. We may never see his like again.

 

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Deepak Perwani


Deepak Perwani is an internationally acclaimed Pakistani fashion designer. Recepient of several awards, Deepak is recognized as one of the top designers. He recently created the world's largest kurta. The Guinness World Records later certified the entry based on a rigorous documentation process. The kurta weighs 800kg, is 101 feet tall and 59 feet 3inches wide. Each sleeve is almost 57 feet long. It took a team of 50 hardworking professional tailors a period of 30 days to make the kurta. The huge kurta is made of 800 yards of cotton blend fabric. The world's largest designer kurta will later be used to create smaller kurtas that will be donated to children's homes run by the Edhi Foundation, a Pakistani NGO. The fashion designer Deepak runs his own boutique in Pakistan.




Born ......................... 1963

Mirpurkhas, Sindh, Pakistan

Occupation ... Model, Actor, Fashion Designer]

 

[Safriz]

Very informative.
I used the know Cowasjee family as I was a merchant mariner myself.

 

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RUSTAM S. SIDHWA

JUDGE ON THE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN

Birth 1 September 1927
Death 31 March 1997 (aged 69 years)

Rustam Sohrabji Sidhwa (1 September 1927 – 31 March 1997) was a former judge on the Supreme Court of Pakistan as well as one of the original eleven judges of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.



CAREER

Pakistan

He passed the Bar in 1951 and was elevated to a judge of the Lahore High Court in 1978. Between 14 December 1989 and 31 August 1992 he served on the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

Sidhwa served as a judge in the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia from 1993 until his resignation in July 1996.


PHILATELIST
Justice Sidhwa was also a keen philatelist and wrote a catalogue.


BOOKS

• The Lahore High Court and its principal bar, Pakistan Times Press, Lahore, 1967
• Sidhwa's Catalogue, Pakistan stamps, errors & varieties, 1947–78, Kermin, Lahore 1978