San Francisco Celebrates Pakistan’s Independence in Style
ByRas H. Siddiqui
The Pakistan Association of San Francisco has been active for several decades, since the first group of Pakistanis arrived in what is also known as the “Bay Area” and enriched the technology boom that has made this part of Northern California world famous. When this organization holds its annual Pakistani Independence Day event it does have distinct advantages over other such organizations in California. And those are the cool August weather and the sheer beauty of this city which is hard to find any place else.
Near the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary- Visitor Center on Crissy Field on August 25, 2018 more than 2,000 people of Pakistani origin and their friends gathered to remember the birth of their old country. Beyond the patriotism and nostalgia, the attractions here were many. If one was to look straight at the waters of the San Francisco Bay from this location Alcatraz Island could be seen straight ahead, the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge to the left, the San Francisco city Skyline to the right, with the Presidio right behind. It was a cool and foggy evening as this writer entered the gates of the facility which proudly displayed the American Stars and Stripes and the Green and White flag of Pakistan.
Slated to perform at this event were the band “Inquilaab” (Revolution) consisting of Jalal Ahmad, Mustafa Hasan and Matthew Wright along with Imran Rehman and Zubair Shaikh. Unfortunately, this writer missed their performances but was lucky enough to catch the performance of Rahim Shah, a crowd favorite, who travelled a great distance to be here. We will return to his performance later in this brief report.
To get a feel of what the event signified this writer reached out to an old friend, poet, teacher and activist Javaid Sayed who in many ways is a part of history of Pakistani-Americans in San Francisco. I asked him to give his impression of the event. Javaid replied, “Love for Pakistan by the so-called ‘Dual Nationals’ was in itself a wonder of the world right in front of another: The famous Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco. Pleasant faces of Dohri Shahriat singing loud and humming at heart the songs for Pakistan were all around in the environment. Scholars like Dr A. Jabbar and community icon such as Attorney Javed Ellahie (running for councilor in local government) were all hand in hand in this choir. Pakistani Americans dressed in Pakistan’s attire were delighted to see each other in the true spirit of patriots. Pakistan’s popular pop star Rahim Shah flew in from Japan to render his talent to the community. His passion to be among his fellow Pakistanis was highly admirable as he had some surgery done a week earlier in Tokyo and yet he took the long flight and made it to be here by the blue ocean to celebrate the GREEN.”
Some people had come to see Rahim Shah from as far away as Sacramento and Stockton. He is a Swati-Pashtun from Karachi, which also happens to be the largest Pashtun city in the world. Pashto, Urdu and Punjabi - Rahim Shah is comfortable singing in all three languages. He started his routine in Urdu with the patriotic number Sohni Dharti at this event, followed it with an Urdu number and Bibi Shireen a Pashto song. But this evening his best in our humble opinion was his Urdu language Milli Naghma in a Pashto beat titled “Is Watan Ka Matlab Kiya” which literally stole the program, with Rahim Shah proudly holding a Pakistani flag which was fluttered in the San Francisco Bay breeze. The crowd loved it, as they did his follow-up ode to motherhood Jhoola (Cradle). Unfortunately, it was time for this writer to leave but this performance was memorable.
The Pakistan Association of San Francisco needs to be congratulated for holding another successful event. Pakistani food, clothing, jewelry and handicrafts were available for sale here and many passersby also took the opportunity to join the event. Family programs like this one are a positive face of our country of origin and they should continue into the future in beautiful San Francisco.
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