Sadequain and Pakistan Art Mafia   San Diego, CA: SADEQUAIN Foundation USA launched its latest 718-page book based on real-life facts and actual events as they unfolded during its struggle to resurrect artist, calligrapher, poet, philosopher, and philanthropist Sadequain from oblivion. A 718-page tale of greed, rapacity, thievery, and threats by the very custodians who were appointed to guard against the violations. It was a perfect case of a fox guarding the hen-house, says an email from the Sadequain Foundation. It adds: In his lifetime, before the advent of social media, computers, or even before television became ubiquitous, Sadequain was recognized on all five continents. But only two decades after he passed away, Sadequain was a faded silhouette and a distant memory to art students and broader art circles. Ironically, Sadequain remained very much alive and a money-making machine for the underworld. Soon after Sadequain passed away, the Pakistani Art Mafia got addicted to Sadequain Fake Art Machine and started churning the never-ending supply of Sadequain’s fakes and selling them to unsuspecting art collectors, corrupt art galleries, and unscrupulous international auction houses. Pakistani Art Mafia had long arms and soon it wrapped the media and so-called elite in its fold. Sadequain’s fakes started to sell with impunity for hundreds of thousands of US dollars.    At the turn of the century, Sadequain became an unknown figure in Pakistan and abroad, but he remained a darling of the Pakistani Art Mafia because his fakes were piling up their coffers. Disgusted by the situation, I (Dr Salman Ahmad) quit my promising career, established SADEQUAIN Foundation, and started to document Sadequain’s life and work. Over time, SADEQUAIN Foundation gained recognition, and as an unintended consequence, art collectors and art galleries started to approach for verification of Sadequain’s artworks. The rejection of fake artworks by SADEQUAIN Foundation did not sit well with the Pakistani Art Mafia. Soon, the very lucrative trade of Sadequain’s fakes came to a screeching halt, but at a cost to SADEQUAIN Foundation. Pakistani Art Mafia resorted to criminal acts against SADEQUAIN Foundation USA. It attempted to blackmail, spread lies, commit cybercrime, accuse of unthinkable, and even issue death threats. For details, please read the book, SADEQUAIN and Pakistani Art Mafia.

Established in 2007, SADEQUAIN Foundation is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to discovering, preserving, and promoting Sadequain’s art globally. To that end, the Foundation has published 25 books on Sadequain’s life and work, and curated more than 100 seminars and exhibitions around the globe resulting in the resurrection of Sadequain from obscurity.

Dr Salman Ahmad is an electrical engineer by profession. He spent more than thirty years working on nuclear missile technology in senior executive positions in the United States and was the founder and president of an electronics communications company for seven years. He founded the SADEQUAIN Foundation in June 2007 to catalog Sadequain’s work and introduce it to the world. He has authored 25 books on Sadequain. There are more books in the pipeline.