Page 21 - Pakistan Link - May 17, 2019
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COMMENTARY                                                                                                         MAY 17, 2019  –  PAKISTAN LINK  –  P21

               n By Dr Asif Javed                         An Aff air to Remember                                                  (Ayub), had to be cleared by her”.
               Williamsport, PA                                                                                                     HM’s own assessment of Na-
                                                                                                                                 hid is similar:
              ahid   Iskandar  Mirza                                                                                                Nahid was not willing to keep
              turned up in Qudratullah                                                                                           a low profi le. She aggressively pro-
        NShahab’s  offi  ce one  day                                                                                             moted her own image and inter-
        and told him to get rid of Ruth                                                                                          fered in the country’s political af-
        Boral, an attractive private sec-                                                                                        fairs. As an Iranian and foreigner,
        retary,  a  left over  from  Ghulam                                                                                      her interference was highly resent-
        Mohammad’s time. “Her pres-                                                                                              ed in Pakistani offi  cial circles. She
        ence here can only create more                                                                                           also  took every  opportunity, not
        scandals,” she told Shahab. Th  e                                                                                        only privately, but worse publi-
        fi rst lady did not want another                                                                                         cally, to demonstrate her hold on
        pretty face in the Governor Gen-                                                                                         my father.
        eral House. Ms Boral was asked                                                                                              Life in exile was not easy: IM
        to leave.                                                                                                                had a part-time job. Some friends
            Shahab has written of Gover-                                                                                         helped but London was expensive.
        nor General House parties where                                                                                          IM was once hospitalized. Ardsh-
        the high and the mighty used to                                                                                          er Zahedi came to visit once and
        have fun: Alcohol was freely con-                                                                                        overheard Mirzas worried about
        sumed; some  would  get  drunk;                                                                                          the medical bills and IM saying to
        some would fl irt with women and,                                                                                        Nahid, “Just let me die”. On anoth-
        Iskandar Mirza (IM), the Gover-                                                                                          er occasion, IM was seen carrying
        nor General, would enjoy the sight                                                                                       a bag of dirty linen on the footpath
        of people making a fool of them-                                                                                         when a friend recognized him and
        selves. During one such gathering,                                                                                       asked where he was going, “To the
        when IM was seen getting too cozy                                                                                        laundromat; can’t aff ord a taxi”, he
        with a female guest, Nahid burst   The Shah of Iran and Empress Soraya with President Iskander Mirza and First Lady Nahid Iskander Mirza during the Shah’s   said.    Col.  Abid  Hussain,  a  land-
        on the scene and put a stop to it.   visit to Pakistan                                                                   lord from Jhang, was hospitalized
        Th  e embarrassed female guest                                                                                           in London. IM came to visit. Th  is
        tried to explain that IM was only   of 1958, she still sounded bitter   suite in London in 1953:   and was ready to start a scandal.  writer’s late brother-in-law was
        looking at her sari. “Th  is is pre-  about the unexpected midnight   I was assigned the task of an-  A  while later,  IM  visited  his   present and noted that IM  ap-
        cisely the way he had approached   visit, and the hostile attitude of the   swering the phone to preserve fa-  family and broached the subject   peared short of breath; a heart pa-
        me,” Nahid retorted.          army offi  cers who had delivered   ther’s privacy. Everyday a woman   of his marriage to Nahid. His   tient, he had walked considerable
            On a  state visit to Iran with   the ultimatum from Ayub. Shahab   calling herself Nahid Afghamy   daughters were upset and refused   distance to the hospital.
        IM, Nahid appeared obsessed with   might have considered it impolite   would call, and each time, under   to allow Nahid in the house. Th  e   IM had some remarkable
        Queen Surraya and would make   to remind her of IM’s dismissal   instructions from my father, I told   newlyweds were forced to stay in   fi rsts to his credit: First Indian to
        every attempt to outshine the   of Noon, Bogra, Suherwardy and   her that the Secretary of Defense   the Punjab Guest House. Just a few   graduate from Sandhurst; the fi rst
        Queen. Once she complained that   Chaudhry Mohammad Ali.    was not available. IM explained   days later, IM failed to turn up for   President of Pakistan. He was, by
        the press had failed to notice that   In 1960, Javed Iqbal was in   that she was the wife of the Ira-  his only surviving son’s marriage --   all accounts, an intelligent, hard-
        while she was seen smiling in the   New York, part of a Pakistan del-  nian Military Attache’ in Karachi   in the same city. HM is convinced   working man who may have done
        pictures, the Queen was not. Later,   egation to the UN that included   and that she was pursuing him. I   that Nahid stopped his father from   great things for Pakistan. But mar-
        she asked Shahab to consider up-  ZA Bhutto. As it turned out, the   later learnt that such trips were be-  attending.   rying this ambitious, and schem-
        grading her husband’s ADC: Hav-  Mirzas unexpectedly turned up   ing fi nanced by certain Pakistani   A US Embassy’s confi dential   ing woman led him to a path of
        ing seen Shah’s ADC- a General   in the UN lobby. Javed recognized   businessmen to compromise the   report dated Apr 2nd, 1958, de-  self-destruction, and harmed de-
        - she wanted the same in Pakistan.   the former fi rst couple, greeted   Sec of Defense to serve their own   scribes Nahid as:  mocracy in Pakistan. One won-
            IM once asked Altaf Gauhar   them and off ered coff ee. Just then,   interests.           An   extremely  ambitious  ders why? Th  e answer may lie
        to allot a plot to the Iranian Em-  Bhutto passed by, and having seen   IM had two sons. Th  e young-  woman…lift ed by Mirza from the   in  the  couplet  by  the  Saint  from
        bassy that lay next to it. Gauhar   IM, tactfully avoided his onetime   er, Enver Mirza, was a pilot in   Iranian military attache’ in Kara-  Jhang:
        was aware that Nahid and the Ira-  benefactor. While Javed felt em-  PAF, who tragically died in a plane   chi … bitterly resentful of Begum   Dil darya samundron doongay
        nian ambassador were friends. He   barrassed, Mirzas were, slowly and   crash. IM received the news in a   Viqar-un-Nissa Noon, whom she   Kaun dilan diyan Jaaney Hoo
        tactfully turned down the request   painfully, getting used to the new   London hotel. Th  at is where HM   suspects of having designs on the   As far Nahid, having gone
        on the grounds that the vacant plot   life.                 saw Nahid:                    fi rst-ladyship herself.       through a whirlwind romance, and
        was meant to be a children’s play-  Born Nahid Amir Teymoor,    My father, pointing to a wom-  HM ran in to President Ayub   a few years of power, she endured
        ground. IM accepted his plea but   Nahid had royal lineage, being a   an sobbing by the window, said:   in Washinton DC one day. Ayub   a decade of painful exile, followed
        Gauhar was alarmed at the infl u-  descendent of Tamerlane. She was   “Look, Mrs Afghamy is crying for   had known HM as a child, and   by fi ft y years of widowhood. In
        ence that Nahid had on her hus-  born in a wealthy and infl uential   your brother.” In his grief, IM was   spoke to him aff ectionately. Ayub   later years, she became interested
        band.                         family of Khorassan: Her father   touched by her performance. No   asked about his father’s wellbeing   in poetry of Hafi z, and wrote some
            Javed Iqbal was invited to   was the interior minister in the   one at the time realized that Na-  and then enquired, “Is that woman   herself. Th  e fading Hollywood
        lunch by IM in the Governor Gen-  Mussadaq cabinet and her broth-  hid was using this tragic occasion   still with him? “Having been told   star, Ava Gardner, came to live in
        eral House. Also present were Na-  er was a diplomat.  Her obituary   to ensnare the future President of   that she was, Ayub made a deroga-  the same London neighborhood
        hid and the US ambassador. Alla-  in Kaihan mentions that she was   Pakistan ... Nahid did not conceal   tory remark about Nahid.  and they became friends. Th  ey had
        ma Iqbal’s son was surprised to see   in an unhappy  marriage with  an   her  intentions  and  openly  fl irted   On a subsequent visit to Paki-  met during Ms Gardner’s visit to
        that the entire conversation was ei-  army offi  cer. IM was a descendent   with IM, much to the embarrass-  stan, HM visited Ayub. Th  is is   Pakistan to fi lm Bhawani Junction.
        ther in English or Persian; missing   of the infamous Mir Jafar of Battle   ment of others.    what HM writes of that meeting:  Th  e movie turned out to be me-
        was the national language - Urdu.     of Plassey fame.          IM married Nahid, who was     Ayub spent the better part   diocre but Lahorites were thrilled
            Years later, while in London,   During a reception at the Rus-  20 years younger, in London, in   of the discussion trying to justify   to see George Cukor, Ms Gardner,
        Shahab saw the former fi rst lady   sian Embassy in Karachi, the fi ft y-  secret. He may have expected her   his  coup  against  my  father…He   and Stewart Granger at work. Old
        at a grocery store, approached her   two year old, and father of six, IM   to stay abroad. But he was in for an   put the blame squarely on Nahid’s   timers still talk about those days.
        and asked to visit. Ayub allowed   walked up to Nahid and simply   unpleasant surprise, writes HM:  shoulders …“I used to visit your   Nahid had sunk into oblivion
        the visit grudgingly, having made   declared, “You shall be my wife”.   IM was alone in the house (in   house and was always graciously   years ago. Th  e news of her death
        a sarcastic remark: “So she has   Humayun Mirza (HM), IM’s son,   Karachi) when he received a fate-  received  by  your  mother.  But   recently was hardly noticed. “I am
        come down to earth; she wanted   on the other hand, is convinced   ful  phone  call…His  face  turned   when this woman showed up, she   just a speck of sand in the desert of
        to be the Queen of Pakistan.”   that it was Nahid who pursued his   white as he listened to the caller,   treated me like a lackey…was rude   time,” wrote a wise man once. Just
        Shahab found Mirzas residing in   father relentlessly, and that IM fell   put the phone down, and without   and off ensive in her behavior and   a reminder to those who seek false
        a modest fl at in Kensington. Th  e   for her, making an error of judge-  saying a word, rushed out of the   tried to impress on everyone the   glories. Rahe ga naam Allah ka.
        former President appeared hard   ment. In his autobiography, From   house…Th  e caller had informed a   hold she had on your father…Th  e   (Th  e writer is a physician
        of hearing, and in poor health. As   Plassey  to Pakistan,  HM  recalls   shocked IM that Nahid had turned   appointment with the President,   in Williamsport, PA and may be
        far Nahid, years aft er the debacle   being  with  his  father  in  a  hotel   up in Pakistan without warning   his Military Secretary told me   reached at asifj aved@comcast.net)
                                    I Welcome You, Oh the Sacred Month of Ramadhan!

                                                           (From my book ‘Voice of Heart)


        n By Dr Mustafa Kamal Sherwani    I welcome you, Oh the sacred   month of Ramadhan !
                Lucknow, India        month of Ramadhan!                May your advent shower on
                ith new sprouts of faith   Your name brings forth a fl ur-  this trembling world,
                emerging in my barren   ry of soothing throbs,          Th  e heavenly serenity, lasting
        Wheart,                           From which countless hopes of   peace and moral grace;
            With the Unseen showing the   salvation arise;              May the fi rst glimpse of your
        blaze of my Final Goal,           Your name comes to the rescue   moon on the globe’s horizon,
            With a blissful blend of belief ,   of my worries and shame;   Dissipate the dark and threat-
        joy and fear,                     It seems to blow the breezes of   ening clouds from its face.
            With a Divine aura overpow-  the gardens of Paradise .      I welcome you, Oh the sacred
        ering my mind and soul,           I welcome you, Oh the sacred   month of Ramadhan!
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