KARACHI: One does not see very often well-known individuals talk about someone with a great deal of genuine affection and sincerity as they did on Wednesday evening at T2F where they had gathered to pay tribute to distinguished architect, town planner and social thinker Arif Hasan.

Zehra Abid, the moderator of the event, began proceedings by putting a couple of questions to Mr Hasan, the first of which was about the fact that the architect does not remain silent in the face of injustice. Mr Hasan replied that his “involvement” was there even before he started practising architecture. He also observed that the Bushra Zaidi case changed the city of Karachi.

Going down memory lane he said as a young student he had an Urdu teacher who used to read a poem by Allama Iqbal the last line of which was, Khudi na baich ghareebi mein naam paida ker (do not compromise on self-esteem, earn a name with scarce means).

Tribute paid to veteran architect Arif Hasan

Durriya Kazi, who heads the department of Visual Studies at the University of Karachi, was one of the three eminent persons who sat along the architect to shed light on his life and work. She said her relationship with Mr Hasan was not as an architect but, “He is an inspiration. He is very much the conscience of our nation, our city [Karachi]. I have learned all types of things from him. He is a combination of idealism and pragmatism. He never moves too far away from people. Anything he does, he keeps the human factor [in mind].”

Ms Kazi said Mr Hasan’s research for his work was based on his extensive travels and his interaction with people. She likened visiting and meeting him to visiting a university. “He always gives us a reality check. He has always lived by his principles,” she said.

Architect Noman Ahmed recalled the time when he was an undergrad student at the Dawood Engineering University and Mr Hasan was his teacher. Then he [Mr Ahmed] went to Turkey for higher studies. Upon his return to Pakistan he joined Mr Hasan’s office who was at the time working on the Karimabad planning project in Hunza. It enabled Mr Ahmed to travel with the senior architect where he learned about the benefits of planning by “including the people of the area for which planning is being done”. People’s concerns about that region [Hunza] could only be understood by going there. Subsequently, their observations were documented, he said.

Dr Kaleem Lashari first spoke about a seminar that took place in Nepal in the 1990s at which Karachi was discussed. Then in 2003, working with the heritage committee made him get to know Mr Hasan better. He pointed out that the architect has “clarity” when he sits on such committees and where one has to deal with the “market forces” on a regular basis. He also mentioned the invaluable work that Mr Hasan has done in the past for Thar [when it was affected by a drought].

In that connection Mr Hasan narrated the story about how his research on Thar drove home the point that drought was not the issue that Thar was faced with at the time, but it was social destruction that was causing it harm.

In response to a question about Karachi raised by the moderator, Mr Hasan said the element of fear (khof) entered the atmosphere of the city after the Bushra Zaidi case in the 1980s. Before that, even though the political situation in the city was not particularly stable, there was no ‘threat’.

“The Bushra Zaidi incident changed Karachi which prompted the Mohajir-Pathan clashes,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2019