KARACHI: A book titled Paradise Lost — A Journey from Kashmir to Karachi by Syed Nizam Shah was launched here on Thursday evening.

Speaking on the occasion, CEO of the Dawn Media Group Hameed Haroon said the book is important for the author because it’s a catharsis. “He’s been very circumspect in defining it as a journey from Kashmir to Karachi. In fact, it is anything but that. It’s a very sad book. It’s sad if you take Nizam Shah as the historical prototype of an honourable Kashmiri who made Pakistan and Karachi his home, who loved it, had the pain of losing his homeland, and felt the need to be circumspect in his dealings with his fellow Pakistanis on the issue. [One] never heard Nizam Shah shouting and screaming about what happened in Kashmir, how we’re to blame, even now how the Indians are to blame, for he had loved ones there, he had friends there and he desperately wanted to keep this fling of nationhood based on origin alive… You have to know Nizam Shah to be able to hold his hand and walk through that journey.”

Prof Dr Huma Baqai said she discovered the author through the book. “What I found about the book is that I met a man who is honest, humble, objective and optimistic — a very difficult combination. Paradise Lost is beautifully written and has a wealth of information. It [book] is very easy on the eyes, it’s very readable, it’s beautifully knitted together, it brings in so many diverse themes and actually takes you down the corporate journey of Pakistan, the branding of sports in the country, and also the political journey of Pakistan.

“It talks about the two places — Karachi and Kashmir — which are referred to as paradise. When I look at them now they seem to be like hellholes to me because when I talk about Kashmir, the picture that comes to my mind is what Kashmir is known for today — as one of the largest open prisons on the face of earth... And the chapter on Karachi brought tears to my eyes. What is the city known for today? A city which produces 12,000 tonnes of solid waste every day [and] 40 per cent of that is on the streets,” she said.

Former senator and federal information minister Javed Jabbar said the book proves the fact that in each of us there’s a writer desperately waiting to get out, beyond whatever profession or goal we have adopted in life. Everyone assumes that writing is only for the chosen few.

“Yes and no, because Syed Nizam Shah did not write a book before this one, and yet here comes a book that becomes so engrossing and absorbing, so direct, so unpretentious. Here is a man who metamorphosis from being a migrant from Kashmir to Pakistan and then metamorphosis from being a reserved, prim and proper leader of the corporate sector. I had the privilege of meeting him for the first time as the head of my advertising agency which the Pakistan Tobacco Company (PTC) appointed as their advertising consultant. In 1978 begins the journey of my discovering Syed Nizam Shah. He [Shah] was very stern but to my delight willing to look at new ideas and concepts, breaking away from the traditional, conventional way of how to sell a product. The introduction of cricket as a social, cultural phenomenon — not just as a sport — began with the kind of visionary decision that Nizam Shah took as chairman of PTC.”

On Kashmir, Mr Jabbar said, “I just want to reflect on the appalling apathy of the entire world, except perhaps Turkey and sometimes Malaysia. Here we have a world today with unprecedented connectivity, globalised compassion, but how they have managed to suppress the actual tragedy of Kashmir, to wilfully ignore it. The tragedy of Kashmir did not begin in 1947. The Kashmiri history shows that for 400 years — whether it was the Mughals, the British, Sikhs or later rulers — they have been depriving, suppressing the people of Kashmir from expressing their unique sense of Kashmiriat.”

The writer of the book, Syed Nizam Shah, said he was honoured by the presence of the guests at the launch. He added even in his wildest dreams he had no intention of becoming an author but he was pushed into it by his granddaughter.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2021