Peshawar Dream Eve

When my friend Ali Asghar asked me to become the International Relations Manager for the newly formed National Council for Fashion and Arts I wasn’t sure what should by my reaction towards its. At one place I was ecstatic because it is an honour to be part of such an organization and work for promoting Pakistan nationally as well as internationally however the inhibition I had was that the head office of the council was situated in Peshawar and the circumstances of Peshawar being vice and depicted in media were quite messy.

After long pondering I nodded yes and grabbed the opportunity to be the International Relations Manager and set off to visit Peshawar for the official launch of NFAC by the Minister of Information of the province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The flight was quite comfortable, I had people on board I already knew like Miss Pakistan 2011 Laila Khan, Model Fiza Khan, Photographer Rameez Baig and debutant model Bakhtawar Shah niece of Film Actor Tipu Shah. Though the flight was delayed two hours due to the constant heavy rains in Peshawar I would rate it to be the best flight, from passengers on board to the cabin crew everybody treated us very VIP as if we were not we but some US Senators or some idiot Bollywood film stars. However, still wondering why but the pilot decided to crash land at Peshawar Airport and Oh My God … not only me but every passenger had seen the glimpse of the angel of death… everyone screamed and few fainted, though eight days have passed by the time I am writing this blog but still I am half fainted on the idea and prospect of what would have happened if the people I would have left behind if the plane would have … … …

People from NFAC were already waiting for us at the airport, I must admit that I have never seen or experienced so much hospitality as I did during my 5 days stay in Peshawar. Beyond words and beyond explanation, if you want to find out than you should pack your bags and visit this grandeur city yourself. One myth, whatever the media says just shuns and shoves it, not a single word true! Now I am going to cut the story short to what happened to me and instead jump directly to what the event was for what I visited this city for.

The name Peshawar may derive from the Sanskrit meaning “city of men” and today Peshawar is officially recognized as being one of the Oldest Living Cities in Asia. Peshawar is the business and administrative hub and the tourist’s hotspots include Khyber Pass, old interior city, industrial estate famous for smuggled goods, Islamia College, Peshawar fort, Kisa Khawani storyteller bazaar. It is also famous for the food street with a variety of Chappali Kebabs and Kahva. Its culture has evolved over the years and has been principally influenced by Ghandhara culture, Pakhtun culture and Hindko culture but it had been a pity that the city never got its share to be Pakistan’s hottest fashion spot. However, with changing times and trends a National Fashion and Arts Council has been formed by two dedicated youth Farhad Hussain and Ali Asghar with blessings from the Tourism Development Corporation of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa aiming towards the promotion of Arts, Culture, Tourism and Fashion of the Province on an international and national scale.

On May, 7th 2011 the council organized a national level fashion show involving works of the very well known designers like Hameeda, Fahad Hussain, Ali Zeeshan, Mohsin Ali, Muhammad Ali, Aini Khawaja and Obaid Shaikh. The fashion show was very creatively choreographed by Tony Navaid Rashid and the theme was conceptualized by myself who is the international relations manager for National Arts and Fashion Council (NFAC). Host Shamoon Hashmi and Super Model Nadia Hussain announced that a 5-day gala event Peshawar Fashion Week would be held in September 2011 under the emissary of NFAC. Supermodels like Iraj Manzoor, Sofia Mirza, Aish Khan, Alizey, Fiza Khan, Naeem ul Haq, Ali Asghar, and Ehtesham were prominent with Miss Pakistan Asia Pacific Bakhtawar Shah, Miss Pakistan Tourism Sarah Khan and Miss Pakistan Quest 2011 Laila Khan sashayed and set ablaze and dazzled the ramp. Peshawar’s famous makeup artist Bilal and his team did the excellent job of adding glamour quotient to its high for the show.

To make it more clear to people who are still querying why another council for fashion I would like to highlight that it is just not a fashion council, it is more to it, the aim of the council is primarily to promote the craftsmanship, cottage industry, tourism and arts and culture of the province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa including those areas which fall under the FATA regions as well. The fashion councils doing other fashion weeks are primarily more focused on promoting primarily only the fashion industry, however, with NFAC, it is just not fashion, from literature, fashion, arts, drama, to music everything that fall in the range of fashion and arts would be promoted by us the NFAC. The prime function of NFAC is to attract revenue and investment for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa tourism and cottage industries. Promote a soft image and endorse and support new talent more specifically the territorial on a national scale and the reason for a separate council is that the reason is to reclaim the confidence lost due to the war on terror, being a regional organization it can cater to those craftsmen who do not understand other languages than the territorial language. When these people will meet with buyers and people coming for the exhibitions and other events would promote confidence in them to business and create job opportunities. One country, one nation why not join hands in hands as brothers then segregated as provinces. The world will know that people of Pakistan specifically Peshawar are peace-loving citizens and are vying hard to promote a soft image. This would attract foreign investments as well. The whole event was covered by Mickey and Momey, Rameez Baig and Talha Ghouri.

The show ended on a very happy note. Dance, music, exotic and appetizing food and off course the glamour but as upon arrival in Peshawar I had the shock of a lifetime the crash landing I had more to experience. On Monday the 9th of May 2011 a total of seven of us including the models, photographers and myself were supposed to fly from Peshawar to Karachi on the 0830 hours flight on a confirmed ticket. We reached at the Peshawar Airport at 0745 hours and presented our tickets to the security guard at the check-in counter however we realized that though we had six wickets in hand one of my friend had not received the ticket in time by our host Mr. Waqas Ahmed Director Fashion and Arts NFAC in time so she was supposed to buy one at the airport which she would have gotten the reimbursement later.

However, a confirmed ticket was unavailable and she was issued a ticket on chance and was told that if by 0830 hours the real passenger shows up she would have to vacate the seat and get off boarded from the plane and she will get the refund or adjustment to the new ticket. Resolving this matter took around ten minutes. We then entered through the security and reported at the boarding counter however we were refused to board because the lady kept repeating we were chit-chatting outside and delayed purposely. However, we explained to her that we were here in Peshawar to attend the Fashion Show held on 7th and 8th May 2011 by the National Fashion and Arts Council and Tourism Corporation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and were part of the organizing committee and also mentioned that we got delayed for the above already mentioned reason but she did not listen to us and told us straight that the aeroplane has started taxing whereas the time was 0810 hours.

How can an aircraft start taxing at the time of reporting and then she wrote wrong reporting on the ticket which again falls within the mentioned reporting time. The irony is this that though we kept begging her to allow us to board the flight because the delay was for a genuine reason but she did not consider anything not even that PIA may lose its 7 confirmed passengers in that flight. She did not consider at all any of our pleads and was adamant to create botheration for us, but as luck would have been on our side, our host NFAC and Sarhad Tourism immediately came to our rescue and issued us confirmed tickets on Air Blue in their next flight.

After wasting 7 hours at the airport we finally made it to Karachi in what would I call once again a pleasant and happy journey all seven of us cracking jokes and merry-making.

With prayers and all the best wishes for the NFAC that it keeps doing such excellent work of promoting Peshawar and its surrounding cities for the fashion, arts, culture and tourism the province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is well known for to the today generation and for cohorts to come with matching trends of today and uplifting Peshawar as a tourist-friendly fashion-conscious city on the map of the world.