MY  TEN  DAYS  MEMORABLE  VISIT  TO  UNITED  ARAB  EMIRATES

MY  TEN  DAYS  MEMORABLE  VISIT  TO  UNITED  ARAB  EMIRATES

by Mubashir Ahmed Khan (2E)  18 June 2024

My nephew Sarmad Khan is a Chartered Accountant running two offices, one in London and one in Dubai. He asked me to come to Dubai to help him at his Pakistani Bookstall at Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF) held from 29thApril to 5th May 2024 (seven days, 9-am to 10 pm). I was busy in UAE from 27th
April to 6th May 2024. My stay in Dubai was at Sarmad Khan’s flat in Dera Dubai. 

     On the afternoon of 27th April 2024, Sarmad Khan, Sarmad Khan dropped me at the house of Captain Kazim Abbas, who presently worksas a pilot with the UAE Port Authority. It was my first meeting with him.
Captain Kazim Abbas belongs to Karachi. It was around 1999 that he flew to Tanzania to join MV Sea Johana as a Second Officer. The ship’s staff consisted of ten Pakistanis, six Tanzanians, two Indians, two Burmese, and one Indonesian (a total of 21 people). MV Sea Johana was arrested due to non-payment of port dues and remained at anchor for three years in Tanzania. After legal proceedings, the ship was auctioned and purchased by a British/Indian, Shabir Hussain Rangwala.    

     The ship was in extremely poor condition. With great difficulty, it sailed, but its speed was unbelievably one knot, reaching Mombasa in two and a half days (instead of five/six hours). In Mombasa Port,
soda ash bags were loaded with shore cranes as the vessel’s cranes were not working. The ship sailed, but the main engine broke down after about six hours and wouldn’t start again. The destination was the Indian port Gujrat, 2875 miles away. The ship drifted for two and a half days at the mercy of sea currents.
Despite the efforts of the engine staff, the main engine would not start. The captain checked the ship’s position and found it was now in Somali waters. The captain was constantly in touch with the owners and decided to tow the ship to Gujrat. The captain was informed that powerful tugs were unavailable in the neighboring countries (i.e., Kenya, Somalia, and Tanzania), and efforts were being made to get the same from South Africa or some other country. The process would take a few days. Also, some advance payment would have to be made to the tug owners. The same day in the evening, the captain was informed that a tug had been arranged and would reach the ship in three days. On hearing this news, all the ship’s staff felt a little relief, not knowing that the saga of pirates was waiting for them.

     The next day afternoon, a group of armed Somali pirates came on board and took all the ship’s staff in their boats to their prison. They were kept hostage for 136 days. The story is long, extremely painful, and horrible, as narrated by Kazim Abbas in his book. The 292-page book, written in Urdu, is well-bound with glassy paper and photographs. The book’s title is “Somalia Ka Qaidi, 136 days in the captivity of sea pirates”. However, going through the book several times, I noted more than half a century of mistakes in the spelling of English words. (For example, Harbor Pilot was corrected to Harbour Pilot. Seman’s Book was corrected as Seaman’s Book, Falt as Fault, Fule Noses as fuel nozzles, and Hallucination as Hallucination, etc.) Similarly, many Urdu words were also pointed out and corrected. Captain Kazim Abbas thanked me sincerely for my minute and thorough book proofreading.  He said that in the next edition, all the mistakes I pointed out would, insha’Allah, be corrected. The captain told me that the book has been
translated into English and is available online.

     Captain Kazim Abbas told me the story of his passing Class 3/4 professional examination in UK. The Examiner was no other than Captain Khairul Anam (9N). The Fleetwood College informed him that the
Examiner would not examine one candidate only. There should be a minimum of four candidates. Captain Kazim Abbas said, “I managed to prepare three more candidates for the exam. I even helped one candidate in his studies. Captain Khairul Anam conducted the examination, passing me only and failing the other three candidates.” My three and a half hours meeting with Kazim Abbas was quite interesting. I presented him with a book titled “The Pirates” by Ross Kemp. Captain Sahib wanted to invite me to dinner at a local restaurant within the next week, but it was not possible due to my busy schedule. I thanked him, and he very kindly dropped me at the nearest Metro Station, from where I reached Sarmad Khan’s flat easily.

     Interestingly I found that Captain Kazim Abbas was quite junior to me professionally. I served on board Irani ship Iran Shujaat as Chief Engineer from October 1993 to July 1994. About two years later, Kazim
Abbas was a cadet on this ship, just beginning his sea career. However, Kazim Abbas is an extremely honest, hardworking, and dedicated professional. On one occasion, he boarded a vessel for pilotage. The captain offered him a huge amount on condition of some pilotage rules relaxation, but he refused and
insisted on following the rules.

     On 28^th April 2024, Sarmad Khan took me to attend the Sharjah International Booksellers Conference at the Expo Centre. It was the second day of the conference. I saw stalls in different countries,
including one of Pakistan’s famous publishers, Ferozsons Ltd. I also attended various workshops, listened to speeches, and collected brochures from renowned booksellers. At one end of the hall was a big buffet consisting of about three dozen food items in addition to juices, tea, and coffee. The buffet was
accessible to the conference participants throughout the day. I enjoyed the conference meeting delegates from different countries.

     From 29^th April to 5^th May 2024 (seven days), we were busy manning the Pakistani book stall set up by
Sarmad Khan from 9 am to 10 pm. There was a total of 1350 book stalls, and the area (Louvre, Abu Dhabi) was so vast that, in the beginning, I would lose my way at the book fair. Twelve countries set up their stalls for the first time, including Pakistan. Most of the stalls belonged to the UAE. However, I visited
stalls in China, Turkey, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UK, and Central Asian countries. India had set up more than twenty stalls displaying and selling English, Hindi, Sanskrit, and Urdu books. More than a dozen literary persons ( half males and half females, including two couples ) came from Pakistan to participate in the event.   

     On the first day of the Book Fair, the Ambassador of Pakistan (HE Faisal Niaz Tirmizi) visited our Pakistan stall. He showed keen interest in the books and spent about twenty minutes at the stall. I presented to him the Autobiography (Tehdise Nemat/Recollection of Divine Favours) of the
first Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Sir Muhammad Zafrullah Khan. The Urdu writer and publisher Fatma Sherwani also presented her own Urdu book, “Rati Gali Ke Nam,” to the Ambassador. He purchased some books himself and paid the price from his own pocket. We got the impression that the honorable Ambassador was himself a literary person deeply interested in books.    

    The initiative of Sarmad Khan to set up a Pakistani stall at the International Book Fair was very much appreciated by the Pakistan Embassy in UAE. The Embassy staff kindly invited us to dinner at the nearest
Lebanese restaurant in Abu Dhabi. The Honorable Acting Ambassador Afaq Ahmad (HE Faisal Niaz Tirmizi had gone to the USA on an official visit two days earlier) carefully selected the menu, and the food was very delicious. Mrs. Kiran Kazmi (Head of Chancery) was also present from the Embassy. Due to her fair color, I assumed that she was Pathan. However, she said that she belonged to Hazara, North of Pakistan. (The late president of Pakistan, Field Marshal Ayub Khan, also hailed from Hazara). The interesting information she gave us was that her husband, Doctor Murtaza Shah, had obtained his medical degree
(MBBS) from Mymensingh Medical College under the SAARC Scholarship Programme. I remember visiting Mymensingh in 1965 as a cadet at Marine Academy, Juldia Chittagong. The sweet cham cham of this city was extremely delicious.

     The Pakistan Embassy staff did us another favor. They were invited to visit the Embassy premises. Mrs. Kiran Kazmi took us around the Embassy building and showed us different sections, including the
Ambassador’s office. There were a lot of Pakistanis who had come to renew their passports/identity cards and obtain authorization for legal documents. Mrs. Kiran Kazmi told us that the Embassy had enough staff to efficiently deal with the Pakistani applicants daily. She said, “we make sure that families with
children, old and disabled applicants don’t have to wait for a longer time.” Mrs. Kiran Kazmi entertained us with tea in her office. She gave us a lot of useful information about the  Embassy. Last but not least, she kindly arranged for two cars to bring us back to the Book Fair venue.

     Mohsena Khanom from Bangladesh is a chartered accountant working in Bangladesh and UAE. Due to her profession, she is closely associated with Sarmad Khan. She invited us to attend a seminar on “Investment Prospects in Bangladesh” held at Best Western Pearl Creek Hotel, Dubai in the evening of 5^th May (Sunday) 2024. The event. was organized by the Consulate General of Bangladesh (Dubai and Northern Emirates). The participants were mostly Bangladeshis doing business in the UAE. Mohsena Khanom spoke on business tax rules in UAE. HE Mohammed Abu Zafar, the Ambassador of Bangladesh
to UAE, delivered a speech. Finally, the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Saber Hussain Chowdhury spoke elaborately. It was emphasized that investment in Bangladesh was very safe. The seminar’s main purpose was to encourage Bangladeshis living abroad and others to invest in Bangladesh. The final item of the seminar was dinner, and many dishes were very tasty.  I presented the Autobiography of the First Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Sir Muhammad Zafrulla Khan, to the Embassy staff. The book’s title was “Tehdise Nemat or Recollection of Divine Favours”.

     I was personally a bit disappointed that at theInternational Book Fair in Abu Dhabi, there was no stall in Bangladesh. In other words, there was no representation of the country at such an important event. I told Mohsena Khanom, “I want to ask the Bangladesh Embassy senior staff member why the Bangladeshi book stall was not there at the International Book Fair of Abu Dhabi,” She said, “Don’t ask this question. The Embassy staff might be busy with other projects, e.g., this seminar.”  

    Mubashir Ahmed Khan (2E)                         London                      17.06.2024

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