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round 50 million members of the Shia Ismaili community have been celebrating the arrival of the Chandelier, a symbolic trophy of Global Encounters. This event aims to unite the community worldwide in Dubai from July 20 to July 27. Community members from all corners of the globe have been commemorating the Fan. Mega-events have been held in various parts of the country by the Ismaili community at different community centres to cherish this historic moment.
The Shia Ismaili community, under the leadership of the late Prince Karim Aga Khan, the 49th hereditary imam of the community, actively propagated the importance of diversity and pluralism in Islam and its role in the social development of local communities. He was also instrumental throughout his life in promoting and acknowledging human skills, creativity, artistic work and sports abilities. To this end, he set up institutions like the Aga Khan Youth and Sports Board in 1998, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and the Aga Khan Music Award, acknowledging and extolling scores of artists and other professionals across the world, including Pakistan. Sain Zahoor and Zarsanga from Pakistan were bestowed with the Aga Khan Music Award in 2022.
Asif Abdullah Virani, a community volunteer from Hyderabad, Sindh, says that the present spiritual leader of the community, Shah Rahim-Al-Hussaini, the Aga Khan V, is keen to carry the cultural and artistic legacy of his late father, Prince Karim Aga Khan. In view of his desire, the event titled Global Encounters has been divided into two categories: Jubilee Games and Jubilee Arts, where leading sportsmen and artists from the community living across the world will get a chance to showcase their skills and abilities. “The projects of Jubilee Arts and Jubilee Games were launched in 2007 and 2017 on account of the Golden Jubilee and Diamond Jubilee of the leadership of the late Prince Karim Aga Khan,” Virani says. He says that the participants will represent their countries at the event in Dubai, where members of the community will gather at the end of July this year to celebrate diversity and acknowledge the contributions of the late Prince Karim Aga Khan to humanity.
Adeel Anwer Ali, another dedicated member of the community’s group of volunteers from Sujawal, Sindh, says that he and other community members are eagerly waiting to welcome home the symbolic Chandelier. He says that community members living in various areas of Sindh are planning to organise a reception in a unique way with cultural festivals, dance and stage shows. The events in this regard will be held in Hyderabad, Thatta, Sujawal, Tando Muhammad Khan and Badin during the first week of June. Similar events are already under sway at community centres and residential areas in Karachi.
The participants will represent their countries at the event in Dubai, where members of the community will gather at the end of July this year to celebrate diversity and acknowledge the contributions of the late Prince Karim Aga Khan to humanity.
A senior member of the community, Tajudin, has described it as an event to promote peace, unity and diverse approaches to serving society. He recalls the guidance of the late Aga Khan IV regarding the preservation of cultural heritage and artistic structures. He says that their 49th spiritual leader had been determined to revive and rehabilitate Islamic architecture and promote Islamic culture across the world. He mentions that the late leader had also implored upon celebrating diversity in the religion and reaching out to help those who were in need.
The first edition of this event was held in 2016 in Dubai. It had featured up-skilled sportsmen of the Shia Ismaili community from across the world, who participated in the event and showcased their skills. An active member of the Aga Khan Youth and Sports Board for Hyderabad mentioned that Sara Haider, a leading Pakistani singer; Diana Baig and Kainat Imtiaz, noted female cricketers; and Shehzad Roy, an eminent pop singer, as well as several mountaineers of Gilgit Baltistan, belonged to the Ismaili community. Institutional projects like Jubilee Games and youth camps helped them burnish their skills. He said that AKYSB has worked on several projects in collaboration with the Pakistani government.
The Global Encounters event shall comprise a musical competition, a film festival, performing arts and artwork presentations, band performances, cultural shows and panel talks, besides shows promoting diversity, peace and unity. Discussing a wide range of services initiated by the community, Chairman AKYSB Thatta and Shahbunder Rizwana Noorani said that the community had a large number of registered volunteers providing services in various walks of life. Recently launched Ismaili Volunteer Services have mobilised community members belonging to diverse cultural backgrounds for one common cause: serving humanity without any disparity. She said that volunteers have initiated tree plantation and environment preservation projects in various parts of the country, including remote areas of Sindh, Balochistan, as well as the northern areas. Plantation and looking after trees has been a cornerstone of the Aga Khan Development Network’s environmental policy under which 89 million trees have been planted globally since 1982. This allows recapture of carbon and water retention in the soil as well as preventing erosion of the top soil. Additionally, the trees promote regenerative farming for crops, livestock, aquaculture and agroforestry, and help restore the ecosystem.
The event, she said, had been designed and launched under special directions issued by His Highness Prince Rahim Aga Khan, who wanted to carry through from where his late father had left. The event will pave the way for further strengthening ties between the community and its global leadership.
The author is a practicing lawyer and a freelance journalist. His areas of interest include cultural diversity and socio-politics. He tweets as ZainSha1 on X.