(Pakistan News & Features Services)
October 12, 1992 was a Red Letter Day in the history of Pakistan, as Nelson Mandela, one of the greatest-ever leaders of the world, touched down in Karachi for a brief visit.
He had been released from the Victor Verster Prison in Paarl, South Africa, on February 11, 1990, after serving 27 years as a political prisoner for opposing apartheid. He had spent exactly 18 years of his 27-year imprisonment on Robben Island.
His freedom had signalled the dismantling of the apartheid regime and culminated in him becoming the country's first Black president.
Aziz Memon, one of Pakistan’s most charismatic personalities, a proud recipient of Sitara-e-Imtiaz for his services in the social sector, fondly remembers the chance to meet the great Nelson Mandela on that evening of October 12, 1992 when the business community of Karachi arranged a party to greet the most popular South African leader.
Soon after their brief meeting, Nelson Mandela had quite generously invited Aziz Memon to visit him in South Africa which he did just a few months later.
Nelson Mandela has been revered the world over for his resilience and commitment to peace and reconciliation prevented a civil war, ultimately earning him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and the presidency in 1994.
He had returned to Pakistan for a second, official state visit in May 1999, where he addressed a joint sitting of Parliament and publicly thanked the Pakistani people for their staunch international support during the darkest days of the anti-apartheid movement.
No comments:
Post a Comment