Wall Street Journal South Asia bureau chief Daniel Pearl, who was killed in Karachi in February 2002, was paid tribute by American Consul General (CG) in Karachi William Martin at a musical concert Saturday evening.
The concert, which was part of the 10th Annual Daniel Pearl World Music Days being organised across the world with the theme of ‘Harmony for Humanity’, treated a large number of people to live music by American singer Mary McBride and Pakistani singer Komal Rizvi among other artistes, including Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad Qawwal. Politicians, journalists, students, other artistes and people belonging to different sections of society attended the event and commended the performances of American and Pakistani artistes.
The audience expressed extreme delight when McBride sung ‘Dil Dil Pakistan’, a patriotic song released by former Pakistani pop band ‘Vital Signs’ on August 14, 1987. The American CG organises a musical concert to pay tribute to Daniel Pearl every year. This year, however, he had included those Pakistani journalists in the list for honouring who were also assassinated by enemies of tolerance and freedom of speech. “We cannot forget those who had always strived for justice and freedom,” Martin said while speaking on the occasion.
A separate corner was set up with pictures of Daniel Pearl and other journalists who had sacrificed their lives in the line of duty, including Faisal Qureshi, Syed Saleem Shahzad, Wali Khan Babar, Asfandyar Khan, Abdul Wahab, Ejaz Raisani, Pervez Khan, Shafiullah Khan, Nasrullah Khan Afridi and Misri Khan Orakzai. “These ‘Music Days’ have gathered people around the world under the message of harmony and tolerance,” said the stage anchorperson.
The American CG had invited over 100 journalists this year to participate in the event. American Consulate General Information Officer Amanda Cauldwell, Office of Public Affairs Media Adviser Mushtaque Rajpar and others had welcomed the guests to the concert.
