Ismail Gulgee, late Pakistani calligrapher and abstract artist, honored with dedicated museum

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Updated 21 February 2025
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Ismail Gulgee, late Pakistani calligrapher and abstract artist, honored with dedicated museum

  • Amin Gulgee opens doors to museum showcasing father’s work at family home in Karachi
  • Gulgee ‘demanded’ his residence by converted into a museum during his lifetime, a wish fulfilled by son this week

KARACHI: Renowned Pakistani artist Amin Gulgee said on Wednesday his parents had wished to convert their residence in the port city of Karachi into a museum, a desire he fulfilled this week by establishing the Gulgee Museum and opening its doors to the public to preserve his father’s artwork.
Ismail Gulgee, Amin’s father, was one of the most recognized figures in Pakistan’s art community, known for his calligraphic and abstract expressionist paintings. Originally trained as an engineer, he transitioned to art and gained fame for his portrait paintings before shifting toward abstract work influenced by Islamic visual heritage.
His dynamic, large-scale paintings often featured thick, textured strokes, drawing inspiration from Sufism and traditional Islamic artistic motifs. Exhibiting his work in the United States, Europe and the Middle East, he achieved international recognition during his lifetime.
Tragically, in December 2007, Gulgee and his wife were found murdered in their home in Karachi, an incident that shocked the country. His legacy, however, endures, with his works displayed in galleries, private collections and public spaces in Pakistan and beyond.
“My parents demanded that after their demise, their place should be turned into a museum,” his son, a recognized artist himself, told Arab News, saying he started working on “reimagining” the place two years ago.




The photograph taken on February 18, 2025 shows art work displayed at the Gulgee Museum in Karachi, Pakistan. (AN)

The museum displays his father’s sketches, mosaics in lapis lazuli, paintings and sculptures.
“The collection comes from 1950 to 2007 with over 170 artworks,” he continued.
Amin is also the museum’s curator and has kept an archival collection of his father’s photographs, who witnessed the birth of Pakistan. The images feature Gulgee showing his work to President Charles de Gaulle of France in the 1960s and Benazir Bhutto in the 1990s, among others.
“I have divided the museum into 17 sections spread over 13 rooms on two floors, and I have written about each section,” he said. “Later, we are going to have a museum handbook that will come out. But for now, we have wall text in the museum, and we also have a QR code which translates all my English text into Urdu.”




Visitors look at a sculpture showcasing Quranic calligraphy at the Gulgee Museum in Karachi, Pakistan, on February 19, 2025. (AN)

Amin went about transforming his parents’ home in collaboration with architect Samina Anjarwalla, who said that they broke a lot of walls, as the space previously comprised bedrooms, dressing rooms and bathrooms.
“The structure was a big challenge for us,” she told Arab News, adding that the idea was to preserve the country’s heritage along with Gulgee’s work.
“We kept [the building] very simple, very plain [and] very modern so that the work speaks for itself,” she added.
Karachi does not have many art museums, making it challenging to preserve artworks in many cases.
“I think it is wonderful for the city of Karachi [to have Gulgee Museum],” Mehreen Ilahi, who runs an art gallery called Majmua, told Arab News.
“Initiatives like these, including the different ways of preserving art, are extremely important,” she continued. “Other than this, Karachi only has the National Museum and Mohatta Palace Museum. It was very important that this became a museum because Gulgee is no longer alive, and his work must be preserved.”




The photograph taken on February 18, 2025 shows art work displayed at the Gulgee Museum in Karachi, Pakistan. (AN)

Asked about his future plans, Amin said there was a lot more to come.
“The next project of the museum is the Gulgee Museum Handbook, which is a 320-page book with 13 academic essays written on Ismail Gulgee,” he said. “We are about 80 percent done, and as soon as this opening is over, I go back to the project of the book.”


Pakistan sets up Hajj flight helpline as India-Pakistan tensions disrupt air travel

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Pakistan sets up Hajj flight helpline as India-Pakistan tensions disrupt air travel

  • Government has temporarily suspended flight operations at Karachi, Lahore and Sialkot airports
  • Local Pakistani media has reported blasts in Lahore, attributing them to suspected drone attacks

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s religious affairs ministry has launched a 24-hour helpline to assist Hajj pilgrims seeking updates on flight schedules, an official statement said on Thursday, as the country faces widespread air travel disruptions linked to escalating military tensions with India.

The measures follow a sharp military escalation between Pakistan and India in the early hours of Wednesday after Indian missile strikes killed at least 46 civilians in Pakistani territory.

Pakistan’s military responded by downing five Indian fighter jets, while Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) suspended all flights for 12 hours and several Asian carriers rerouted flights to avoid the region’s airspace.

“The help desk will operate 24 hours a day in two shifts,” the statement said while sharing the telephone numbers. “Hajj pilgrims can obtain information regarding their flights.”

Pakistan also announced it had temporarily suspended flight operations at Karachi, Lahore, and Sialkot airports, citing “national security” concerns.

Pakistan’s Geo News reported blasts in the eastern border city of Lahore, attributing them to suspected drone attacks, though police were still investigating the nature of the explosions.

Tensions continue to remain high between the two South Asian nuclear rivals, as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif described India’s missile attacks as a “grave mistake” in a speech on Wednesday night, saying New Delhi “will have to face consequences.”

The Indian army also said on Thursday the two neighboring states exchanged small arms and artillery fire overnight along their de facto border in the disputed Kashmir region split between the two countries.


Trump tells India and Pakistan to ‘stop’ clashes

Updated 26 min 25 sec ago
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Trump tells India and Pakistan to ‘stop’ clashes

  • The US president initially played down the crisis as part of old tensions between India and Pakistan
  • His administration has scrambled into action in the last 24 hours since the Indian strikes in Pakistan

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump called Wednesday for India and Pakistan to immediately halt their fighting, and offered to help end the worst violence between the nuclear-armed countries in two decades.
“It’s so terrible,” Trump said at the White House. “I get along with both, I know both very well, and I want to see them work it out. I want to see them stop.
“They’ve gone tit-for-tat, so hopefully they can stop now.”
Trump’s comments came as India and Pakistan exchanged heavy artillery fire along their contested frontier, after New Delhi launched deadly missile strikes on its arch-rival.
At least 43 deaths were reported in the fighting, which came two weeks after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing an attack on the Indian-run side of disputed Kashmir, which Pakistan denied.
Pakistan has long been a key US military ally but Trump has been keen to build up relations with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom he hosted at the White House in February.
“We get along with both countries very well, good relationships with both, and I want to see it stop,” Trump said in the Oval Office.
“And if I can do anything to help, I will be there.”
Trump initially played down the crisis as part of old tensions between India and Pakistan — even saying they had been at odds for 1,500 years, despite the two countries only forming after independence from Britain in 1947.
But his administration has scrambled into action in the last 24 hours since the Indian strikes.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to his counterparts from India and Pakistan on Friday, encouraging them to reopen dialogue to “defuse” the situation, the White House said.
 


Peace in South Asia to remain ‘a dream’ until Kashmir dispute is resolved— ex-Pakistan FM

Updated 32 min 46 sec ago
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Peace in South Asia to remain ‘a dream’ until Kashmir dispute is resolved— ex-Pakistan FM

  • Tensions between New Delhi, Islamabad soar after India’s strikes in Pakistani territory kill 31
  • Any sovereign nation would have no choice but to respond, says Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari this week said peace in South Asia will remain “but a dream” unless India and Pakistan resolve the issue of Kashmir, as tensions soared between the two nuclear-armed neighbors following India’s missile strikes in Pakistani territory. 

Bhutto-Zardari’s comments follow surging tensions between India and Pakistan after the former conducted missile strikes into the latter’s territory late Wednesday night, which Pakistan said killed 31 and injured 57. The Indian government said it struck nine Pakistani “terrorist infrastructure” sites involved in planning a deadly attack in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22. The assault took place on the tourist hill station of Pahalgam in the part of Kashmir governed by India, with 26 men killed.

The Pakistani military said six locations across its territory — Ahmedpur East, Muridke, Sialkot, Shakargarh in the eastern province of Punjab and Kotli and Muzaffarabad in Azad Kashmir — were targeted. Azad Kashmir is the part of the disputed Kashmir valley that is administered by Pakistan. In response, Pakistan military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry had said five Indian planes and one combat drone that had attacked Pakistan were shot down, naming three Rafales and an MiG-29 and Su-57 each.

India and Pakistan have fought two out of three wars over the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir. Both countries claim the territory in full but administer only parts of it. India accuses Pakistan of arming separatist militants in the part of Kashmir it governs, which Pakistan denies. Islamabad says it only extends moral and diplomatic support to the people of Kashmir. 

“This [Kashmir] is a disputed territory,” Bhutto-Zardari, who is also the leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, a key government coalition ally, told Arab News during an exclusive interview on Wednesday. 

“This is a dispute that India took to the United Nations. And until we get to the root cause, until we find a solution to the Kashmir question, until then I believe that peace in South Asia will be but a dream.”

Bhutto-Zardari said Pakistan had called for a credible, international probe into the Pahalgam attack. However, he rejected India had leveled unfounded allegations at Pakistan “without any supporting evidence.”

“All over the world it is known you’re innocent until proved guilty,” the PPP leader said. “Accuse me of a crime but produce the evidence and at least have a trial.”

He criticized the Indian government for becoming “judge, jury and executioner,” adding that its military strikes had targeted innocent civilians and children.

“They violated Pakistan’s sovereign territory,” the former foreign minister said. “Any sovereign nation on the planet would have no choice but to respond in such a circumstance.”

Pakistan has vowed that it has the right to respond to India’s military strikes as per international law. During his address to the nation on Wednesday night, Sharif warned India it would have to “pay the price” for striking Pakistan. His office said earlier on Wednesday that the country’s top national security body had authorized its armed forces to take “corresponding actions” in response to Indian strikes. 


Pakistani parties rally in Karachi to protest India’s missile strikes 

Updated 07 May 2025
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Pakistani parties rally in Karachi to protest India’s missile strikes 

  • Sindh chief minister leads rally featuring participation from PPP, ANP, MQM-P and JI parties 
  • Political parties’ leaders praise Pakistan’s armed forces for retaliating to Indian missile strikes

KARACHI: In a rare display of unity, major Pakistani political parties rallied in the southern port city of Karachi on Wednesday to vehemently protest India’s missile strikes that killed 31 people and injured 57. 

In the sharpest military escalation in more than two decades between the nuclear-armed rivals, the Indian government said it struck nine Pakistani “terrorist infrastructure” sites involved in planning a deadly attack in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22. The assault took place on the tourist hill station of Pahalgam in the part of Kashmir governed by India, with 26 men killed.

The Pakistani military said six locations across its territory — Ahmedpur East, Muridke, Sialkot, Shakargarh in the eastern province of Punjab and Kotli and Muzaffarabad in Azad Kashmir — were targeted. Azad Kashmir is the part of the disputed Kashmir valley that is administered by Pakistan. In response, Pakistan military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said five Indian planes and one combat drone that had attacked Pakistan were shot down, naming three Rafales and an MiG-29 and Su-57 each.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah led the rally at the Karachi Press Club, which featured participation from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) parties. 

“Within just ten minutes, Pakistan was blamed without any investigation,” Shah told participants of the rally, referring to India’s accusations that Islamabad was involved in the Pahalgam attack.

The chief minister accused Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom he referred to as the “Butcher of Gujarat,” for orchestrating the recent events to divert attention from domestic issues. 

“India rejected these gestures for peace and instead launched nighttime attacks on six separate locations, resulting in the deaths of innocent civilians,” he noted. 

He lauded Pakistan’s armed forces for giving a befitting response to Indian military strikes. 

“The Pakistan Air Force shot down five Indian aircraft and a drone,” Shah said. “We held back only to avoid escalation; otherwise, not a single Indian jet would have survived.”

Monem Zafar, the chief of the JI’s Karachi chapter, agreed with Shah that the rally was a demonstration of political unity amid the crisis. 

“The message to India and Modi is that the entire Pakistani nation strongly condemns this attack,” he said. “The nation stands with the Pakistan Army for the protection of the country.”

Zafar called on the nation to observe the coming Friday as a “Day of Resolve” to demonstrate national support for the armed forces.


Erdogan conveys Turkiye’s solidarity to Pakistan PM amid crisis with India

Updated 07 May 2025
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Erdogan conveys Turkiye’s solidarity to Pakistan PM amid crisis with India

  • Erdogan tells Shehbaz Sharif he supports Pakistan’s “calm” policies amid crisis
  • Pakistan military says Indian strikes on Wednesday night killed 31, injured 57

ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan spoke by phone on Wednesday with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to convey his solidarity after India hit Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir with missiles, the Turkish presidency said.

Pakistan, which has strong ties with Turkiye, said it had shot down five Indian aircraft and vowed to retaliate further, in the worst clash between the nuclear-armed neighbors in more than two decades.

During the call, Erdogan told Sharif that Turkiye supported what he called Pakistan’s “calm and restrained policies” in the crisis, his office said in a statement.

Erdogan also said he found “appropriate” Islamabad’s call for an investigation into a militant attack that triggered the crisis. The militants killed 26 people in Indian Kashmir in the attack on April 22. Pakistan denies Indian accusations that it was linked to the attack.

“Erdogan stated that Turkiye was ready to do what it can to prevent the tensions from escalating, and that his diplomatic contacts in that regard would continue,” it said.

Turkiye has previously condemned India’s attack and called on both sides to act with common sense. Turkiye’s Foreign Ministry said the latest military action by India created the risk of an “all-out war.”

Ankara also maintains cordial ties with India.