NYC Pakistan Day Parade Troubles

August 19, 2007
Midtown
A Troubled Parade, This One Without Shamrocks
By EMILY BRADY

The St. Patrick’s Day Parade has long struggled over the participation of gay groups. The National Puerto Rican Day Parade was scarred in 2000 by wide-ranging attacks on women. But a lower-profile march, the Pakistani Independence Day Parade, set for next Sunday, is competing with them both for fireworks.

The troubles began in 2000, when several members of a Pakistani Army pipe and drum band, wearing their jaunty epaulets and accompanied by a troupe of sword dancers, marched down Madison Avenue, then disappeared the next day, apparently intent on staying in North America (and apparently successful).

Three years later, Mayor Bloomberg was jostled in a shoving match between groups who, according to a news report, were vying to walk alongside him at the head of the parade. A score of police officers swooped in to surround him.

This year the drama at the parade, which was first held in 1985, occurred behind the scenes. But New York’s Pakistanis feared the parade permit might be in peril — in a year, to make matters worse, that marked the 60th anniversary of Pakistani (and Indian) independence.

This month, two of the parade’s 39 trustees, Mohammad Saif Ullah and Mian Mohammad Fayyaz, filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court to confirm the results of the March 2 election, in which Mr. Ullah was elected parade chairman and Mr. Fayyaz secretary general. The suit sought to bar six other trustees from involvement in the parade.

Although the legal issues in the case are many and complex, Ahsan Chughtai, publisher of an Urdu-language newspaper in Brooklyn, cast it in simple terms. “It’s a power struggle,” he said, adding, “We just want the parade to go on.”

A new board election was held in Justice Marilyn Diamond’s courtroom on Aug. 10. In a 13-to-9 vote, Mr. Ullah and Mr. Fayyaz were defeated. Justice Diamond ordered that within 45 days of the parade, the trustees must draft and approve new bylaws and financial records must be available to all board members.

The parade permit is no longer in jeopardy, and Mr. Chughtai is relieved. “The community,” he said, “shouldn’t lose an event because of this.”




Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company