This is one India Pakistan connect that has endured both partition and the two wars, the
connect between Goa and Karachi
IF the tower of Babel was all about
different tongues, the tower of Goans in Karachi would be a tribute to
different nationalities these Goans wore on their sleeves or lived closely with
in diff periods of their lives. They were Portuguese citizens who went to other
parts of the work in British camps in Africa and other parts of the world and
finally moved to Pakistan, a part of British India
“Remember no Goans migrated to Pakistan.
These were Goans who were Portuguese citizens who migrated before 1962, before
the Liberation of Goa and they migrated to Karachi which was British India,”
explains renowned lawyer Radharao Gracias but he rues the fact that post the
liberation of Goa, nobody accommodated these Goan citizens living in
partitioned Pakistan and hence they were orphaned in another land.
“ Goans migrated to Karachi and parts of Pakistan before 1947
because the British were carrying out some trading activities at the Port in
Vasco and at Cabo during a time when Portugal itself was under French rule, so
Goans went to work in British camps in Africa and other parts and hence Goans
landed in Pakistan and initially there was a lot of contact with them but now
the community in Karachi is dwindling and most have moved to USA and UK or
Canada,” explains historian Raphael Viegas from Curtorim who is in touch with a
few originally from Verna.
But Goans in Pakistan have made a mark there. Taleigao’s Joseph
Cordeiro, was the first Pakistani cardinal.
Sadly, Radharao explains, Goans from Pakistan who have returned
home, keep a low key and don’t even mention that they have returned from
Pakistan because the police in Goa harass them and serve them notices on issues
of citizenship and evacuee property and they have been turned aliens in their
own land and origin.
Goans who lived in Pakistan and now based in the US or other
parts of the world are often denied a visa by India authorities
“My cousin is married to a person of Goan origin and we’re Goans
based in Chicago but my cousin’s husband is denied a Indian visa time and again
on US passport, only because his region of birth is Lahore and hence he can
never visit his roots and his grandfather’s home in Vasco,” explains Jose
Gonsalves from Chicalim while many more Goans are stuck in a similar way.
Goans in Pakistan reminiscence of their days in Karachi and have
active google groups and a goansinpakistan.org website with ambassador’s in
Sydney, USA, Canada and UK to keep in touch with each other as they speak of
their days at the Clifton Street, Karachi and the many trading businesses they
owned in Pakistan.
The Assolna-Karachi connect of Cristo Rei
Cleofato Coutinho, a well-known constitutional lawyer in Margao
referring to the similarities in the design elements of the Monument to Christ
the King (1931) in Karachi and the Cristo Rei (Christ deKing) monument in the
Assolna village in Salcete, explains, “The original architect of the Goan
monument was on the ship and is believed to have seen the monument somewhere in
Europe and incidentally it was copied in Karachi too at the St Patrick’s
Cathedral. But when the one in Pakistan was destroyed in a bomb blast, it was
restored in 2013 by architects by looking at the images of the one in Assolna.
The one in Karachi was built by M X Andrade of Goan origin while
the one in Assolna was designed by the grandfather of goan writer Bennet Paes
of Assolna and his inspiration was the monument in Karachi which was then
built, completed and blessed in 1937.
While a vibrant community led by Menino Rodrigues, Deborah Santa
Maria and many other Goans prevails in Pakistan ( with some of them migrating
to the west) but sadly all of them are forgotten here in Goa and the laws have
seemed to have abandoned our own Goans in far away regions.
But
the Goa Karachi connect remains and has endured. Beyond the partition, the two
wars and all the rhetoric and hate.
