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Musharraf visit sparks off a contest
among some Old Delhi residents

Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf's likely visit to his ancestral home in Old Delhi appears to sent some Delhi residents into a tizzy.

Old Delhi is eagerly awaiting the return of the native, who made it big in Pakistan.

Nahar Wali Haveli, the house in question, in Daryaganj and its surroundings are being spruced up lavishly to welcome the dignitary who will be in Delhi on July 14th and is expected to visit his ancestral home.

The dingy lanes leading to the dilapidated mansion are being cleaned and redone, power and telephonic cables are going underground and sodium and high mast lights are being put up.

Shoaib Iqbal, the local MLA who has drawn up grandiose plans to welcome Musharraf, is excitement personified.

He wants to construct an Indo-Pak friendship memorial arch Mehrab-e-yaadgaar inside the compound of Nahar Wali Haveli.

An Indo-Pak mushaira is also on Iqbal's agenda. Famous Pakistani poets like Ahmad Faraz would be invited and Musharraf requested to inaugurate it.

"As peace is going to be a central concern in the talks, we are planning to release pigeons when Musharraf sahib comes here," Iqbal told rediff.com.

He has allocated Rs 12 lakh (Rs 1.2 million) from his Constituency Development Fund for the purpose and is personally overseeing the ongoing work.

But local Bharatiya Janata Party MP Vijay Goel, who is nowhere in the picture, just laughs it off.

"I do not think Musharraf would even come here, leave alone inaugurate a mushaira. The visit has to be cleared by the home ministry and the security agencies first," says Goel.

Goel was not happy with Iqbal using funds from the CDF for sprucing up the area with Musharraf's visit in mind.

"It is the work of agencies like the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the Delhi Electricity Board," he said.

The game of one-upmanship has caught on with the present occupants of Nahar Wali Haveli.

The Golas, who occupy a portion of the house are grudging the Jains who occupy another part. The restoration work is concentrated in the Jains' part of the house. The memorial for Indo-Pak friendship is also coming up in that section as it is spacious and retains the original design of the house.

"We would not have reconstructed our part of the house had we known this would happen," says Malti Gola, who has shot off an invitation to Musharraf to visit his ancestral house.

At the same time, Devindra Jain, who heads the Jain household is planning of launching a website about the house and is in the process of negotiating a deal with an internet education centre.

He plans to put the original maps, documents, pictures and the history of the haveli on the website, which might be named naharwalihaveli.com.

But it is not just that Musharraf has bowled him over. Jain plans to make a tidy sum from Musharraf's visit.

"You work for a website, tell me how much money I can make?" Jain asked this correspondent.

Not to be left behind, the Golas are planning to gift Musharraf a copy of the sale deed their father signed with his aunt Husna Begum when they bought the haveli on third November, 1946. They claim to be the only ones who possess legal documents pertaining to the haveli.

"Our father bought this portion of the haveli from Husna Begum for Rs 562. The sale deed contains signatures of Gen Musharraf's father Musharrafuddin," says Prakash Gola, Malti Gola's son.

The Golas are also expecting something in return from President Musharraf: his signature on the original sale deed.

Indo-Pak Summit 2001: The Complete Coverage

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