ISLAMABAD JEEP CLUB, PAKISTAN
Khurram Gardezi
Monday, July 20, 2009
IJC PREMIER
Let me start in the summers of 1992 on a breezy afternoon at the foothills of the Maragalla Mountains in Islamabad. The atmosphere was consumed by screams of joy, claps, and a few young friends enjoying themselves in their well restored and maintained Willys Jeeps. There was Amir Malik in his yellow Ford, Raja Mujahid Zafar in his white Willys and Sajjad in his green dieselized Willys. This small group of friends would regularly explore the tracks around Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The wind would resonate with Aamir’s brilliant sense of humor, Mujahid’s ever so animated character and Sajjad’s cool and calm demeanor. They would call themselves, rightly so, “The Offroaders”. With time they successfully lured in other friends to this wonderful outdoor adventure. Saleem Sahab, Muhammad, Abdullah, Sallahuddin, Qamar, Naeem Sahab and the brothers Mutaal and Mihal would soon be regulars each Sunday.
The Offroaders soon caught the internet bubble, launching their website by the name of offroadersisb.com.
In another part of town, Ehsan Kiani and his elder brother Suhaib who had been driving around on their 1979 Jeep Cherokee for more then a decade formed the basis of the Islamabad Jeep Club. Ehsan made a website and launched it on a free server on the net (ijc.8m.com). The response online was overwhelming. Members poured in from all parts of Pakistan and abroad and the website grew in popularity. The response on the ground was slow. Only a few members would come out with their 4x4s on Sundays. These included Ehsan, Suhaib, Bilal Khan, Majid, Mohsin and Islam. IJC was in its infancy.
In early 2001, IJC and the offroaders met on the tracks by chance. This was to be the start of a long relationship. The two clubs would have combined offroad events regularly and soon the number of vehicles on each trip increased. Fahad and Laiq, apart from others are names worth mentioning here. Later that year the two clubs decided to join up and The Offroaders merged with the Islamabad Jeep Club. IJC has been growing in popularity ever since, both inside Pakistan and abroad.
In late 2007, members of IJC started posting on a popular automobile forum PakWheels.com. This gave a new life to the club and soon record number of people and vehicles started coming in every Sunday.
IJC has never limited itself to Jeeps. Take a look around on any of the offroad events and you will see Willys, Jeeps, Toyota Land Cruisers, Land Rovers, Mercedes and even an occasional Mog. Islamabad Jeep Club has welcomed everyone willing to join up. We consider ourselves not a club but a passion, and all members take pride in it.
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