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asifpk.5u.com |
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LEGENDS OF PAKISTAN
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ABDUL A'ALA MAWDUDI, MAULANA The real worth of Maulana Abul A'ala Mawdudi's work has been somewhat eclipsed by the prominence his Jamaat Islami came to enjoy in the politics of a country whose creation he had originally opposed. Mawdudi's real work, as researchers in and outside Pakistan have been pointing out, is his developing a modern political Islamic ideology. Mawdudi put emphasis on revolation through education. This entailed a process of "Islamising society by impressing Islamic values.." but he himself later opted to take part in the electoral process. Far from accelerating the process of Islamition the jamaat had commited itself to' this shift led to sullying the name of its founder. The style of politics the Jamaat, more so its student wing Islami Jamaat Tulaba, has been associated with has invariably led to criticism of the plan of action he gave.However, in practice, say analysts, Jamaat did not actually follow his formula. In fact the diversion has led to the formation of other revivalist groups, such as the Tanzeem Islamic of one-time JI member Dr Israr Ahmad, on the original Jamaat model. ABDUL HAFEEZ KARDAR Kardar was certainly the most influential figure in Pakistan cricet, first as captain and later as president of the cricet control board and in the intertional cricet body's various councels, for more then two decades. He was the natural choice for the new country's first Test side's captain as he had already toured England as an All-India player in 1946 and then learnt and polished his cricet at Oxford University and the county of Warwickshir before returning to his country following its independence. He was a suave, dignified gentelman who on to become Pakistan's most astute, determined and orthodox captains, bringings the best out of a bunch of players of whom only four or five were of real intertional class. He led the national side in its first 23 Tests and helped them to wins against all opponents in the inaugural series againts them. Himself a very determined left-handed batsman and a very economical and reasonably effective slow left-arms spinner, Kardar was good enough to score 847 runs in Test matches for Pakistan and take 21 wickets. He never relaxed in the field and the players under hie command were always kept toes. He also played a major role in the country;s politics, serving as a minister and an ambassador. Dr A.Q.KHAN The man who brought Pakistan to the global nuclear map, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, was born in1936 in the state of Bhopal in British India. His family stayed in India initially after the partition but in 1952 they migrated to Pakistan. After his graduation from Karachi University in 1916, he left for Europe where he studied at the famous Technische University at Carlotenburg, West Berlin and Tecnological University of Delft in Netherlands where he took his Master's degree in a record time of five years.Later he joined University of Leaven in Belgium and earned a Doctorate in Physical Metallurge.In 1947 Dr Khan met the then prime minister, Z.A Bhutto, who himself was quite anxious to make Pakistan a nuclear power.He advised Bhutto not to purchase a very costly reprocessing plant, and instead suggested that Pakistan manufacture her own centrifuge plant.In 1976 he returned to Pakistan and was made the head of the Engineering Research Laboratories (currently known as Dr A.Q Khan Reseach laboratries).Kahuta Reseach project was to establish a Uranium Enrichment plant and ptovied Pakistan with nuclear capability at a very low cost.The project was achieved and in 1984 Dr Kadeer became famous all over the world when a statement confriming success at Kahuta was issued.Dr Khan was awarded the Hilal-l-Imtiaz in 1989 and the Nishan-l-Imtiaz in 1996 for his outstanding services to the nation. Dubbed as the saviour of Pakistan from the Indian nuclear threat,Dr Khan along with other Pakistani scientists shocked the world when Pakistan successfully tested the atomic bomb in May 1998. ABDUL SATTAR EDHI One of the greatest philanthropists of the counrty, Abdul Sattar edhi was born in the small village of Bantwa in the junagadh state of India.He migrated to Karachi in 1947 and began working for Memon community organisation. In 1972, he laid the foundations of Edhi Welfare Trust, an organisation that would grow into the largest philanthropic network in Pakistan. Edhi started out with a small office in Karachi's Bombay Bazar and collected donations on the city's street-- a humble beginning, indeed.Down the decades Edhi Foundation has grow into a massive institution with 300 centres spread all across the country.Edhi's ambulances transport the injured to hospitals, the dead to the graves, his men travers war zones in times of political turmoil and evacuate the victims of bomb blasts and natural calamities. With the unwavering support of his spouse,Bilquis and a team of highly committed workers, Sittar Edhi has saved millions of lives and provided shelter and food to countless orphans and destitutes. Clad in coarse, grey khadder, always wearing a compassioate smile, truly a man of the masses, saviour of the poorest of the poor. ABDULLAH HUSSAIN Hussain rose to fame with his novel. udaas naslein He learnt his craft from men like hemingway and camus. But he is not imitative His strong realism earthliness and sense of history is something rare in Urdu. He sees his characters as permanent exiles who de- rive their strenght as well as traumas from theirsense of alien- ation come to violent ends and are often at adds with their sur- roundings. His other works include Nashaib Qaid Nadaar log. ABDUR REHMAN CHUGHTAI ABDUS SALAM, PROF. Dr Abdus Salam was the most famous product of jhang after Waris Shah's Heer.got a love for learning from his father who was associated with the district education department. Many firsts followed Salaam was the first Pakistani and the youngest person everto be elected a fellow of the prestigious Royel Society and the youngest ever to be made a full professor at London University. He was the first recipient of James Waxwell Medal.True to his name Abdus Salaam (literally, Servant of peace), he received Atom of peace prize in 1968 and finally in 1979 shared the Nobel Prize with Sheldon Glashow and Stephen Weinberg for the mathematical and conceptual unification of the electromagnetic and the weak forces-- concept later proven to be correct by accelerator experiments in Europe and the United States. Despite being ill-treated at home, Salaam never gave up his Pakistani nationality. He once confided to a friend that he would not accept the British nationality because he hoped to win the nobel prize and abandoning his original nationality would mean abandoning hopes of Pakistan getting the biggest scientific award.This was some time after he had left his job in Pakistan in protest against the Bhutto government's decision to declare Qadianis as non Muslims. He remained a professor at the Government College Lahore and Head of Mathematics Department Punjab University from 1951-54, member, Pakistan Atomic Energy commission 1958-74, founder chairman SUPARCO from 1966-63, governer from Pakistan to the IAEA 1962-63 and member board of Pakistan science Foundation 1973-77. Was awarded Sitara-i-Pakistan in 1959, Pride of Performance in 1959, and the Order of Nisha-i-Imtiaz, the highest civilian award of the country, in 1979. AHMAD HASSAN, DANI It was only in this country that the remains of a civilisation older than that of the Aryans were discovered. The Indus Valley civilisation triggered a renewed interest in the archaeology of this area. Ahmad Hasan Dani picked up the gauntlet from where the colonial archaeologists and historians had left and developed an integrated thesis about the archaeology, culture and history of the land, which became in 1947 a new century.The thesis about the individuality of the Indus Valley as against that of the Gangetic Valley was first propounded by him also set the basis of the creation of pakistan, other than that on narrow ideology.With the collapse of the Soviet Union the Central Asian routes were also opened, reviving the historical links, hwich had been severed since the colonial powers moved in. This again re-established the routes and the cultural linkages, which had been responcible for the mix of the Indus Valley. Dravidian, Buddhism and Islam all constributed to making this land distinct from the Hindu hearted. A k BROHI Otherwise known as A K Brohi, ALLAH Bakhsh K. Brohi born a leading constitutional lawyer, philosopher and politician. As the eminent lawyer, he fought a number of controversial cases such as Sheikh Mujeeb-ur-Rahman's case, the Rawalpindi Conspiracy case and the Asma Jillani case. He was law minister in the early 1950s and wrote the first constitution of the republic of Pakistan. In 1960 agreed to serve as Pakistan's High commissoner in India on the personal request of president Ayub Khan. He was held in high regard by Indian Minister Jawaher Lal Nehru and played an instrumental role in the signing of the Indus Water Treaty he lectured at many renowed universities in the wast. He represented Pakistan at a number of UN conferences and other international fora. Brohi again became law minister during Zia-ul-Haq's dictatorial regime and was also president of the Pakistan Bar Association from 1964 till his death in September 1987. He left a deep impact on the constitutional and legal history of Pakistan. AHMAD NADEEM QASMI The poet, Short-story writer and columnist was born in Sargodha district. He edited several literary magazines and wrote columns on social and political issues for several newspapers. Editor of dialy Imroze from 1953 to 1959, Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi has been the editor and publisher of a prestigious literary magazine, Funoon, since 1963. He's also working as director of literary organisation, Majlis-i-Taraqqi adab, Lahore since 1947. Qasmi began writing under the influence of Progressive Writing Movement before partition, but braved all changes and kept up with his writing. a versatile writer, he was written extensively both in prose and verse. He depicts rural life of the Punjab with all its romance and proverty and captures with the sad plight of the village dweller. Imtiaz Ali Taj called him "Premchand of Punjab" AIR MARSHAL NUR KHAN It is not known whether the Air Marshal ever wielded a cricket but or made use of a hockey stick to play the game, but he has served as perhaps the most anythor itative chief of the administrative bodies of these two major sports. A career soldier, Nur Khan was ace pilot of the Pakistan Air Force and a war hero, who later became quite influential as a politition, serving as a governor of West Pakistan and later headung the Pakistan International Airlines. He had two sessions as the top boss of the Pakistan Hockey Federation, from 1966 to 1984 and during his tenure Pakistan won the World Cup, Olympics and Asia Cup titles. From 1980 to 1984 he was also president of the country's cricket board, playing a great role in the elevation of Imran Khan as Pakistan's captian. He also stood firm, just prior to the team's England tour of 1982, in the face of a players revolt against Javad Miandad's captincy. The Air Marshal also did mush to promote national squash players by giving them employment in the national airlines. He promoted the idea of neutral umpires and neutral observers in cricket, and was instrumental in the introduction of cricket's World Cup and Asia Cup competition.s AKHTAR HAMEED KHAN Akhtar Hameed Khan attracted international acclaim in 1980 by establishing the Orangi Pilot Project (opp) with support from the then BCCI Foundation. The project overcome major financial, technical and social probelms genegally associated with the upgrading of low-income settlements. It provided low-cost housing, education and health facilities to a population of one million people. In the process, Akhtar Hameed Khan managed to re-establish a sense of belonging, community feeling, the tradition of manual help and coopirative action in a society beset with alienation and dislocation. In 1936, Akhtar Hameed Khan had joined Indian Civil Service (ICC) and resigned from it after nine years later. Later he tought at the Jamia Millia in Delhi, then became the principal of Victoria College in Comilla and finelly the director of the Comilla Academy in East Pakistan where he was able to undertake concrete development work. After the girth of Bangladesh, he migrated to Karachi. Akhtar Hameed Khan taught development administraton at Michigan State University for five years before returning to Karachi to "pass his teilight years in quiet contemplation". But in April 1980, Agha Hassan Abedi and Hasan Burney of BCCI persuded him "to give only one half of his time to the preparation for death and the other half to the OPP". The project remained the centre of his activities till he died in October 1999. ALAMGIR Aalagir is indisputably the pioneer of Pakistan's popular music. He marked his entry on television with his famous Spanish tune Albela Rahi. Hailing from Dhaka, he landed in Karachi at a time when the city's entertainment centres were full of life and colour. He began by singing at Hill Park for the sake of a few bucks. The story took a major turn when Sohail Rana discovered his genius and offered to work with him. Alamgir's talent significantly helped the composer creat the all time hit, Jiway Jiway, Pakistan. He started by singing westren tunes. However, Alamgir established his genius and versatility by composing and vocalising diversified folk tunes and semiclassical styles. He first composed a number for the early 70s TV programme, Dam Dam Dee Dee. His work such as, Ye Sham Aur Tera Naam, Badal Bhi Aur Pani Bhi, Koi Bhi Rang Ho Tera, Iss Ko Naam Junoon Kaa Dedo, Paas Aakar Koi, Khayal Rakhna, Ja Ja Jani, Tum Meri Ankhain Ho, Sham Say Pehlay and countless other numbers are still hummed by the lowers of popular music. ALI ABBAS JALALPURI The subsuming ideological framework clamped down on learning in Pakistan has been very detrimental to scholarship. Ali Abbas Jalalpuri made concerted attempts to bring forth a distinction between various intellectual disciples, seeing and assessing them in their true shape rather than being treated as reflections of dogmatic religious reality. He analysed Iqbal and categorised him as following the tradition of scholasticism rather than of philosophy in his Iqbal Ka Ilmul Kalam and emphasised the significance of Wahdatul Wajood in the history of ideas expressed through the poetic tradition of the Punjab. Ali Abbas had read his philosophy right and therefore could relate literature, music and religion in the context of our history in their proper sequences. His various books are the stages of enlightenment that he stood for and fearlessly advocate. He mapped the history of ideas as they developed and then travlled from one culture and civilisation to another, changing various hues. This placed the body of ideas inherited by us in a definite perspective as the great cross current of ideas have been treated by him as enriching the local tradition of thinking and feeling rather than corrupting it as has been evaluated by the official ideologues of the country. ALWIN ROBERT CORNELIUS On the promulgation of the first Constitution of Pakistan 1956, Mr. Alwin Robert Cornelius was Appointed Chief justice of the Supreme Court in 1960. He played a key role in the development of jurisprudence and the principle of law in Pakistan. His judgements formed the basis for the introduction of judicial review of administrative action, due process of law, equality before law and the priciples of natural justice in the legal system in Pakistan. His historical dissent in the Maulvi Tameezuddin Khan case stands as a model of judicial courage. His views in the case greatly influenced the subsequent judgments rendered by the Federal Court in the cases of usif Patel and the reference by the Governor General. His contribution in the development of 'Separation of Power' is significant. He held in a case that the "divisition of function between the three limbs of the state in Pakistan is by no means less clear that is it in England. To observe and to respect this divisition is implicit under the duty of liyalty to the Constitution which rests upon all citizens but on particular, upon those who are entrusted with the duty of interpreting and implementing the Constitution." 'Audi altrem partem' was one of the doctrines of natural justice initiated by him, which provided immediate protection of rights of the individual against the arbitrary procedure adopted by a judicial quasi-judicial and administrative authority while making by a order affecting the rights of private citizens. ASHFAQ AHMAD As a short-story writer and play-wright, Ashfaq Ahmad is a naturalist who loves romances and nature. His short stories reveal that there is much more to life than misery and woe; there is beauty and lovelines which can be best appreciated when viewed against the background oa natural scenery. His short story, Gaddarya (shepherd) brought him fame as great short story writer in the generation of fiction writers that appread on the literary scene after the creation of Pakistan. He blends romanticism with realism in his early works. He wrote, produced and ected in a popular weekly radio feature, Talqeen Shah, for more than quarter of a century that became icon in Pakistan's broadcasting history. Ashfaq Ahmad's contribution to television drama ranges from Eik Muhabbat So Afsane, ona of the most popular series of Pakistan Television in the early 70s, to Tota Kahani in the 80s. Ashfaq turned to religious in his later writings. He also worked as director of a literary organisation, Markazi Urdu Board and Urdu Science Board, for several years. ASLAM AZHAR I don't Know anything about televisition, Aslam Azhar told the Japanese who interviwed him. "neither does any other Pakistani" came the respones. And so the freelance journalist, theatre and radio worker in Karachi began his memorable career in Pakistan Televisition, when it was set up with Japanese help in 1964. As Programmes Director in Lahore, and the first Pakistani in the set up, he is remembered for his encougragement of new ideas and talent, integrity and idealism. He was moved to Pindi in early 1967 to state the televisiyion station there as its General Manager, and set up the Karachi station within the year, again as JM. Appointed Manager Director of the Corporation in 1972, he also started the Quetta and Pesharwar stations. Having headed and nursed PTV not only through its teething period but also probably its most creative period, he had differences with an increasingly dictatorial Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, and was neraly sacked for speaking against ZAB's information policies at a cabinet meeting. shortly afterwardes, he offered to resign and was placed as head of a proposed Academy for film, televisition and theater, being set up under the Ministry of Culture. The venture was cut short by Gen. Ziaul Haq, who sacked Azhar and effectively, the academy, at one go, in 1977. Appointed Chairman PTV and PBC by Benazir Bhutto after she was elected prime minister in 1988, Azhar resigned a year and a half later, again after differences with the information policy. But the history of Pakistan Television will never be recounted without a mention of the man who was virtually its founding father. AASMA JAHANGIR She may be radical, but sometime a radical vision is needed to show the way forward. And in pushing for a just and equitable society, fighting every inch of the way with all the force at her command, AAsma Jahangir has willy nilly become the symbol of human rights in Pakistan. Stressing team-work, she once jokinly referred to herself as the 'frontman' of Pakistan's human rights movement-- a role that means being under constant threat from armed bigots. Aasma and her sprirted sister Hina Jillani were politically trained by their lawyar politician father Malik Ghulam Jillani. When he was imprisoned in 1971, Aasma, then a college student, filed a precedent setting case versus Federation of Pakistan, against Yahya Khan's martial law. Married early, to the only man she Knew in her age group who endorsed her view on the army actin in East Pakistan, she completed her law degree after her two daughters were born, and was 'allowed' to practice only if she worked with other women. So AGHS and its Legal Aid Cell was formed in 1980, by Aasma, Gulrukh, Hina and Shahla. Increasing contact with injustice led to a realisation of the need for Commission of Pakistan in 1986, arguably the country's most credible human rights body. Aasma, recently retired as HRCP Chairperson after serving two consective terms, was last year appointed the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Execution-- the first such position to be entrusted to a Pakistani. AYUB KHAN Mohammad Ayub Khan, the first kilitary director of pakistan, is lucky in the sense that his apologists and defenders can still be found in the intelligentsia and the privieged classes. Many consider him better than the other absolute rulers the country has had because he attempted land reform, promoted industrial growth, widened options in external relations, flirted with liberals in arts and literature, enforced Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, modernised the defence forces, etc. etc. Ti is also true that he was less amenable to dogma than others, realised the perils of military confrontation with India, and began to see the threat to the state's integrity from growing discontent in the then eastern wing. But the negative entries in his record are more consequential and decisive. His assumption of the role of country's only wise man was not only wrong on facts, it was utterly out of tune with the mood of the age and the people's needs. His ideas about genius of the people were extremely puerile and by denouncing politics (and not merely politicians) he set traditions that have been invoked repeatedly to block democracy and to sanctify authoritariansim. The way he manipulated his victory against Miss Jinnah consolidated the techniques of unfair elections. Representative rule was defined as coopration of influentials from each community while leaving the rest at the mercy of the devil. The result was that at the end of his decade of development and stability the state had been pushed to the brink of disintegration. His policy of expecting from foreign patrons what they had never offered ended in disaster in 1965. The policy of establishing state's hegemony on civil society institutions by regimenting the academics, recuiting writers attacks in the freedom of the media grievously harmed the nation's intellectual advancement and created a regimented society the ill-effects of which are visible to this day. Above all he failed to realise that absolute power corrupts absolutly and that one-man rule can never be benevolent. Ayub Khan will always be held responsible for sowing the seeds disorder the polity has not been able to manage.
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