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asifpk.5u.com |
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LEGENDS OF PAKISTAN
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HABIBS, THE Seth Habib, head of the memon Habib family from Bombay migrated to Pakistan on a special request by the Quaid. As menbers of the Muslim Chamber of Commerce and owners of the pre-independence Habib Bank with branches in Vienna and Zurich by the early 1920s, their move into the banking sector in the newly independence country was very natural. They brought their banking experience and the Habib Bank Limited, as the biggest private sector bank in Pakistan at the time. They diversified their business and got into Modarbas and industries, investing in Jute Mills, Shabir Tiles and Indus Motors, to name a few -- soon to be among the 22 richest families of the countries of the country listed by the Ayub government. Babib Bank, however, was nationalized in 1972 in the Bhitto era. But Habib Bank was not the only venture that held the family's interest in financial sector. They also own Habib AG Zurich, an international bank with branches in many foreign countries, and are major share holders of banking organisation such as AI Habib and metropolitan Bank. Apart for their interest in banks and industries, they are trustees of many educational centers for lao-income groups, besides supporting several religious institutions. HABIB JALIB Habib Jalib was a populist poet. He was a clear departure from the mainstream Urdu poetic tradition where the poet preferred to live in his ivory tower away from the rough and tumble active life. He was in fact much closer to the Punjabi tradition where the poet was also an activist fighting on all front, usually either landing in jail or forced into exile.Going to jail was thus a professional hazard because Jalib was irrepressible and could not hold back in the face of repressive mearsures by successive government. A totally diapossesed man, he was fearless in his confrontation with the government and was therefore much feared by the powers that be. He had to be populist because he was topical and engaged the anti-people policiees in his verses which became instant slogans and were more deadly than the deadliest of bullets. His verses galvanised scattered opposition and inspired hope among the common urban dwellers. These easy to understand verses thus were more effective as their outreach was more than thar of the more respected poets. HAFEEZ JULLUNDURI Born in Jullundhar, Indian Punjab Hafeez Jullunduri migrated to Lahore after the Pakistan. He made up for the lack formal education with self-study and hard work and carved his place in the poetic pantheon. He also worked as director of Song Publicity Organisation during the World War 11. He also established a publishing house called Honhaar Book depot, in Lahore. His fame rests on his long poem, Shahnama-i-Islam, which in the manner of Fridouse's Shahnama, is a record of the glorious history of Islam in verse. He also wrote the national anthem of Pakistan. He is unique in Urdu poetry for the enchanting melody of his voice and lilting rhythms of his songs and lyrics. His poetry generally deals with romantic, religious, patriotic and natural themes. He chooses his themes, images and tunes from the subcontinent and his language is a fine blend of Hindi and Urdu diction, reflecting the composite culture of South Asia. HAKIM SAID A great humanitarian, educationist and scholar, Hakim Mohammad Said was the founding president of The Hamdard Foundation and founding chancellor of Hamdrad University. After partition, Hakim Said left his wealth in India and migrated to Pakistan with barely anything. He committed himself to the service of humanity by building several indespensible institutions. Author of 36 books in Urdu and 27 in English, Hakim Said had good command over the two languages and working knowledge of Arabic, Persian, Pushto, Bangali, Sindhi and Punjabi. He published more than 500 articles on science, medicine, history and Islam. He received the Sitara-e-Imtiaz, in 1966 for his selfless services, besides several other awards and instruments of recognition, both nationally and internationally. As a practicing physician, Hakim Said treated more than 3 millon patients in his life. He was the Founder-president of Madinatul Hikmat or the 'city of culture and learnung'. He was gunned down at the age of 78 years in a terrorist attack in 1998. HAMID NIZAMI Hamid Nizami and his Nawai Waqt are two outstanding names from the Pakistan Movement. Nawai waqt was first taken out on March 29, 1940 as fortnightly, a week after the passage of Pakistan Resolution in Lahore. It was edited by Nizami, who was then a student at Islamia College Lahore and his friend Shabbar hasan, a medical student. The paper became a weekly after two years in 1944, it became a daily and was offered financial help by the Muslim League. Nizami declined, but assured the League of his full support. He remained committed to League ideas and was extremly critical of those who supported the imposition of the first martial law in country by Ayub Khan. After the creation of Pakistan, the readership of Nawai Waqtgrew, as it came to be regarded as a paper which gave voice to right-wing views. It is one of the three largest newspaper concerns in Pakistan. HANIF MOHAMMAD Hanif was the first member of the Muhammad cricketing dynasty who made it big in the sporting world. He was a batsman, small and compact, with nearly all the shots in the book in the use of which a rigid discipline was applied. When Pakistan entered the international cricket arena, Hanif was a mere 17, with a boyish face and curly hair that endeared him to all. Almost immediatly after he made his debut in Test cricket, it became clear that the Junagadh born youngster was destined to become a star. He was not only a national hero but went on to become a legend. His stonewalling 337 in a batting time of 970 minutes, against the West Indiens at Bridgetown in 1957-58, still remains the only Test triple hundered made by a Pakistani player. His 499 for Karachi the following year stood as the biggesr score in all first-class cricket before Brian Lara crossed the 500-run barrier almost four decades later. For a number of years, his 55 Tests and 3,915 runs remained a record for Pakistan because Hanif was the mainstay of the country's rather weak betting line-up. Three of his four brothers also played Tests for Pakistan, as did his son also. HASHIM KHAN This "small big man" laid the foundation of what the squash world now know as the Khans empire. The day in the winter of 1951 when he boarded a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) aircraft to Lndon (his journey was made possible through donation from PAF officers), alsomarked the beginning of a golden era of Pakistan squash. He was an instant success, winning the British Professional Championship, Scottish Open and finally the prestigious as the world Championshep of squash. In the final he defeated Egyptian great Mahmood Al Karim so convincingly by the end of it, the defending champion could not help muttering to himself "too fast, too fast". Hashim's is an astonishing success story. He won his first British Open at a ripe old age of 35 (Jahangir Khan retired at 32, Jansher is in the twilight of his career at 31). Hashim defended the coveted crown in 52, 53, 54, 55, 56. He was beaten in the final by Roshan Khan in 57 but bounced back to take his seventh title the following years at the age of 42. He was head and shouldres above his rivels, winning ll major events in British, USA and Canada during the fifties. Hashim gave a new dimension to squash and pioneered professionalism in the sport. HUSAIN SHAHEED SUHRAWARDY Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy is one of the most complex characters Pakistan's historians have to deal with. His understanding of history, politics and the people was exceptionally high. A brilliant, articulate advocate, he was accepted as a mature liberal. He derived his political strength from the democratic support of the people and opposed dictatorship. These qualities enabled him to contribute to some heaithy trends in politics. He was among the first to protest against the way the 1940 resulation was being interperted and the attempts to keep the two-nation theory alive after its period had expired. History has yet to give its final judgment on his plan to fight the threat posed to post-independent India and P akistan by the partition of provinces. But his character combined several mutually contradictory elements. The image of the man who walked by Gandhi's side to console victims of sommunal rioting could not be reconciled with the image of the chief minister under whom Calcutta suffered one of the wrost carnasges in history.His plea that after the provincial elections in Wast Bengal the Constituent Assembly had lost its representative character was sound, but it did not justify collusion with Ghulam Mohammad in its sacking or his advocacy of a convention to frame a new constitution. He was strong on the rights of nationalities, yet failed to recognise them in the case of West Pakistan entities when as law minister he piloted the one-unit bill. He might have been right in describing alliances of Muslim states as zero plus zero but that furnished no reason for joining those who had committed agression against Nasser's Egypt. perhaps suhrawardy's political career reflects the bigger tragedy of Pakistan's politics. Neither he nor anyone possibilities of tacking the problems rooted in the Indian Muslims freedom movement and in the premises on which the state of Pakistan was founded. Suhrawardy's brief stint as prime minister became controversial partly because by then denigators of demacratic rights had firmly entrenched themselves and he was unable to defy the marching orders issued by Iskander mirza. His final contribution to the people's consciousness came in the from of a steady effort to mobilise democratic forces against Ayub; that is the image that survive and is worth preserving. |