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Covering upto December 1996

 

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Personalities - Professional

AKHTAR HAMEED KHAN

 

Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan was born in Agra on 15 July, 1914 in a Pathan family. He received his early schooling in Delhi and passed his MA from Agra University in 1934. He joined the Indian Civil Service in the same year. He attended Magdelene College, Cambridge, from 1936 to 1939 as ICS probationary officer.

In 1945, he resigned from the Civil Service and began his ascetic journey, which has lasted until today. For two years, he worked as a labourer in a village at Aligarh. In 1947, he took up a teaching post at Jamia Millia, Delhi where he stayed for three years.

In 1950, he migrated to Pakistan and was appointed as the principal of Victoria College, East Bengal, where he served until 1958. During his teaching career, he did an apprenticeship with an American rural development project and was named director of the Village Agricultural Industrial Development (V-AID) programme in 1954 and 1955. In 1958, he was sent to Michigan State University for training in rural development. On his return in 1960, he became the director of the Pakistan Academy for Rural Development (PARD) at Comilla, where he remained for eleven years.

From 1971 to 1972, Dr. Khan served as a Research Fellow at Agriculture University, Faisalabad; from 1972 to 1973 he was a Research Fellow in the Economics Department, Karachi University. He also served in the Peshawar Rural Development Academy (PARD) and initiated a rural development project, the Daudzai Pilot Project, which was prematurely shelved down due to government interference. Then he left for Michigan State University where he served as a visiting Professor until 1979.

In April 1980, he initiated an urban development project, the Orangi Pilot Project in Karachi, and served as its director. In 1992, he was tried under the Blasphemy Act by the High Court; after several years, he was declared not guilty.

For his outstanding work in the development of rural and low income areas, Dr. Khan has been awarded the Sitara-e-Pakistan (1961); the Magsaysay Award, Republic of Philippines (1963); and an honorary LLD degree by Michigan State University (1964). In addition, he has been visiting professor at Lund University, Sweden; the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University; Harvard; and Oxford.

ELLAHI BAKHSH

 

Dr. Ellahi Bakhsh is famous for his dedicated service to Quaid-e-Azam MA Jinnah in his last days. He was born in 1904 in Jullunder, India. His father was a big businessman, and his company operated largely in England.

After his early education, he left for London at 1917 to see his father. His father made him stay there, and he took admission in the Royal College of Physicians, where he obtained a graduate degree in medicine. Then he engaged in further research and specialized in surgery. He came back to India and joined Indian Medical Services in 1930. Later he was appointed as professor of pharmacology in King Edward College, Lahore, in 1936.

During the Second World War, his services were transferred to British Indian Army. After two years in the army, he was captured in 1942 by the Japanese army in Singapore. He remained a prisoner of war until the end of the war. After the war, he resumed his professorship in King Edward College.

After independence, he was promoted as the principal of King Edward Medical College, and subsequently appointed health specialist to Quaid-e-Azam, whom he attended during his stay in Ziarat, Quetta and Karachi until his last days. He has also written a book, The Last Days of The Quaid. His literary contributions include Kanwal (a novel); Attash Kada (poetry); Maqalaat-i-Taseer (writings). He set up a private clinic in Lahore named the Ellahi Bakhsh clinic. He died on 4 April 1960 from heart attack.

HUSSAIN NAQI

 

Hussain Naqi was born in 1937 in Lucknow, India. His father was an advocate. In 1955, at the age of 18, he migrated to Karachi. He joined a local college first and then took admission in Karachi University. At the university, he became a firebrand activist of the leftist student party, the National Student Federation. After a year or two, he was expelled from the university, on charges of interfering with the affairs of the administration. He staged a massive agitation and finally was readmitted by the orders of the Governor of Pakistan, Nawab Kalabagh. Upon his return, he was made president of the student union.

After graduation, he decided to be a journalist and joined a private news agency, Pakistan Press International (PPI). He worked as a reporter in the morning and as a sub-editor in the evening for two years. He was fired as a result of the government's official press policy. He later joined the Sun and became bureau chief. His stay in this capacity also proved short-lived.

His next stop was at the Punjab Times, from which he went on to start his own English weekly, the Punjab Punch, along with Eric Cyprian and Safdar Mir. It was financed by the activist Khadija Gauhar. It became an overnight success, and its circulation rose to 10,000. The government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto banned it in 1972, and Naqi was imprisoned for one year and debarred from editing, printing and publishing after his release.

He worked as a freelance journalist for some years; then his wife set up a printing press, and they lived off the press until finally in 1976, Naqi rejoined PPI. He worked in PPI until the mid-1980s, when he ran an anti-government story and was transferred to Sibi as a punishment.

He joined Viewpoint, where he wrote the Lahore Diary column for some years, until he was made to quit by Zia's government. Then he planned to launch a Punjabi newspaper, Sajjan. In 1990, he joined as the editor of the Lahore edition of the new English daily The News. Soon a conflict emerged between the editor and the owner of the Jang group of newspapers. He resigned from this position and now writes for the Nation.

ISHTIAQ HUSSAIN QURESHI

 

I.H. Qureshi was born in Patiala, Etah district, U.P. in 1896. He was educated at St. Stephen's College, Delhi and Sussex College, Cambridge, where he received his doctorate in history. He joined St. Stephen's college as a lecturer in history in 1928 and rose to a professorship in 1934. During the various phases of the Pakistan movement, he was engaged in overt political and academic work for the movement. A noteworthy reference is his participation in Kilafat Movement in 1930s. He also became a member of the Constituent Assembly.

He was elected Dean of the Faculty of Arts of Delhi University in 1944. After the creation of Pakistan, he was appointed professor of history, University of Punjab, Lahore in 1948. In 1949, he was selected as Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Interior, Refugees and Rehabilitation. Then he was appointed as Minister of State. Later, he was appointed as a member of the Central Cabinet as Minister of Education for two years. He was removed from the office in April, 1953.

I.H. Qureshi was a statesman and a man of letters. He authored several books on history and the formative years of Pakistan movement. His books include The Administration of the Delhi Sultanate, Ulema in Politics, A short History of Pakistan, The struggle for Pakistan and The History of the Freedom Movement. In recognition of his services, he was awarded the Sitara-e-Pakistan.

JAVED IQBAL

 

Javed Iqbal, the famous cartoonist, was born at Jammu, on 16 January 1946. After independence, his family settled in Lahore, where Javed attended Bright Star Public School. After his matriculation, he joined the National College of Arts and opted for fine arts. He excelled in caricature. After completing his education, he joined an Urdu daily, Nawa-i-Waqt, where he developed expertise in political satire through the medium of cartoons and caricature.

He has also published the cartoon books Bila-Unwan (1970) and Laughing Gallery (1978). He has received several national awards from the government for his services. In 1981, he left Nawa-i-Waqt for the Urdu daily Jang, where he is still employed.

JUSTICE DURAB PATEL

 

Durab Patel was born in the 1920s in a Parsi family at Quetta. His father, Framroze Patel, owned coal mines, flour mills and urban property. He spent little time in Quetta, having been raised by his grandmother in Bombay after his mother's death. He was educated in Bombay, where he earned an MA and L.L.B. In 1947, he was enrolled at the London School of Economics, and afterwards went to Inner Temple Inn, from where he qualified as a barrister. After completing his education in law, he chose not to join the legal profession in England on the grounds that it was racially biased, and hence he returned to Pakistan.

On his return, Durab Patel decided to settle in Karachi. His first job was with Waheed-ud-din, who shortly after was appointed chief justice of West Pakistan. Therefore, he left the practice at the suggestion of Shahnawaz Bhutto, a colleague of Framroze Patel in the Bombay Legislative Council of pre-independence India, and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Durab Patel set up a joint practice. After two years Bhutto left the practice, and Durab Patel went to work for the eminent lawyer Willy Lobo. There, his reputation gained ground. In 1966, when he was in his early forties, Patel was appointed as a judge of the West Pakistan High Court. Patel was the only dissenting judge on the bench in the trial of Bhutto in 1977. Currently, Durab Patel is active in the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

NASIM HASAN SHAH

 

Nasim Hasan Shah, the retired chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, who earned national fame by restoring the National Assembly in 1993, was born on April 1 1929. He received his early education from Cathedral School, Lahore and then joined Central Model High School and passed his matriculation examination in 1943. After that he joined Government College, in 1943, passed the F.Sc. in 1945 and graduated in 1947. He obtained his L.L.B. degree from Punjab University in Lahore in 1949. He later earned an MA in political science as a private candidate.

During his student days, he secured many awards and honours. He won a gold medal from Punjab University and the Academic Roll of Honour from Government College, Lahore, and participated in inter-collegiate debating competitions. In September 1949, he was enrolled as a pleader and started practising law, as an advocate of Lahore High Court in October, 1951.

In 1952, he went abroad on a scholarship awarded by the French government. He obtained a doctorate in International Law from the Sorbonne University with highest honours. He was also awarded the diploma of the Institute of Higher Studies in International Law (University of Paris), standing first in the final examination. In 1954, he obtained the coveted diploma of the academy. He came back in 1955 and was appointed as part time lecturer in law in University Law College, Lahore. He was promoted to part time reader in 1962, teaching international and constitutional law.

In 1968, he was enrolled as an advocate of the Supreme Court and later was accepted as a senior advocate in 1973. He worked as editor of the Pakistan Supreme Court Reports from 1959 to 1963. In 1959, he was also named as one of Pakistan's nominees on the permanent Court of Arbitration at Hague, a post he held until 1977.

Nasim Hasan Shah was appointed as a judge in the high court of West Pakistan on 11 May, 1968. On the dissolution of the province of West Pakistan, he was appointed as judge of the Lahore High Court in 1970. In the same year, he was appointed judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He also served as a member of the Election Commission from 1977-79. He was appointed Chief Justice by President Ghulam Ishaque Khan. He retired from this position in 1994.

NAYYAR ALI DADA

 

Nayyar Ali Dada was born in Delhi on 11 November, 1943 to a middle class family which migrated to Lahore in the fifties. He matriculated from Punjab University, Lahore, in 1957. In 1959, he was enrolled in National College of Arts. He graduated from NCA in 1964 and chose to stay on as a lecturer, taking projects on the side. The relationship with Shakir Ali (the principal of NCA) grew, and the two became close friends. As a token of friendship, Nayyar designed Shakir Ali's house in Garden Town, Lahore (now the Shakir Ali Museum). By the early 1970s Nayyar had developed a reputation that enabled him to quit teaching and set up a small practice in Lahore with H. Khan Associates.

The building which earned fame for Dada was the Al-Hamra Arts Complex, the first true example of modern architecture in Pakistan, which he designed in the 1970s. Later ventures were the Al-Hamra Open Air Theatre and the Children's Library complex.

Apart from being a member of many groups such as the Anjuman-e-Mimaran, Lahore, Conversation Society, and Punjab Arts Council, he owns Nairang Galleries. Nairang is a private art gallery, which he hopes will one day foster an environment helpful to intellectuals and artists.

He has designed the following prominent buildings: Sheraton, Lahore, Saudi-Pak Tower, Islamabad, Industrial and Agricultural Investment Co-operation Limited, Islamabad, Freemason Hall (restored), Bagh-e-Jinnah, Lahore (restored), Quaid-e-Azam Library Lahore (restored), Lahore Zoo and Emco Complex.

His awards include the award for designing the best public building (Alhamra, Lahore) 1981; the award for designing the best public building (Shakir Ali Museum), 1982; and the Building of the Decade Award (the Open Air Theatre, Lahore), 1989.

Nayyar's personal life is shrouded in silence. He married at an early age and was divorced after ten years. He has two sons, the elder at NCA following his father's footsteps.

M. D. TASEER

 

Dr. Mohammad Din Taseer was born in 1902 in Ajnala, Amristar. He received his early education from Amristar. After his matriculation he came to Lahore and joined Government College, Lahore. He received an MA in English language and literature in 1925.

He then joined the Education Department and served at Islamia College, Lahore as a lecturer in the Department of English. He went to Cambridge for graduate studies in English language and literature. He was the first Indian to obtain a degree in English from Cambridge University. He returned to India in 1937 and was appointed as principal in Srinagar. Later, he was transferred to M.A.O. College as principal. After independence, he was appointed as principal of Islamia College, Lahore. He was well known as a critic in literature and art.

SAADIQ HUSSAIN KHWAJA

 

S. H. Khwaja was born on November 4 1926 in Warawal, India. He was educated at Colonel Brown School, where he passed his matriculation in 1942. He earned his F.Sc. degree in 1944 from Government College, Lahore and his M.B.B.S. from King Edward Medical College, Lahore in 1949. He went abroad for the M.R.C.P. (Edinburgh) and F.R.C.P. in 1965.

He served as the dean of the Medical Faculty of Punjab University for five years; as chairman of the Board of Studies in Medicine; as president of the Pakistan Medical Association; and as president of the Pakistan Society of Physicians.

He first introduced the needle biopsy technique in Pakistan. He also first began a gastroenterology and G.I. endoscopy section in Mayo Hospital, Lahore, in 1974. Finally, he was the first to modernise teaching methods at medical colleges. He served as principal of King Edward Medical College, Lahore from 1981 to 1986.

SIBTE HASAN

 

Sibte Hasan was born in 1916 at Azam Garah (U.P.) India. His father name was Mir Jafar Ali. Sibte received his early education from Mission High School and after matriculation joined American College, Allahabad. He graduated in English literature and left for Aligarh. At Aligarh, he attended the Aligarh Muslim University and passed his MA in English literature. He started his career as a journalist in the Bombay Chronicle.

After six months, he left Bombay Chronicle and joined Payam, a weekly in Hyderabad. During his stay in Hyderabad, he co-authored the books, Jang-e-Habshah and Attalia with Akhtar Hussain Hoshiarpuri. Sibte became assistant editor of the daily The National Herald, owned by Nehru, in the 1930s.

He joined the All-India Communist Party in 1942 and participated in the Quit India movement. In the wake of the movement, daily The National Herald closed down and Sibte Hasan left for Bombay. At Bombay, he began working for the Urdu weekly Jang. A stroke of luck took him to America, where he represented a newspaper of the United Nations.

He continued his leftist, anti-imperialist activities, until 1948 when the US government came to know about his communist activities and deported him back to Pakistan. In Pakistan, he was imprisoned for four years. After his release, he resumed his journalistic activities and became the editor of the weekly Lail-o-Nahar, owned by Mian Iftikhar-ud-din. After three years, he resigned from the post in 1959 and joined Ferozsons as editor of publications. In 1959, he left Karachi for good and worked in an insurance company as Director public relations until his death in April 1986.

His famous books include Shehr-e-Nigaran, Musa See Marx Tak, Naveed-e-Fiqar, and Pakistan Mein Tahzeb Ka Ertaka.

S. M. ZAFAR

 

S.M. Zafar, was born in Rangoon on 6 December 1930. He received his elementary education in Rangoon and graduated from Government College Lahore in 1949. He passed the L.L.B. examination from Punjab Law College, Lahore, in 1951.

During his career as a student, he took part in extra-curricular activities. He was elected as secretary of the Government College union in 1949, secretary of Punjab University Law College, and vice-president of the Muslim Student Federation in 1952.

In 1954, he was enrolled as an advocate in the high court. He was elected as a member of the Bar Council in 1962. As a visiting lecturer, he taught at Law College, Lahore, Civil Services Academy from 1957 to 1963. He was taken into the cabinet of Pakistan as minister for law and parliamentary affairs in March 1965 by Ayub Khan. In 1966, he was elected as president of the Commonwealth Parliament Association. He resigned as minister in March, 1969 and established Zafar Law Associates in the same year. He also established a human rights organisation to protect the rights of minorities and marginal groups. Currently, he practices law.

S. M. Zafar has received many honours. He represented Pakistan in an international seminar on world peace in 1965 and presided over the World Seminar on Disarmament in Geneva in 1967. He is a member of the High Court Bar Association of Lahore and Peshawar. He is also president of the Civil and Liberty Rights Forum, Pakistan.

 
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