BOOK: MOHAMMAD AHMAD ALLAWALA, THE EVER CONTEMPORARY; RICHNESS BEYOND MATERIAL WEALTH, By Adil Ahmad
CONTENTS
AUTHOR’S NOTE
CHAPTER ONE “DRAW OF THE UNIFORM”
PMA Kakul
CHAPTER TWO “MARTIAL INDULGENCES”
Punjabi Saudagran
Akhlaqi Fauj
‘Attaturk’ the Trader
Stammer Subdued
Fakir Of Ipi
University Officers Training Corps
(UOTC)
CHAPTER THREE “CHANGING LANDSCAPES”
Bhawali OUTC Camp Blues
House-Boating on Dal Lake
Moon Sneaks a Peak
Death of a Mule
Sheep Hunters of Zojela Pass
CHAPTER FOUR “THE TRAUMA OF
PARTITION”
Train to Delhi
Devastation and Massacre Enroute
Ram Lal
Distress in the Family
Phuppa Lends a Hand
New Roots in Karachi
Analyzing Sacrifice
CHAPTER FIVE “ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY DAYS”
Two ‘Rotis’ & Two ‘Botis’
Tight Routine & Limited Social Circle
Colonel Haider’s Sharp Crack of
Thunder
Repulsing the Attack of the Burqa
Clad
Setting High Standards
Turki Topis & Jinnah Caps
Good Friends
CHAPTER SIX “NEW BEGINNINGS IN PAKISTAN ”
Mother Torpedo’s Nowshera & PMA
Kakul!
CHAPTER SEVEN “TRAVEL TO DISTANT
SHORES”
Coming To AME-RE-KA!
Brush with Sandhurst
Laid up in Tehran
Subhan lends a hand
Where’s My Gal?
CHAPTER EIGHT “THE ATTOCK
EXPERIENCE”
Attock Calling
Promotion & Problem with old
friend
Life in Attock & Martial Links
Hairy Scary In Gilgit
Not Quite Nine To Five
Thriving Social Life
Foreign Educated Indigenous genius
at work
Paucity of Praise
Performance Pays
Showing up the ‘Masters’ once more
CHAPTER NINE “CHANGE OF HORSES”
Jalil’s Advent
Striking a Chord
Loyal Companyman until The End
Trailblazing With NRL
Demanding Top Dollar in Abu Dhabi
Perac Strategy of Development
Naptha Cracker Crack Up
Shahzad Sadiq, the Spoiler
Let Him Fry In His Own Oil!
Nationalization – Enter the
Bureaucracy
Venturing Beyond Profit
5 & & of NRL, A Philosophy,
Not A Job
HRD Bank
Thoughts on Huma n
Development
CHAPTER TEN “LIFE AS AN
ENTREPRENEUR”
Out On a Limb
Kicking the Habit
Exploring Options
EMMAY Associates
Made for Moiz
Gulfstone Inc
CHAPTER ELEVEN “BACK IN THE SADDLE”
Making Minister
Hobnobbing With Zia
CHAPTER TWELVE “BIRDS EYE VIEW”
What If?
Soldiering In Islam
Ayub Khan Era
Analyzing Khem Kharan
Lakeer Key Faqir
CHAPTER THIRTEEN “DAD &
GRANDDAD”
Rameez, the entrepreneur
Rameez finds a mate
Karen, the pious
No favoritism!
Moiz battles the hard times
Azeez, the intellectual
Doing daddy proud
TAILPIECE - AUTHOR’S NOTE CONTINUED……
AUTHOR’S
NOTE
The Allawalas trace their ancestry
to the Rajputs and the Khatri Alluwalia of Pind Dadan Khan of West
Punjab . That explains the nomenclature Punjabi Saudagaran. It is
said that on a Ziarat (religious trek) to the Sikh holy city of Hardwara , the Punjabi Saudagaran encountered Shams Pir
upon crossing the Jumna
River Punjab who were excellent at trade and commerce. So a few
families were invited to migrate from Pind Dadan Khan and settle in Delhi under full Mughal
patronage, and they grew and prospered.
The newer Allawala generations,
educated overseas and very tech savvy, have taken a keen interest in their
roots, and are developing a Biradari Tree which already has 4000 entries, and
growing. Most Allawalas today are settled in Karachi .
My introduction to Mr. Mohammad
Ahmad Allawala was long overdue. I had known his eldest son Azeez for as long
as I could remember. His younger son Rameez I met during the course of my
engagements with human resource trainers on behalf of the TCS Management
Development Services. Rameez’s forte as a trainer was ethics and leadership,
and here I concurred with him wholeheartedly, and delighted in the casual yet
effective manner in which he dealt with a topic steeped in logic and its
attendant heaviness. Their wives, too, I knew independently. Azeez’s wife, the
late Alice, was a daughter of Air Commodore Turowicz, a very dear friend of my
uncles and father. Rameez’s wife Karen was herself a formidable trainer in the
use of e-prime, the direct route to expression in the English language, and I
had both attended and helped promote her training workshops. Looking back I now
wonder why I never met the father of such illustrious progeny.
It took my dear friend from my
university days, Saeed Allawala, to make the introduction. This was no casual
introduction over a cup of tea. People given to high IQ levels tend to
gravitate towards extremes. Saeed and I wouldn’t see each other for years. Then
when we did meet it was with an intensity of association that made the long
periods of absence disappear, it seeming as if we had never left each others
company. On this occasion it was somewhat similar. We met at the launch of the
book ‘Gardener’ organized by the Horticultural Society of Pakistan. Karachi had
been through some tumultuous times, as Karachi is often prone to doing, and
this invitation had brought a sigh of relief to a petrified gentry not yet
grown used to street violence and mindless acts of arson.
This time when Saeed met me I
sensed more than the usual bonhomie. In the over three decades that have passed
since we first met Saeed and I have never been involved in any transactional
relationship, both marching to the sound of different drummers. Saeed’s
interests lay predominantly in the pharmaceutical industry, and mine lay all
over the place, as is prone to happening when one is a first generation
self-employed individual possessed with the spirit of inquiry and agitated by
perhaps excessive critical thinking. Amongst all the areas and sectors I had
explored, pharmaceuticals had never featured, except as a landlord perhaps,
with a portion of my wife’s inheritance rented out to a Pharma distributor.
So Saeed’s air of purpose at
our meeting this time was refreshingly novel, and I wondered what was
transpiring in my friend’s mind as we sat listening to some good speakers
celebrating the ‘Gardener’. Saeed knew that for the last many years I had
earned my living as a writer of the freelance variety, researching, reviewing
and reporting on socio-economic issues, which generally encompass anything and
everything to do with the human good. As such I had gained a fair amount of
diversity in my portfolio, with a book on Ameena
Saiyid , the Managing Director of the Oxford University Press,
my most recent claim to fame if not fortune. ‘The Warrior Princess in the Book
Business’ had been very well received, and Ameena was here this evening as the
co-host, with OUP having published the ‘Gardener’.
I was slightly tense. During
the course of my interviews with Ameena for her book, we had exchange views on
her OBE Award by Her Majesty the Queen of England. This was recognition that we
were all very proud of. Having said that, and given that we had won our
independence from the British not so long ago, recognition from the Queen of
England was not something that one could proudly flaunt in public in Pakistan Iraq , Afghanistan
Some days later I received in
the post Ameena’s OBE royal proclamation parchment, complete with Her Majesty’s
signature and seal. I was awed by her gesture, and spent a good while just
staring at it, dwelling upon the emotions that I had managed to trigger off in
its recipient. As a professional researcher and writer I could have not avoided
this issue. Her gesture was so profound that I just couldn’t pick up the phone
and ask her what this was all about. The only thing that I could do, and which
I did, was to file it away safely in my filing cabinet, and wait for an
opportune moment to return it to its rightful owner without upsetting her in
any way.
The launch of the ‘Gardener’
made for such an opportunity, and I placed the royal parchment in a sturdy file
cover, and drove the few streets from my place to the venue. These were the
circumstances in which I met Saeed Allawala, once again as per custom after a
lengthy spell. A good deal of the tension that I had been experiencing, in the
build up to the return of the parchment, dissipated right away as Saeed and I
got into some good natured verbal dueling, which is what all school mates do
when they meet. However, this evening both Saeed and I were on edge, for
different reasons.
Operating on the edge is
something that comes naturally to those who have been processed by the Institute of Business Administration Pakistan
Collaborating with Saeed in
anything other than a wide array of humour was something alien to me. This time
he sprung three simultaneous surprises on me. He wanted me to revamp a trade
journal, take a field trip with The Health Foundation team to Islamabad
For the sake of brevity I have
referred to Mohammed Ahmed Allawala in the narration that follows simply as MA,
initials that he came to be known by in his professional life by both friend
and foe in the trail blazing modes that he has found himself in, given his
preference for venturing into uncharted waters and paths unexplored. MA has
consciously shunned the lap of luxury that has been the hallmark of his ‘Tajir’
community, and through life he has abhorred the accumulation and display of
wealth for its own sake, something that has made him an oddity amongst his
peers.
His reasons for living his life
the way he has are beyond reproach, and based upon a relentless focus on a
grand vision that encompasses the higher purpose in life. MA has achieved many
a remarkable milestone in his life, but his is not to sit back and rest upon
his laurels. At the age of 83 he may appear to live a life in well earned
retirement, but he keeps his technical knowledge base and world view updated
through his vociferous reading habit that includes a diet of the latest trade
journals and a plethora of books on the macro manifestation of the world.
MA harnesses in full the
benefit of hindsight, and based upon his rich experiences at all levels of
management and governance, the advice for the present and future generations
that he produces is invaluable, indeed priceless. Old age, or that which is
conventionally perceived as old age, should never be a criterion for retirement
from active duty in the service of society. Even as the level of physical
activity declines, the mind gains in sharpness, and barring the intervention of
inflated egos, the best thing that any man can ask for is to leave this world
with his boots on. MA has his boots on, a formidable pair of boots that have
taken him through life in forceful fashion, and continue to do so.
BREAKING
THE ICE
In my first meeting with MA I
had my work cut out for me developing a comfort zone where he would trust me
enough with the history of his life. I was given the full hospitality with
excellent tea and some fine tasting cookies, and then politely told there was
nothing for him to say, and hence nothing for me to write. I understood his
sentiments, having met some oldie goldies who were so fed up with the state of
society that they did not wish their thoughts to appear in public. No amount of
pleading and cajoling had brought them around, and I am sure some fine stories
went lamentably unreported. So I sat back to enjoy my tea, and shoot the breeze
with Azeez, who was present at this first meeting, and his dad.
I hadn’t met Azeez in a longish
while, and we had much to catch up on. MA sat with a smile on his face,
watching us swap stories about our lives and families. Altan, his son, is all
set to become a brilliant scientist, and is studying in Australia Australia
By and by I sensed MA relax,
and the comfort zone began to form. The deal, as it were, got clinched when I
got up to take a closer look at framed photographs upon the wall. There was a
black and white picture of what appeared to be an army unit with a legend
underneath containing the names of all pictured. There were five rows of young
men attired in khaki and broad brimmed hats. This was the Aligarh Muslim
University Adil ! This was no small coincidence. There were
cosmic forces operating here, and given MA’s belief in fate and destiny, he
came around very quickly thereafter to my penning his thoughts for a book on
his life and times.
Adil Ahmad (Karachi
CHAPTER 1 “DRAW OF THE UNIFORM”
PMA
KAKUL
I did not depart that first
meeting empty handed. MA handed me a box-file which he said contained papers
regarding the defining moments of his life. They mostly related to his
involvement in the oil industry which comprised the big happenings in his life
for which he will always be remembered. However, amongst the select collection
of documents was one which immediately drew my attention. It was a set of
joining instructions for candidates selected for training for regular
commissions in the Pakistan Land Forces, issued by the Adjutant General’s
Branch of the Organization Directorate at General Headquarters in Rawalpindi
The ‘Call Up Notice’, as it was
generally referred to, bore the date 1st August 1948 and serial number
4105/89/AG/Org 3(a). This no doubt was the fork in the road not taken, a fork
for which he had passionately prepared all his life starting with the Akhlaqi
Fauj in his preteens and teens, and then progressing on to the University
Officers Training Corps (UOTC) at the Aligarh
and Punjab Universities
The fact that MA had treasured
and saved his Call Up Notice after all these years pointed to his emotional
attachment to the uniform which he had worn with great pride early in life, and
revealed the inner discipline that had shaped his successful career as an
entrepreneur in the private sector oil business. The birth of a new nation had
laid a heavy premium upon the spirit of enterprise, and belonging to a business
family that had been dislocated from its roots in Delhi Pakistan
The Call Up Notice provides
some interesting insights into the mindsets that were developed at the Pakistan
Military Academy (PMA). Prudence in the use of money was a high priority, and
getting into debt was an act punishable by the withholding of the commission.
75 rupees a month was deemed sufficient to get by at the PMA, and from that
salary had to be paid the club subscriptions, sports fee, barrack’s damages,
bearer’s pay, cost of drinks and cigarettes. The cadets were not allowed to
bring horses, dogs, and other pets to the Academy. Wireless sets, cars,
motorcycles, bicycles, air-guns and pistols were not permitted either, but
properly licensed fire arms and ammunition could be brought along for hunting
purposes. Amongst the hobbies encouraged by the PMA were amateur dramatics,
hunting, hiking, fishing, wireless, gymnastics, music, nature study, horse
riding, photography, debating, bridge, and gardening. This was truly a format
for producing an officer and a gentleman.
MA, however, would not respond
to this Call Up Notice in deference to his mother's wishes, and follow his own
unique path to becoming a gentleman and an officer.
CHAPTER TWO “MARTIAL
INDULGENCES”
PUNJABI
SAUDAGRAN
“There was some sort of a bug
in my system!” says MA with reference to his irresistible attraction to martial
pursuits. “I don’t know what it was. I was born into a ‘Tajir’ family, the
‘Saudagran’, whose aim in life is to make money, live nicely, and generally
impress people with their wealth.” Born in Delhi
MA attended the Punjabi School
in Delhi
AKHLAQI
FAUJ
MA’s group initially comprised
of half a dozen kids in their preteens. They formed a theatre group, and when once
while performing there were rowdy elements that disrupted proceedings. So the
group expanded its ambit to self defense, and began performing regular drills.
The ‘Akhlaqi Fauj’ came into being with a well defined code of ethical conduct.
By the time they were twelve years old the Akhlaqi Fauj had grown to encompass
the four main mohallas in the Punjabi Saudagran Biradari, each having its own
‘Salar’ responsible for the 14 to 16 members of each mohalla. Regular drills
were conducted after Maghrib prayers, and soon the Akhlaqi Fauj was participating
in the Eid Milad Nabi processions between the Masjid Fatehpuri and the Lal
Qila. Young kids with dandas, walking in uniform fashion along with the elderly
and serious minded people. They were more than just the local equivalent of the
Boy Scouts, given their mental and physical preparedness for martial action.
Narrating an incident MA says that
one day as he was conducting a night time parade of the Akhlaqi Fauj, standing
atop a parapet of an old fortification, he was spotted by his father who
passing by in a rickshaw on his way home from the shop. His father was not
entirely thrilled with the entire Akhlaqi Fauj idea, fearing where all it might
lead his son in the tumultuous times that characterized undivided India .
He had extracted a promise from MA not to take part in the parades. Later that
night, after the parade was over and dinner had been partaken, his father
confronted him in the presence of his mother, and MA completely denied that he
had been doing parading.
His father was furious, and
reminded him that he was in violation of the Akhlaqi Fauj’s code of conduct by
telling a lie. MA said that he was not lying! When his father said that he had
seen him with his own eyes, MA replied that what he had seen was his son
conducting the parade, and not parading himself! At this his father burst out
laughing, and told MA’s mother that no one could win an argument from her son!
The Akhlaqi Fauj had the
Khaksars movement as its ideal, and would envy its superior organization.
“Alama Mashriqi was the chief of the Khaksars,” MA remembers. “He had announced
that after the Khaksars achieved a strength of 2.5 million people, the Khaksars
would shed their uniforms. A relative of mine who knew the Alama took me to a
grand parade of the Khaksars in Delhi at the
Eidgah ground where Khaksars from all over India Peshawar
Alama Mashriqi greatly
appreciated the response given by this young, impetuous boy. It was a desire
for Islah, the mentoring of society, which drove MA from a young age.
'ATATURK',
THE TRADER
Sultan Rafi Allawala was a
close friend, relative, and a neighbour whose kitchen had a window that opened
into MA’s kitchen. His haveli was known as the ‘lumbi davwri wala makan’ due to
a long lane that led into it. He was MA’s grand uncle on his father’s side.
Zohra Bi was his sister, a very beautiful lass much older to MA, and who used
to tease him occasionally. Once she spotted him selling sweet meats, channa
cakes etc, and taunted him that Mustafa Kemal Ataturk had set up a shop selling
sweat meats! This was with reference to MA’s preoccupation with the Akhlaqi
Fauj that took Ataturk as its role model. MA’s mother used to lovingly say that
MA would become like Ataturk when he grew up, which Zohra Bi must have
overheard being a next door neighbour. MA’s embarrassment knew no bounds and
his ears reddened with indignation.
STAMMER SUBDUED
Sports were not MA’s forte, but he
was fond of debating, and blessed with very good and affectionate teachers.
Master Niaz Ahmed, an Aligarh
Muslim University
One day, during a school extempore
debate, master Niaz, without any warning, called MA to come up and speak in
front of the entire school! MA was petrified! And went up and pleaded with him
that he could not do so because of his stammer. Master Niaz was adamant, and
said that MA should go to the rostrum and tell the audience exactly that. No
amount of pleading would get him off the hook. Then something came over MA, and
he assumed the rostrum and spoke. The stammer was gone! The debate’s motion was
whether the Delhi
tramline should be removed or not from the city streets. MA argued that it
should be removed, because when it rained the tracks became invisible under the
water, and Hat Babu, who came to school on a bicycle, was in danger of getting
his wheels stuck in the tramline ruts and falling off, with his hat carried
away by the water and his sherwani all wet! The students loved his humour at
the teacher’s expense, and roared their approval. His second argument was that
book-keepers (Munshis) at the shops were greatly disadvantaged by the trams. In
the absence of calculators in those days all additions and substractions were
done mentally, with the figures spoken out loud to aid memory. They would forget
their totals as the tram passed by with a roar, and would have to start
totaling all over again!
Not quite the Cambridge University Punjabi
School Cambridge
school in New Delhi ’s
Daryaganj district.
A friend of MA’s father, also an
Allawala, had a daughter, and each time they visited each other his father
would look at her and say that she is mine! At the age of 12 MA was engaged to
her. She was attending Cambridge
school, and to put them in closer proximity so they could get to know each
other better, MA was made to change schools, and catch the same bus to and fro.
“But that plan never worked because I never looked at her!” says MA, who
refused to wear the new uniform which comprised of shorts and shirts, and
continued wearing his kurta-pajama with Turki Topi, earning the nickname
‘Mullah’! The tassle on the Turki Topi would swing vigorously whenever MA
argued a point. That made the boys extremely cautious of him! “I saw first hand
how the English medium boys looked down upon those who came from the Urdu medium,”
says MA, and having spent almost eight months in the Cambridge school MA found
that he just could not assimilate. He returned to the old system to complete
his Matriculation, having lost almost a year in the process, and joined St. Stephens
High School
He had other issues that he was
not in the least bit comfortable with. Her house overlooked the Akhlaqi Fauj’s
parade ground, and her father would keenly observe the activity as MA, the
Salar-e-Azam, went about marshalling his troops of which her three brothers
were a part. One day her father invited him into the house. With great
reluctance he went inside, and once amongst the ladies he suffered an acute
bout of shyness! This was a new sensation for him, completely at odds with his
macho leadership personality on the parade ground. MA noticed this dichotomy in
himself and was very concerned.
FAKIR
OF IPI
In 1937-38 MA experienced the
early manifestations of the present Taliban movement. Fakir of Ipi was fighting
the British in Waziristan of the Sarhad
province. Unwittingly, MA and his friends became the Fakir’s agents in Delhi Delhi Delhi
It was a daunting task
involving strength in logistics. Naqi Sanaullah (owner of the famed fine
suiting suppliers in Karachi , Sanaulla), Rizvi
sahib, and Hafiz Mohammed Islam Jauhar (later reporter of Jang in Karachi Punjabi School
Soon after this MA complained
to Maulana Aurangzeb Alamgir that he never introduced him to the people higher
up in the hierarchy. “He wanted to protect me as much as possible, but when he
saw my keen interest he agreed, and took me one night to a mosque in Chandni
Chowk for Isha prayers. After the prayers we very surreptitiously moved to a
basement of the mosque where the clandestine meeting was to take place. Here I
met the senior thinkers and activists of the movement for independence. It were
their thoughts and action plans that Maulvi sahib had been communicating to
me.”
There was many a wild tale
circulated about the Fakir of Ipi in the mosques of the subcontinent. Some said
that his Mujahideens were immune to bullets, and would be only recalled, and
that too out of embarrassment, once the bullets had shredded their clothing and
left them naked! It was said that on one occasion the British general had
offered the Fakir anything that he wanted in return for his compliance. The
Fakir had lifted his foot and showed the British officer a hoard of gold
underneath a seemingly dirt floor!
One task entrusted to MA and
his associates was to help smuggle out of Delhi
and into Waziristan the craftsmen with a reputation
for making cannons, and who knew how to operate lathe machines. Delhi CID
was alert to this fact, and we had to exercise a lot of caution. We used code
names, and all our activity was cloaked in secrecy. It was all very exciting,
and just the kind of stuff which school and college kids would like to get up
to! In the exuberance of youth and the excitement of the moment perhaps the
dangers of our activities were lost on us.”
The point that MA makes is that
the way the Taliban are operating against the Western presence in the region today
is more or less similar to the way the militants of Waziristan
had operated in the 1937-38 period. “The objectives and the adversaries may be
different, but the modus operandi is the same. The area and topography is the
same. The informal networking, the impregnable cloak of secrecy, the code words
and names, and hand signals, these all hark back to a different time. The
terminology in use, the term Mujahideen-e-Islam, is the same as well.”
UOTC
– UNIVERSITY OFFICERS TRAINING CORPS
When MA joined Aligarh Muslim University
Once again fate conspired, and
the Chairman of the Chemistry Department in which MA was enrolled happened to
be Colonel Haider, who was also the Battalion Commander of the UOTC! He took a
special liking to MA, and insisted that if he was to salute, then he should
salute properly, with taut arm muscles and a quiver to the palm! Otherwise he
should not bother saluting at all.
The officers that the UOTC
turned out may not all have joined the armed forces, but they certainly
constituted a league of extraordinary gentlemen. MA is saddened by the thought
that the Pakistani equivalent of the UOTC, known as the National Cadet Corps (NCC ), was never taken seriously, and not provided
with the wherewithal, neither materially nor the dedicated and enlightened
human resource to process the youth of Pakistan Lahore JCC added great value to the personality
development of the boys who had the benefit of its training.
MA says that he often coaxed
General Yahya Khan and General Hamid to make the UOTC compulsory in the
education system, and to develop it in a manner that was exciting and
interesting for the students. Unfortunately the momentum was not sustained. An
early step in this direction was the University Air Squadron in 1954 which
unfortunately fell victim to adhocism, like most good things in Pakistan Pakistan
CHAPTER THREE “CHANGING LANDSCAPES”
BHAWALI UOTC CAMP BLUES
The 1947 UOTC summer camp, spread
over three months in the foothills of the Himalayas at Bhawali (UP, India ), was cancelled due to apprehensions of
communal trouble in the run up to Independence .
The UOTC summer camps were an annual dream vacation for MA, even though his
mother entirely disapproved of her son putting himself at risk during the
course of the camp that comprised jungle training, hand to hand combat, rigorous
route marches and endurance drills, and the live fire training on all manner of
weaponry. These comprised nightmarish scenarios for MA’s mother, and were not
entirely unjustified.
The UOTC was conducted by
experienced officers of the Royal Indian Army, and these chaps took their
business very seriously, much to MA’s delight! On this issue MA and his mother
never saw eye to eye, while his father watched in wonderment at the martial
traits that this son of a saudagar was displaying! It was no doubt a genetic
jump harking back to some distant ancestors who wielded swords and rode horses.
MA’s mother would invariably relent under extreme protest, and MA was too
consumed with the charge, and not quite mature enough as yet, to appreciate his
mother’s genuine anguish. This maturity would come in the not too distant
future when, for her sake, MA would decline a first rate offer to join the Pakistan Military Academy
MA was not one to spend his summer
vacations restricted to the indoors in Delhi .
So with two of his UOTC colleagues MA proceeded on a trip to Kashmir ,
a trip that was spontaneous, largely unplanned, and entirely on a shoestring
budget. Both his fellow travelers were Memons from South
Africa who had come to Aligarh
in pursuance of their education, and what an education this would prove to be,
trekking through Kashmir . Without any
preparation or forward planning, in typical student fashion, they planned to
live off the land, and share the meager amounts they had saved from their
allowances and pocket money. They traveled by train from Delhi ,
going via Lahore , Rawalpindi ,
Murree, and Muzzaffarabad to Srinagar .
In case they ran into trouble there
were relatives and friends along the way that could be called upon to help.
Unfortunately, the UOTC was not a nationwide brotherhood, and the 2nd
UP battalion of the UOTC operated east of the Jamuna River
MA kept a reserved distance from
his traveling companions, since in the OUTC they were Cadets and he the
Sergeant Major. In fact it had jokingly been said at Aligarh that the Sergeant Major was taking
along his two Orderlies! The train and bus journey was uneventful. MA did not
stay with his Inlaws-to-be in Murree, just popping in for a quick hello to their
utter amazement at finding MA gallivanting around in the Karakorums enroute the
Himalayas ! One assumes that his senior ranking
PAF Uncle-to-be was suitably impressed with MA the Outdoorsman, something that
all members of the armed forces invariably turn out to be. I am sure that it
helped MA’s cause, and gained him a supporter in the opposite camp for the
match-up with his sweetheart that was yet to come.
HOUSEBOATING ON DAL LAKE
In Srinagar
the traveling trio rented a houseboat on Dal
Lake , a mode of residence famed
throughout the subcontinent of India ,
as indeed elsewhere in the world, what with Srinagar being the center of the fabled
Kashmiri paradise on earth. A paradise that would go sour with the arrival of
Independence from the British, and the Partition of India that would unleash
the forces of anarchy and chaos as the lust for territorial control would pit
the two emerging powers of the Subcontinent in a deadly embrace with untold
repression, bloodshed, grief, and suffering marring a landscape once was the
most beautiful in the world.
The owner of the houseboat was a
nice man, with nice people being in plenty of supply in that day and age. He
cooked for them delicious meals, and took care of them, and showed them around
the ‘locks’ which helped maintain the water level between the Jehlum River and
the Dal Lake. There was a rowboat attached to every houseboat known as the
Shikara Taxi, and it would take them ashore whenever they wanted. For the first
couple of days they explored the markets and surrounding terrain. One of MA’s
‘Orderlies’ was Pyar Ali, who was also his roommate at Aligarh
and an excellent swimmer, and was in his elements on Dal Lake Aligarh without much
enthusiasm. Seeing Pyar Ali go about like a dolphin, and with water as the
prime setting of their houseboat residence, it was inevitable that MA would be
drawn into overcoming his inhibitions and take the plunge, which is what he
did! Quite enjoying the experience after he had learnt to keep himself afloat!
One day while at Dal Lake Kashmir
looking for a pretty lass who would be his second wife! This news prompted a
whole range of emotions within MA, from pride on his grandfather’s virility, to
a certain embarrassment at having uncovered a family secret.
MOON SNEAKS A PEEK
Having spent four days lazing about
Dal Lake ,
the traveling trio planned a trek further a field to the Zojela Pass.
That first night when they camped
is etched in MA’s memory. It was a dark night, and they had sat down for a meal
around the campfire when MA was seized with a feeling that they were being
watched. He turned around and there, framed between two mountain peaks, was the
full moon rising. “It was an awesome, breathtaking sight that I will never
forget,” says MA over five decades later. “It appeared as if the moon had one
elbow resting on either mountain, and peeping between them, watching the high
altitude shenanigans of these city boys!” It was a sight that one can only
allude to if not having witnessed it first hand. But seeing the transformation
that came over MA as he recollected the moment was sufficient indication of the
magnificence of that moment experienced in the pristine freshness and glory of
the Himalayas .
The next day’s trek took them along
a route through a lush green valley. Camp was made at nightfall, and a
particularly cold and windy night it was. One of the trio pulled out a quart of
brandy and passed it around. MA did not touch the stuff, and said so. But the
owner of the ‘Addha’, as a quart of brandy is referred to in the local lingo,
insisted that it was strictly medicinal, and meant to keep the body warm on
this lovely moonlit but very cold night in the heavenly valleys of Kashmir . So MA took a swig, the very first of his life.
DEATH OF A MULE
The third day’s trek began at 4am , and by nightfall they had made
the base of the Zojela
Pass. Zojela Pass.
SHEEP HUNTERS OF ZOJELA PASS
MA had made no plans for going
further than the Zojela
Pass
It was clearly a husband and wife
team, and the riders seemed to have violated their privacy. Without a moment to
lose MA and Pyar Ali turned their mounts and rode away, all the while wondering
what on earth these two were doing out there on their own in the wilderness.
But it was a wilderness only to these city slicks. For the people who inhabited
this mountainous, seemingly forbidding terrain, this was home. As it turned out
after inquiries from their bearers, these were trackers and hunters in search
of mountain sheep of which there were a plenty in this area. It was as much out
of fear that these two riders would interfere with their hunt by frightening
their prey, as the protection of female modesty, that the male had shooed them
away.
CHAPTER FOUR “THE TRAUMA OF
PARTITION”
TRAIN
TO DELHI
MA's two companions decided to
stay a while longer in the 'paradise on earth', and stayed back in Kashmir,
while MA started his return journey to Delhi Kashmir vacation. He got to Rawalpindi and had his ticket to Delhi Delhi
“I started feeling very
uncomfortable and got off to chat with the station master who turned out to be
a Muslim. He advised me to catch the morning train, saying that the night train
could be subject to attack. I quickly took my luggage off, much to the
amusement of the Sikh travelers, who obviously had no inkling of what was in
store for them down the line. This was the regular Frontier Mail train service
that originated in Peshawar Delhi Delhi from Rawalpindi
DEVASTATION
& MASSACRES ENROUTE
MA got onto the morning train
and took a close look at his traveling companions, choosing a compartment that
had in it a couple of Pakistan Army officers. “I felt relatively secure. There
were six corpses already on the train, a result of earlier attacks on it. The
Muslims were attacking Hindu and Sikh migrants.
“That is why the station master had advised me
to catch the day train, so that at least I would be recognized as a Muslim, and
not be hacked in the dark, mistaken for a Hindu or a Sikh. The train was attacked
again in Gujrat. We reached Wazirabad at sunset, having left Rawalpindi the 14th of August, 1947 .”
It took the train the next 8
hours or so to cover the short distance between Wazirabad and Lahore Lahore Lahore India Lahore
There was a ‘langar’ for the
‘sharnatis’, the refugees, and the relieved sharnatis appeared as if new life
had been breathe into them as they descended upon the food like the starving
people that they were. MA did not partake of the langar, falling victim to the
ingrained attitudes of the Punjabi Saudagran who are very formal in matters
involving freebies. “We never let a fly settle on our nose, as they say in
Urdu. Having eaten to their fill, some sharnatis who had been travelling with
me began to whisper amongst themselves as they looked towards me. Then they
asked me my name, and I promptly replied Ram Lal! It was a close enough
translation of Allawala! I was scared stiff. Then they asked me why I had not
partaken of the food? They were very suspicious of my pink cheeks and generally
healthy looks compared to the rest of them. I told them that I had lost my
appetite given the conditions I had observed, and that I was coming from Kashmir which accounted for my pink cheeks! It was a very
close call, but they made the connection between the name Ram Lal and Kashmir , and took me for a Kashmiri Brahmin, a caste that
is revered in Indian society. There after I was left alone, with my belly
aching with hunger. I had not eaten since the lassi at Wazirabad.”
If MA had been shocked and
stunned by what he saw at Wazirabad and Lahore ,
the journey between Atari and Delhi Pakistan
DISTRESS
IN THE FAMILY
Finally, at 7.30 the next
morning MA arrived in Delhi Pakistan India Delhi
The Kahar informed MA that his
father had just left the train station and gone home. He had been checking for MA
on every train that was arriving from Pakistan
PHUPPA
LENDS A HAND
MA felt it his duty to apprise
his father of the brutality of Partition prevailing on either side of the new
border, and which could spill over into Delhi Delhi Karachi
Phuppa caught the Dakota flight
to Karachi and conveyed the concerns of the
Indian Muslims to Jinnah, and upon his return to Delhi
Phuppa’s opening prayer was in
a way alluding to the death of hope itself in a peaceful transition to the new
world order that was seeing the split of the subcontinent. It was an admission
that there was nothing that anybody could do to curb the blood lust on either
side of the Hindu-Muslim-Sikh divide. The situation was well and truly out of
control. It was agreed that everyone who could leave Delhi Delhi Lahore Karachi Pakistan
in bits and pieces, and then traveled to Karachi
When MA arrived in Karachi
Matters sorted themselves out
quickly, even though MA’s father and his brothers split up from the joint
family business that existed in Delhi Delhi
family business partnership did not last after Partition, and the brothers set
up their own separate businesses in Karachi
MA offers an interesting
explanation of why joint businesses and families split up.
“These are decisions that are
taken not in the boardroom, but in the bedroom!” he says. When the distribution
of profits is seen as uneven, and some brothers have more to show for their
efforts than the others, then discontentment sets in amongst the families. This
discontentment is kept on a leash by the presence of elders and the family name
in society. Moving to Pakistan Karachi offered far greater anonymity than Delhi
ANALYZING
SACRIFICE
“These major moments in our
lives just happened. Nothing was planned. It was fate that brought us to Pakistan Aligarh to
the four corners of India
He who gives a conscious
sacrifice does so with understanding, planning and tenacity, and engages with
the process with high energy and commitment, with full intentions of delivering
on the promise for which the sacrifice was made. While the demand for Pakistan
CHAPTER FIVE “ALIGARH
TWO ROTIS & TWO BOTEES!
MA passed his Matriculation with
first division results, and his father felt that he had received sufficient
education and should start sitting at the shop. MA’s response was quite
straight forward. “Over my dead body!” he said. The Akhlaqi Fauj was in its
prime, and with the start of World War Two all uniforms and parades were banned
by the Indian government. Its name was changed from 'Fauj' to 'Motamar' (-e-Islami).
On the curricular front, higher education was an all consuming passion with MA,
and Aligarh ,
the seat of Muslim learning, beckoned. His grandfather settled the issue by
letting him follow his heart’s desire, quite sure that MA would not be able to
survive on the two ‘rotis’ and two ‘botis’ that Aligarh Muslim University (AMU)
had to offer. Coming from a highly pampered background as they did, no member
of the Punjabi Saudagran had survived Aligarh 's
very Spartan diet for more than six months. They couldn’t live without the food
their mothers cooked. The son of a prominent Saudagar, Feroz Japanwala, had
spent six months at AMU before quitting. After that whenever a beggar came to
his house he would ensure that the beggar never went away hungry, pleading that
he had himself experienced hunger and knew how it felt! But MA’s father knew
his son much better, and informed his grandfather that MA could happily survive
in the jungle and gladly go without food and water when pursuing that which he
was passionate about.
After much cajoling MA’s family
allowed him to proceed to Aligarh ,
smug in the knowledge that he would be back soon. MA, however, proved his
father’s assessment of him right, and lasted the full distance of five years at
AMU. “I can say with a great deal of certainty that I was the first Punjabi
Saudagran to have graduated, and then done his post-graduation.” MA enrolled at
the Aligarh Muslim
University for his MSc degree, but it
was not to happen in Aligarh since Partition
happened and he came to Pakistan .
MA’s father must secretly have
admired his son’s passionate interest in the pursuit of knowledge and formal
education, something quite alien to the community, as also his Spartan life
style and general indifference to the accumulation of wealth. Of the thirty
rupees per month that he got as pocket money, MA managed to save on average
five to ten rupees per month, savings that enabled him to self finance his
vacation to Kashmir . The only time the Aligs
broke with their Spartan tradition was at the annual Numaish, a funfair eagerly
looked forward to. They would dress up in their fine Sherwanis and white silk
scarfs, and go and preen like peacocks while feasting on Kebabs and Parathas, a
welcome break from the yearlong regimen of two Rotis and two Botees. That was
the only extravagance permitted to them.
While in Aligarh MA
After completing his MSc (Previous)
in May 1947 MA found that the annual UOTC Summer Camp in Bhawali (UP, India) had
been cancelled due to fears of a clash between the Hindu and Muslim Companies,
as out of the four Companies the Aligarh 'C' Company was entirely Muslim. Delhi was in a state of flux, so MA decided to go to Kashmir for a two months vacation, trekking in the hills
with two of his juniors from the UOTC. MA heard about Partition when he reached
Murree on his way back to Delhi from Kashmir .
MA says that he cannot be
considered an Alig as such. There were three categories in which students were
divided. Firstly, there were day-scholars and boarders, with day-scholar being
some sort of derogatory word to use! Secondly, there were those who took Arts
and those who took Science, with Arts students looking down upon the Science
students. Arts was associated with philosophy, high thinking, and wisdom,
debates and gup-shup. Science was seen as to do with practical things of a dry
nature, and too involved with material things rather than poetry, history or
general knowledge. Moreover, Aligarh
University Karachi .
TIGHT ROUTINE & LIMITED
SOCIAL CIRCLE
There were some brilliant teachers
on both the Arts and the Science sides. Prof. Habib taught history, an
internationally ranked historian much celebrated for his work on medieval India .
There were hardly any Hindu students, and at the Muslim level there were Shias
and Sunnis, but there was only one mosque. So two timings were observed for
each prayer, and the Shia session was affectionately referred to as the ‘second
show’! since it followed after the Sunni timings. Except for the UOTC, MA did
not partake of any other extracurricular activity while at AMU, and admits that
his general knowledge of Aligarh
is rather limited. After classes there was homework to be done, followed by the
evening parade, followed by night study, followed by dinner, and finally
followed by blissful sleep! The next morning it would begin all over again.
This tight routine made for a very limited social circle.
COLONEL HAIDER’S SHARP CRACK OF THUNDER!
The chairman of the chemistry
department, Dr. Haider, was attached to the UOTC as Colonel of the UP
Battalion, and was generally known to friend and foe as Colonel Haider. He
certainly looked the part, says MA. Before leaving for the USA to pursue his studies MA traveled from Karachi to Delhi to take
his grandfather’s blessings, his grandfather having stayed back in India
after Partition. Having met him and taken his blessings, MA could not resist
taking a day trip to Aligarh
to visit his alma mater. The only problem was that he did not have a visa for Aligarh . India and Pakistan are the only two countries
in the world where the visas are city specific for each others nationals, and
remain so to this day. The four hours train ride was uneventful, and no sooner
had he alighted at Aligarh
that he headed for Colonel Haider’s residence on what was a particularly hot
day. He was surprised to see MA on his doorsteps, and upon learning of his
non-visa status he immediately took charge and ordered MA not to leave his
side!
“He would bark out my name in
imperial fashion, with a roll of his tongue that would make it sound like the
sharp crack of thunder!” remembers MA fondly. Lunch was served by the endearing
Mrs. Haider, and keeping in mind the hot summer day, a two hours nap was
considered in order.
At 4pm sharp the sharp crack of thunder was heard
reverberating in the house, and MA was told to take his place in the Colonel’s
car. They drove straight to the parade ground, with MA in the throes of
nostalgia as he revisited a site that had taken up most of his spare time
during the five years of his stay at AMU. The parade ground was full of cadets,
officers, and Gurkhas. The Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, General
Kiryapa, was due to visit, and the guard-of-honour rehearsal was in full swing.
MA had conducted the guard-of-honour for Field Marshal Aukhenlik in 1944 on the
same ground when he was the C-in-C of the Indian Army, and MA the OUTC Sergeant
Major. Now here he was, a Cadet who had gained admission to the Pakistan Military Academy
Without any prior warning Colonel
Haider, who had been standing under a tree at a short distance, barked out an
order for MA to take over the parade. The Battalion was full of raw recruits,
and with two days left before the event, Colonel Haider was getting a bit
nervous about its performance. MA drilled the Battalion for the next hour and a
half, and had them moving like a disciplined unit. Then it was time to head for
the station and catch the train back to Delhi .
REPULSING THE ATTACK OF THE BURQA CLAD!
Colonel Haider had been very keen
on MA joining the Army, and when MA had shown a hesitation, the Colonel had
chided him for seeking the lullaby in his mother’s lap! One summer MA signed up
for the UOTC Camp in Bhawalai, near Nainital, and wrote to his parents for
permission. A couple of days later MA saw a Burqa clad lady arrive at his
Hostel, and MA recognized her escort as his brother-in-law! MA was aghast! His
colleagues would rag him no end if the word got out that his mother had come
visiting in what was an all male domain!
He ran out in his slippers and
hustled his mother back into the Tonga , and headed straight for the
railway station. She had become very upset when she heard of her son’s martial
intentions during his summer recess, which she had hoped MA would spend with
her and his family in Delhi .
She had come to dissuade him from going. Years later it would be because of her
that MA would relinquish his Call Up Notice from the Pakistan Military
Academy
SETTING HIGH STANDARDS
MA never fell out of line while at
AMU, being a strict disciplinarian. He was very rough on himself by his own
admission. “I had the most loving set of parents one could ask for, and I would
be in tears when separated from my father,” he admits, exposing a softer side
to the hard nosed chemical engineer and OUTC officer. “It was this security of
love that made me set very high standards for myself which I felt my father
would expect from me.” MA’s family business comprised of trade in hosiery
products and the assembly of umbrellas imported in their component parts. It
was a process in which MA also participated. He learnt quite a bit in the shop,
and knew what was going on, having attended the shop regularly until his
Matriculation exams.
TURKI TOPIS & JINNAH CAPS
For boarders at the AMU there was a
9pm curfew announced by a
siren. Within the Campus boarders were free to move between hostels and halls
until fairly late at night. Monitors kept an eye on the railway station to
ensure that all students were properly clad; wearing their Turki caps, and
later Jinnah caps, on black Sherwanis with white Aligarh cut Pajamas or khaki trousers worn
with laced boots. Slovenly appearance was sternly admonished. Teachers and
students hailing from Lucknow
were allowed to wear the distinctive Churidar Pajamas.
AMU was also host to the progeny of
Sindhi and Baluchi tribal chieftans, notably Pir Pagara whom the British had
admitted there in an attempt to broaden his worldview. They were not subject to
the AMU Spartan lifestyle, and although they resided on Campus, they were
permitted their perks and separate Langars (large kitchens). They were not
subject to the two Rotis and two Botis discipline that had become a cherished
hallmark of AMU. The rest of the student community accepted these aberrations
as unique, and they became the subject of much fascination.
With the family moving to Karachi , MA headed for Lahore since Karachi
at the time had no facility for studying chemical engineering, MA’s chosen line
for higher education. He says there was never a feeling of resentment at being
dislocated from his roots. It was a thrilling time of his life filled with high
energy activity and adventure. Fun is the word he uses in describing that time
of his life. There were never any regrets.
GOOD FRIENDS
MA was very lucky in having good
friends, and a happy mix they were, comprising both maulvis and atheists. There
was one Noor-ul-Arifeen who went on to become a very successful lawyer, and
contested the elections on a PPP ticket given to him by Bhutto. He was two
years his senior at AMU, and MA says that he has a lot of respect for his ideas
and thoughts. Then there was Haseeb from Shillong, a UOTC man with whom MA
often sparred when the British officers visited the summer camp at Bhawali and
taught them unorthodox unarmed combat.
Bhawali is situated in the Terai
Bhabhar area of Kumaun, the legendary stalking ground of the famed hunter of
man-eating tigers and leopards, Jim Corbett. I am therefore surprised when MA
fails to recognize the name Jim Corbett, admitting that his use of the rifle
was restricted to the firing range! And that he wasn’t into hunting, specially
that of the man-eating variety!
Another person with whom MA
developed a great rapport was his wife’s uncle R. D. Shamim, later General in
the Pakistan Army, who as a young Major led the Mujahideen in Kashmir
in 1948. He got caught in Wazirabad in a mini revolt when his troops surrounded
him and forced him to march on Islamabad .
This resulted in General Tikka Khan discharging him from the Army. Shamim had
attended Hindu College in Delhi before joining the Army, and had written to MA
from the Eastern front in Assam, commenting on the irony of fate that he, a
long haired poet and ardent romantic, was serving in the Army, and MA who had
conducted parades in the mohalla and was totally enamoured of the uniform, was
pursuing his studies in Aligarh. He called it a grave injustice.
Mohammad Subhan was MA’s best
friend from Delhi .
He had attended St. Steven’s College and wanted to be a Physicist. He was
offered a government scholarship to do his PhD, but it got denied when after
Partition he relocated to Pakistan ..
Subhan’s parents were jewelers, and he still runs the Subhan Mirza ship in Karachi . When MA joined
St. Stephen’s school in the tail end of class 9 he miserably failed his third
quarter exams. That is the time Subhan befriended him, and they became
inseparable. MA had come there after a disastrous year spent studying in Cambridge school where his
‘mullahism’ had kept him from assimilating. He probably brought with him a
sense of insecurity that Subhan sensed, and the advice that he would render to
MA time and again was to live life like a lion and not a timid fox. At the
Delhi University Subhan joined the UOTC. “That is one friendship that I have
cherished above all others in my life,” says MA.
CHAPTER SIX “NEW BEGINNINGS IN PAKISTAN ”
The family’s transfer from Delhi to Karachi ,
in an atmosphere of great excitement and anticipation, also trepidation, had
made time fly on swift wings. Once a semblance of being settled had been
achieved, MA began to ponder and probe his future course of action. Karachi did not offer the
desired level of academic stimulation in his chosen field of Chemistry. So he
headed for Lahore and the Punjab University
MA enrolled at the celebrated Forman Christian
College Institute of Chemistry Government College
To decide amongst the two the
Colonel put each in charge of a unit, giving them fifteen minutes to drill
their units and prepare for a demo. MA went to work in his typical no nonsense
style. He picked out the weak cadets and drilled them separately. He reshuffled
the good cadets and positioned them to support the weaker ones, creating a
homogenous unit as the weaker ones learnt to keep in step, encouraged and urged
on by their colleagues who were good at parade. Left wheel! Right wheel! Eyes
right! Eyes front! Halt! MA was in his elements, bringing the full force of his
personality, developed consistently through his choice of extra-curricular
activity since early youth, to focus on the mission in hand. With fifteen
minutes of intense instruction, MA’s unit comprehensively outclassed that of
the swarthy Company Sergeant from Jehlum. Thereafter, to his great
satisfaction, MA was anointed the Battalion Under Officer.
Those were glorious days. MA enjoyed
the best of both worlds. His highly intelligent mind conjured up all manner of
permutations and combinations both in the classroom, laboratory, and parade
ground. His was a day filled with frenetic activity, for indeed that was the
only condition that he was completely relaxed in, a state of frenetic activity.
On reflection it was a perfect blend, with the parade ground, firing ranges,
route marches and camping expeditions releasing the mental pressures of his
academic pursuits, and that too of a scientific nature filled with the weight
of logic.
MA stayed at the Union Hall, the FC
College Hostel. The most memorable thing about Lahore was the presence there of his
sweetheart and wife-to-be, Rahat. They had met in Solan, in the Shimla Hills.
She was born in Kasuli, a nearby hill station, where her Nana (maternal
grandfather) Chiraguddin Mohsin was the Post Master and had fought the Boer War
in South Africa .
MA’s family would visit Solan every year for two months in the summer. His
mother had tuberculosis of the stomach, and the fresh mountain air scented with
sweet aroma of pine trees was considered a potent aid in curing the disease.
The men-folk would return to Delhi
after a week to pursue their business, while the ladies and children would stay
back in rented accommodation.
MOTHER TORPEDO’S NOWSHERA & PMA KAKUL!
On one occasion MA lead a Punjab
University UOTC demonstration and guard of honour for the Governor of Punjab Francis
Moody, a stiff upper lipped Englishman steeped in the martial tradition. The
Gov was so impressed by this non-martial race exponent of the martial
tradition, that he immediately asked him to see his military secretary, who
conveyed the Governor's wish for MA to join the 1st PMA Long Course
at Kakul.
MA filled up the forms and was
summoned to the Army Screening Center
in Nowshera for four days of exhaustive physical and psychological testing to
ensure his fitness for admission into the prestigious Pakistan Military
Academy
When the Call-up Notice came to
join the PMA, MA’s mother went on strike! Much as he would have liked to join
the Army, and ensure that the uniform became a permanent feature of his life,
MA’s mother was adamant. She was not about to risk her son to a life endangered
by the expediency of political decision making that would send him to war. Nor
could she countenance the thought of her son’s transformation into an efficient
killing machine, the grandeur of the parade ground not withstanding. The answer
was no. When push came to shove in such serious matters, mothers invariably
held the veto powers. “I couldn’t break her heart,” says MA. “I had lost my
brother who died at an early age in Delhi ,
and my mother had gone through a lot of trauma during the Partition process. She
felt that we had sacrificed enough for the new country.”
MA went into a bit of a depression,
and stopped socializing. He contemplated joining his father in business, but
was not too thrilled about it. His younger brother was far too young to provide
his father with any support. His sisters were worried, and conferred with their
parents about what would be best for MA. It was suggested that he should be
sent to the USA
for further education. But where was the money for such a move, MA wondered.
And what would he do there? His father asked him not to worry about the money,
and said that he should just take a three months holiday overseas, and develop
a fresh perspective on life.
CHAPTER SEVEN “TRAVEL TO DISTANT
SHORES”
COMING TO AME -RE-KA!
Going to the USA on holiday was far too
extravagant for MA’s taste, so he began applying for admission to universities
there. He applied to Boston for textile
engineering, since the family had a wholesale hosiery shop in Delhi , and this degree would enable a
vertical expansion of the business. MA also applied to Chicago
for chemical engineering, and Los Angeles for
cinematography, and to New York
for ballet choreography. MA’s interests in life could not appear more diverse,
but there was a strong connection amongst these seemingly disjointed fields.
Performance was the common denominator. The flow and rhythm of the parade
ground is sought in ballet and choreography. His love for theatre drew him to
cinematography. Chemical engineering was that for which he was academically
best prepared.
BRUSH WITH SANDHURST
The Illinois Institute of
Technology was the first to respond with an offer of admission. It was
considered as the MIT of the Mid West. So MA boarded a steamship run by Anchor
Lines and traversed the high seas to Liverpool enroute Chicago . Sultan was a cousin studying in Manchester , and MA decided
on a quick trip to visit him. Walking through the University campus with Sultan
he noticed a signboard with the legend UOTC on it. Immediately he turned in
that direction, and gave the Sergeant-on-Duty a smashing salute, expressing his
desire to sign up. The Sergeant was extremely forthcoming. MA’s condition was
that if they considered him up to the mark then they would sponsor him to Sandhurst ! Upon hearing this the Sergeant called his
Major, who came out to inspect this new recruit. His comment was that Punjabis
made for good soldiers. When he heard about MA’s Sandhurst
aspirations he called out his Colonel! The Colonel made the same comment about
the soldiering capabilities of the Punjabis, and agreed to the Sandhurst condition.
Upon rejoining his cousin MA
narrated the whole story. He was aghast! And pleaded with MA to depart Manchester immediately for Chicago . He feared an aweful outcome at the
hands of his uncle, MA’s father, when the news would reach him of his son’s
devious martial machinations! MA could understand why his cousin was so flustered.
The news of his mother’s veto of PMA Kakul had spread to the family.
IILINOIS TECH
At Illinois Tech the focus was on
chemical engineering. However, in his first few days he came across a Naval ROTC
program, and immediately signed up! When his professor came to learn of this he
gave MA an ultimatum to choose between the Naval ROTC and chemical engineering.
The studies required for a degree were far too rigorous. So that was that.
Charles Campbell Shriver,
affectionately known as Charlie, was like a foster parent of MA’s while he was
in Chicago , and
they shared an interest in bagpipes and Scottish kilts, and MA would visit the
Shriver Lodge with him, and on Friday afternoons he would join him at the
Chicago Stockyard Kilty Band.
Karl Schiedeman, who later became a
senior bureaucrat in the German education ministry and would often visit
Pakistan, had lost a leg on the Russian Front during World War 2 and been left
for dead. He was spotted and brought to a hospital where his leg was amputated.
MA met Schiedeman in International House in Chicago
where he had been staying, having come to the USA on a scholarship given by the
German government. One day they encountered each other in the doorway, and MA,
seeing his disability, stood aside to let him pass, only to be given a dirty
look instead of a thank you! Later in the Cafeteria MA was behind him in line
at the food counter and asked him why he had got angry? He said that he could
manage quite well on his own and did not like any special treatment. He was an
upright, self respecting, extremely polite, typical German soldier who carried
with him the burden of having failed his country, says MA. He and MA became
very fast friends after that.
On his way back from the USA after completing his studies MA stopped over
in Frankfurt in 1951. It was a devastated city
in which MA met with Schiedeman’s family. Years later he was in Rawalpindi on an official
visit and came to Attock to meet MA and his family. A few days later MA was in Lahore , and at a party met
another visiting German. When he mentioned Schiedeman’s name he was aghast! He
was the doctor who had amputated his leg on the Moscow front! Schiedeman’s own surprise was
boundless upon hearing of MA’s encounter.
Another friend that MA made while
at International House in Chicago
was Lindel Sawer who was his roommate. Lindel became a priest, and MA attended
a few retreats with him to get exposure to his way of life. His father was
president of Sun Oil Company, a very big concern in refining, and when he
learnt of MA’s involvement in oil refining in the post Attock Refinery period
he invited him to visit Sun Oil in Philadelphia, and offered him a job. MA was
skeptical, telling him that he was not an American, and they would squeeze his
brains and then leave him out to dry! Lindel’s father said that that was not
the case, and if MA turned out to be their man, then he could well become the
President of Sun Oil!
LAID UP IN TEHRAN
On his way back from the USA after
completing his studies MA traveled by bus between Baghdad and Tehran in the company of Afghan pilgrims
returning from Kerbala, a few of whom were suffering from smallpox and
dysentery. One had to be very careful about what one ate and drank on such
trips. Upon reaching Tehran
MA Tehran for 10 days, coming
close to death. The owner of the hotel where he was staying really took care of
him, says MA, and fed him rice water for the next ten days. MA was by now flat
broke, and was pondering his next move when the hotel owner once again proved
to be the Good Samaritan that he was, and insisted that MA return to Karachi by air, and paid
for his ticket. It was a demonstration of a very large heart and a high trust
culture that has left an indelible impression upon MA’s mind.
SUBHAN LENDS A HAND
Upon reaching Karachi
and his home on Jamshed
Road, MA
MA's younger brother Iqbal, younger
by sixteen years, wanted to know whether MA had started bathing in the nude
while in America !
MA had written to his father about an episode wherein his roommate in
International House, in the University
of Chicago USA !
His father, who was a chain smoker,
put his packet of cigarettes and matchbox in front of him, and asked him to
light up if he had started smoking. Upon learning that his son had not lit his
first cigarette he got up and embraced him with another tight hug. MA describes
his father as the most loving man he has ever known. He died in 1958, and
within a month of his passing MA was appointed the Chief Chemist of the Attock
Oil Refinery, becoming the first Pakistani to assume that post. He says that he
would very much have liked to share that moment of glory with his father. His
father never complained about MA not joining the family business, and took great
satisfaction in MA’s innings in uncharted waters.
In retrospect, says MA, it seems
that his father lived his life through him, and that became MA’s inspiration.
All through life, says MA, when ever he was faced with the need to make a tough
decision, he would always ask himself what his father would have expected of
him.
WHERE’S MY GAL?!
When MA left for the USA in 1949 his would be father-in-law had
wanted his daughter Rahat to join him there, get married, and live a nice life
together in the USA .
He was willing to finance his daughter’s trip and allied expenses. He was in
the tobacco business, with an agency for Madras
‘bidis’, and had experienced a windfall profit that had made him a lot of
money. MA’s parents were not agreeable, and said that if she was to go to the USA
with MA then it would have to be with their financing, which they did not have.
In the bargain MA did not see his sweetheart for three years, and the first
question he asked upon his return to Pakistan in 1952 was “Where’s my
gal?” So post haste the marriage took place and MA brought his gal to Karachi from Lahore .
MA’s wife Rahat was from an old Lahore family, and her
grandmother had adopted MA’s mother as her daughter. They were Kashmiris
settled in Lahore .
His mother-in-law to be had an immense fondness for MA. He was the star of her
eyes and could do no wrong where she was concerned. Whenever the younger
generations of her family did not do well in their studies in Lahore ,
she would encourage them to visit MA in Aligarh
to spend a few months and gain inspiration.
CHAPTER EIGHT “THE ATTOCK
EXEPRIENCE”
ATTOCK CALLING
In Karachi
MA met an old friend from Aligarh , Dr. Wajid. Although he had been
senior to him they had spent four memorable years together. At that time Dr.
Wajid was employed in Attock Oil Refinery, and he recommended that MA, being a
chemical engineer, would be more suited for working in an oil refinery, and
should apply for a position at Attock Oil Refinery where he himself was
working. MA applied and was asked to come to Rawalpindi with his wife on Attock Refinery's
expense. It suited MA fine as he was recently married, and as per tradition the
husband has to take his wife back to her parents' place for a visit. Since MA
was short on money it suited him well. MA was accepted, having run the gauntlet
of interviews with the Refinery Manager, Deputy General Manager, and General
Manager. Attock offered him a three years contract with six months
apprenticeship. MA did not know how to break the news to his father. Ostensibly
he had gone to Lahore
to leave his wife with his in-laws as per tradition, and had secretly carried
on to Attock for the interviews. Things had happened very quickly upon his
arrival from the USA ,
and within one month he was not only married but also had a job.
To his surprise his father was
overjoyed with the news of his son’s employment. The business was being managed
very well by his son-in-law, and like his father said, it would a while before
the USA
could be exorcised from his son’s head! Until that happened he would not be of
too much use to Pakistan .
His biggest joy, perhaps, was that his son’s overseas education was being
recognized and validated, and being put to productive use. His health had also
begun deteriorating, and MA felt it would be good if his father could spend
some time in Attock and recuperate in the fresh air away from the big city
congestion. MA had been provided with fully furnished accommodation and
servants, and his parents would be looked after very well when ever they
visited from Karachi .
PROMOTION AND PROBLEM WITH
OLD FRIEND
MA had a memorable and useful three
years stay at Attock, at the end of which he informed the Management that he
would be leaving. By now he had got to know Pakistan quite well, and wanted to
explore other avenues. Attock Oil Refinery promptly promoted him to Chief
Chemist, superceding in the process his senior colleague and dear friend Dr.
Wajid, the person responsible for his induction in the Company in the first
place.
MA was the first qualified Chemical
Engineer to be given a job at Attock Refinery. Before that they were all BSc
graduates or chemists, and they were all British. Dr. Wajid was the only
Pakistani officer in their midst, and a brilliant fellow with a PhD from
Liverpool and MSc from Aligarh , having first
topped the BSc from Mysore
and securing a gold medal for having stood first class first. He was a great
friend of MA’s and they had shared some memorable times at Aligarh , including their Spartan meals,
enduring together the rigors of Ramazan. With the double promotion at the end
of his three years contract with Attock Refinery, MA became senior to Dr. Wajid,
and this led to some tension between the two. But it was bearable since there
was no outward manifestation of MA’s seniority. There residences and lifestyles
were alike, even if MA now got paid more than Dr. Wajid. However, on his next
contract MA was promoted to Chief of the Process Department, with Dr. Wajid now
reporting to him. Dr. Wajid's supercession wasI now out in the open, and he
took it very badly. MA understood his friend's sentiments, even though it led
to some unfortunate tensions within the Company.
Attock Refinery had a strength of about
1100 employees when MA joined it, and it was considered one of the big
employers in Pakistan
at the time. MA couldn’t leave the compound without effectively delegating his
work to another official, for such was the delicacy of the job. There were just
7 Chemists at Attock Refinery, which was located a not too far from Rawalpindi at Morgah, and
friends used to visit them as if going on a picnic. There was a Club that
offered tennis, a swimming pool, and some fine dining, and it was quite a
social gathering that took place there.
Complete with a hospital and school,
the Attock Refinery was situated next to the Rawalpindi
Cantonment where Army GHQ was located. Major General Abdul Hameed ( 'Ham'), was
the Director General Military Training (DGMT), and he and MA were good friends,
with the two sitting up late into the night discussing military strategy and
tactics. MA’s passion about all matters military, and his well developed
opinions on manpower development and training, the management style of the
Army, and the grooming of multi-skilled soldiers with the aim of reducing
manpower and enhancing firepower through increases in skill-power were all
issues that held a high level of interest for 'Ham', and his amazement never
ceased at this civilian’s insightful grasp of the subject. It was a purely
personal exchange at the theoretical level, and MA says that he was at no point
privy to what went on in the General’s professional mind. The General took a
shine to this young, plucky oil man, and often obliged some of his eccentric
requests.
HAIRY SCARY IN GILGIT
One of those eccentric requests was
to join a convoy of 40 jeeps belonging to the Special Services Group (SSG)going
on delivery and a reconnoiter of the Northern Areas to explore the terrain for
effective wireless communication and the conduct of various exercises. MA was
put through security clearance, and one early morning he boarded General
Hameed’s jeep heading for Gilgit via Chilas. Along the way they were joined by
the area General Officer Commanding (GOC) Major General Rahman Gul, and having
crossed Chilas at 14,000 feet, they stopped for tea in the Chilas Valley
Something ticklish appears to have
transpired between Major General Rahman Gul andGeneral Hameed over tea, for
without warning General Hameed gave orders to break camp at 4pm
and proceed on a very hazardous night journey to Gilgit. They arrived in Gilgit
at 2am , and for most of the
journey MA says that it seemed as if they were done for! with the jeep
frequently traveling on three wheels along a road cut out along a twisting and
turning mountainside. It was a decision fraught with danger, and MA says that
he saw first hand the determination of a General! Until today he has no idea
about what brought it on.
NOT QUITE 9 TO 5
There were plenty of such outings
into the Karakoram and Hindukush mountain ranges, but the regular trips in the
summer to Simla and other such hill stations in India were a thing of the past.
MA’s wife was quite happy at Attock since her family had acquired the agency
for Imperial Tobacco, and shifted from Lahore to
Rawalpindi
which was a short drive from Attock Refinery. MA led a fairly regimented life.
His shift ended at 3pm , and
after a quick cup of tea he would report at the golf tee at 4pm .6pm .
MA would check in at his job at 6am . Each process chemist was
in-charge of a plant manufacturing all types of products ranging from crude oil
pumped from oil fields at the Potohar area to the Refinery through a pipeline.
The refining was a continuous 24 hours operation, and during the period there
were breakdowns to be rectified, maintenance work to be done, and off specs
production to be recycled. The official duty was for eight hours, with an hour
off for lunch. The residence was right next door outside the Refinery gate, so
he would go home for a bite to eat and a quick power nap. If there was a crisis
then one was on duty until the crisis was resolved, and there were times when
he burnt the midnight oil,
returning home at 3am .
THRIVING SOCIAL LIFE
All his kids learnt how to swim at
the Attock Refinery Club’s pool, and won quite a few championships held there. Attock
Refinery provided its officers with every conceivable facility. The annual
Winter and Summer Balls were much looked forward to occasions, complete with
themes and special lighting for the dance floor. They were self sufficient and
had a very good life, says MA. His contract stipulated overseas leave after
each three years contract. So he would take his one month’s annual leave, and
let it accumulate. During his thirteen years tenure with Attock Refinery MA
traveled the world with his family. MA’s parents and siblings took to spending
time with him, and so his almost total absence from Karachi was not felt too badly. His large
house in Attock became a transit stop for friends and relatives heading for
Murree on vacation.
As president of the Rawalpindi Rotary Club MA
organized a joint meeting with the Delhi Rotary Club that was headed by the
District Governor, a Sikh gentleman. They came to Rawalpindi , and the District Governor, his
wife and sweet little daughter stayed with MA at Attock Refinery's colony. The
two wives got along famously and decided to engage their kids! So Azeez , MA Calcutta he was furious for having to learn
of this development from newspapers rather than from MA himself.
It was hard work at the refinery,
but was compensated for in great measure by a lordly lifestyle. All his three
boys were born in the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Rawalpindi . “Until today we miss the
closeness and camaraderie and friendships of the Attock Refinery Colony,” says MA. “Karachi is different all
together. There is no sense of community here, with people living far apart,
and each involved in his own pursuits. Attock was a good place to raise a
family.” MA’s period in Attock Refinery encompassed the years 1952 to 1965.
FOREIGN EDUCATED INDEGINOUS TECHNOCRAT AT WORK
There was a lot of interaction with
the Englishmen who worked there. Independence
in 1947 was as yet a recent happening when MA signed up, and quite a few of the
Pakistani employees carried in their minds an anti-English bias. Slowly the
English changed their attitude towards the Pakistani officers when they
realized that they were doing good work for them. The Pakistani officers were
all foreign educated. MA joined as a Process Chemist. All non-mechanical and
non-electrical staff members who were involved on the technical side were
called process chemists. The Refinery Incharge was called the Works Manager and
was a Scotsman. The Chief Chemist and Chief Engineer, both Englishmen, reported
to the Works Manager. They would come on their morning inspection rounds, and
all the staff had to be present on their stations at the time. After checking
log books and brief discussions they would leave, and by nine breakfast would
arrive from home and be partaken at the Smoking Gomti, a room reserved for
refreshments and smoking. Notes were compared on each other’s breakfast, and
the cultures of each, as well as the love and affection of the various wives,
were evident in the different breakfasts on display.
The British sense of fair play was
highlighted one day when a very senior Englishman, a specialist in lubes and
waxes, insulted the labour at the asphalt plant, and they went on strike. The
Works Manager came out to the Refinery and listened to the grievances of the
striking labour. It took him no time to decide that his English subordinate was
at fault, and he ordered him to take his hat off and apologize, which he did.
The British had an ingrained sense of fairplay and professionalism, and the
only ones who accused them of cheating were the Rajas!
MA was seized with a desire to
learn more, and gained little satisfaction from routine work. In his spare time
he used to study the internal structures of the plant. Once the plant MA was in-charge
of showed signs of malfunctioning after
a routine maintenance closure. It had been taken over by MA a couple of months
earlier, and he was in the process of learning about it. The Refinery Manager
was informed about the malfunction, but he was not too concerned about it,
saying that this is how it behaved for a while after being re-commissioned. MA
was not convinced and collected all the blueprints that he could lay his hands
on, and took them home. After the kids had gone to sleep at night he would pour
over the drawings.
After a couple of sessions with the
blueprints MA discovered the problem. However, the plant would have to be shut down
and re-opened before it could be fixed. The Works Manager and Chief Chemist
dismissed MA’s findings out of hand. The next morning MA arrived a bit late at
work, and found that the plant had been shut down and opened up, and both his
bosses were standing there sharing a laugh. They had found nothing along the
lines that MA had suggested, and were mocking him. MA wanted to revisit inside the
open tower and climb it. They agreed, taunting him that he stood to break a leg
if he wasn’t careful. He climbed the vertical stairs and peeped through the
first open manhole, stuck his head inside it, and came down. MA had validated
his hypothesis through a physical check. He refused to divulge the findings,
but offered to implement the remedy. If the plant worked well after that they
could congratulate him, and if it didn’t then he would accept their ridicule.
PAUCITY OF PRAISE
MA carried out the alteration and
started the plant. Immediately the quality of oil improved to the desired
level. The two bosses came on their rounds and found that the plant was purring
like a cat! This carried on for the next week, with each morning they
expressing their surprise that the plant was functioning well. At the end of
the week the Works Manager gave MA a note of commendation for his efforts, but
it was hand written in pencil on an ordinary slip of paper. It was personal,
and not official. A local boy, brown to boot, had trumped the combined
intelligence of the hallowed white man. There could not be any official
acknowledgement of this. The note read as follows. ‘Apparently the attachment that
you put in the tower seemed to have worked well. This is for the first time in a
long while that I have seen this plant running so nicely. Well done!’
When the retired Works Manager,
W.C. Chalmers, died recently in England his wife wrote to MA to tell him how
much he had spoken about him with her, and how fond he had been of him, and how
he had considered MA to be like his own son. Motivation of human resource is a
complex issue, says MA. Different techniques are suited for different people.
The boss’s job, first and foremost, is to train his subordinates, and ensure
that they are equipped with the skills necessary for doing the job. Praise is
important, but should never become a prerequisite for an individual’s
performance. The delivery, to get the job done, is important, and not the
process.
PERFORMANCE PAYS
MA was not disheartened by the
Scotsman’s lack of official recognition, but he got his reward when he was
promoted to Chief Chemist a year later. It was a huge decision on the
Management’s part, given the presence of Dr. Wajid, the shining star gold medalist.
He had a PhD and was UK
trained,.The Brits should have been biased towards him, but weren’t although his
wife Jamila was smart looking, and he himself was very popular in social
circles. In the Islamabad
diplomatic corps they were a most wanted couple. Dr. Wajid had everything going
for him. On the other hand MA’s wife Rahat, even though a double Masters in
Persian and Urdu, was a simple Kashmiran! She had no interest in fashion and
hated ballroom dancing.
MA says that it all boils down to
having a clear idea of one’s objectives and that which needs to be delivered.
If the rewards are not forthcoming in this world, they will be In the next.
People want rewards both here and in the next world. Some people want their
rewards only in the next world, and so stop working in this world! There is
quite a bit of confusion on this score that gets in the way of national
productivity. When the Refinery Manager went on leave every three years, MA
would become the Acting Works Manager. That was perhaps the high point of his
tenure at Attock Refinery, although everyday brought with it a new challenge,
and he would go to work each morning with a smile on his face and a spring to
his step.
SHOWING UP THE ‘MASTERS’ ONCE MORE!
The crude oil supply to Attock
Refinery was completely indigenous, and the quantities supplied would vary. Once
while functioning as Acting Works Manager MA was shown a set of blueprints in a
meeting with the General Manager, who happily proclaimed that the blueprints
were of the new refinery. MA was surprised since there was a shortage of crude
oil as it was, and a new refinery did not make sense. The GM informed him that
a new oil field had been discovered, and from it would be obtained an
additional 5000 barrels per day. MA asked the GM why he thought the existing
facility could not process the additional crude oil? And also why he had not
been consulted in the matter? The GM
replied that the senior staff was all of the opinion that the current refinery
could not handle the extra crude oil, and therefore a new distillation unit was
required. MA was upset since he was running the refinery and had not been
consulted on a decision of such magnitude.
MA asked for a couple of weeks to
reconfigure the existing refinery which would then be able to process all the
crude. The GM was flabbergasted, and wanted to know why he was sticking his
neck out in front of the London Office? MA said that these days they were short
of crude anyway, so a week’s closure would not affect the supply of products.
The GM still resisted, telling MA that as it was he was way ahead of the pack
professionally, and did not need to put his reputation on the line. Finally he
relented, saying it was fine with him if MA was foolish enough to try it then
it was his neck. When offered funds for additional purchases, MA said that he
would try and accomplish the job with what was present in the refinery stores!
Not a penny’s worth of outside material and equipment may be required.
Khursheed Anwar was the Acting
Chief Engineer (Mechanical) at the time, and MA gave a comprehensive list of
alterations that he wanted done within a couple of weeks. Khursheed gamely
agreed to give it his best try. Having worked on a war footing, the plant was
energized on the promised date. By 1
pm that day the refinery had begun operating at 2000 barrels over
the existing capacity. MA’s cousin was visiting him from Karachi ,
and he had promised to show him around Rawalpindi .
MA kept his promise to him, but his mind was on his work. At 6pm he could no longer wait, and in his hurry
to get back to refinery he met with an accident in front of the Rawalpindi Golf
Club, hitting a lamppost that caused the neighborhood lights to go off. This
had become a not infrequent occurrence at this particular lamppost. On this
occasion General Yahya Khan was at the golf club with General Hameed, and is reputed to have cursed
heartily 'the one more bloody man’ who had rammed into this particular lamppost
this time, which had disrupted the lights of the golf club! Not knowing that
one of his friends was that 'bloody man'!
MA’s sons Azeez,Moeez and Ramiz suffered some cuts and
bruises and were taken to hospital. MA's wife Rahat was in a more serious
state, having broken her left elbow and hurt her spinal column. The visiting
cousin was unhurt. Early next morning MA
arrived at the refinery, much to the consternation of the GM who reprimanded
him for leaving the hospital. The plants were purring just fine, and processing
the extra 5000 barrels of crude oil. Temperatures and pressures were down, and
the flows were up. MA was relieved. The Works Manager, who had retired a year
earlier and was living in England ,
was recalled for 15 days to carry out a close questioning of MA on what all he
had done. MA had been accused of treating the refinery like a football before a
match, and pumping it up to its possible detriment. Upon his return to London he submitted his
report which, in a nutshell, said that both the temperatures and pressures were
down, and only the flows had increased, and that could not hurt the refinery! .
MA had an edge in education, with the distillation column being a fundamental process
in chemical engineering.
CHAPTER NINE “CHANGE OF HORSES”
JALIL’S ADVENT
With this feather in his cap MA was
designated as the next Works Manager. But he had an unquenchable thirst for
knowledge, and felt that Attock Refinery had taught him all it could. As part
of his contract MA had secured the right to attend the World Petroleum Congress
that took place every four years. The first one that he attended was in Frankfurt , and there he met Jalil. Jalil had obtained a
government sanction three years previously to put a refinery in Pakistan ,
but could not locate someone who could do it for him, being a non-technical man
himself. MA describes Jalil as an entrepreneur par excellence, a genius at his
work, and someone from whom he learnt a lot, specially about the business
angles and entrepreneurship. MA knew nothing of all this, being a technical person.
MA feels it is Pakistan ’s
great misfortune that people like him were not appreciated, although the
government did give him the Sitara-e-Imtiaz after the successful start-up of
National Refinery along with Pakistan National Oil, a separate marketing
company. In this he was ably assisted by his younger brother Abdul Khaliq and
the marketing man from Shell Amanatullah Khan.
Upon returning to Karachi
from the Petroleum Congress in Frankfurt, MA ran into Jalil at the Karachi Airport 11am
and was once again told off by MA’s mother who refused to wake her son after
the long journey that he had returned from. Abdul Khaliq pleaded with her,
telling her that it was in MA’s and their interest to speak to him. She told
him that she was perfectly aware of what was in her son’s best interest, and
that was his sleep!
STRIKING A CHORD
MA did not want to have anything to
do with Jalil’s project, and was highly disapproving of the unethical manner in
which he was trying to pry him away from Attock Refinery. Then one day MA ran
into Jalil at the Petroleum Secretary’s office, who told Jalil that instead of
running all over the place looking for a suitable man to run his refinery, why
didn’t Jalil talk to MA! Jalil threw up his hands, saying that he had tried but
failed, and why didn’t the Secretary use his influence to convince MA. That
evening Jalil invited MA to his camp office in Rawalpindi . After the usual formality, MA
lowered the boom on him, and asked him why he wanted to set up a refinery when
he had all these large and diverse businesses that required his full time
attention? Jalil replied that his main motivation was to prove wrong all those
people who said that a Pakistani could not run a refinery. Jalil had hit upon
MA’s soft spot, and he agreed to come on board.
Jalil handed MA a blank paper to
write down his terms and conditions of employment. MA returned the blank paper
with a reply that he has accepted this assignment as a challenge, and did not
want anything other than what he had been getting at the Attock Refinery.
However, MA put forward just one condition for Jalil, that he being the ‘Seth’
would never insult MA the ‘employee’. MA was allergic to the nomenclature
‘naukri pesha’, belonging to the Saudagran community, and very sensitive to the
employer-employee equation. Jalil set MA to rest, telling him that his uncle
had been indebted to MA’s grandfather in Calcutta ,
and that he knew who MA was.
LOYAL COMPANYMAN UNTIL THE END
MA served the mandatory six months
notice of leaving to Attock Refinery. The London
brass flew to Karachi
in an attempt to retain him, but he had genuinely had enough of Attock Refinery,
saddened as he was about the turn for the worse that his friendship had taken
with Dr. Wajid. With MA’s departure for decidedly greener pastures Dr. Wajid
would get the promotion . MA felt that this move of his would suit both of
them. MA praises Dr. Wajid as a highly capable and competent man.
Three months into the notice period
the GM Attock Refinery approached MA and said that he was very happy that he
had decided against leaving Attock Refinery. MA told him that it was not true,
and that he was merely serving out his notice period. Considering the Attock
Refinery was in the Lube Oil business, the sole producer in the country in
fact, the GM could not understand why he had doubled the Lube Oil production at
Attock Refinery in the last three months when he was due to join a bigger
competitor, the National Refinery! MA says that the GM was a friend of his, and
he was saddened that he had not understood what made MA tick after all these
years spent together. MA told him that up to the last minute that he was with Attock
Refinery he would fight for Attock Refinery. After he left he would be under no
obligation to Attock Refinery, and his loyalties would be with his new company.
Upon MA’s leaving Attock Refinery Dr. Wajid got his promotion to Chief Chemist,
and served Attock Refinery as Works Manager until his retirement.
Joining Jalil , MA
Once Jalil and MA had a phone
banging session within a fortnight of MA joining NRL. Jalil wanted some
classified information on Attock which MA refused to divulge even though he was
no longer an Attock Refinery employee. “We had not unpacked our stuff as yet,
and I told my wife not to do so because we could well be heading for Philadelphia !” The job
offer from the President of Sun Oil was still fresh in MA’s mind. Jalil’s
brother was of the view that MA’s loyalty and professionalism would be
formidable assets for NRL, and the subject never came up the next morning, or
after that, and Philadelphia
was never actuated as an option. MA’s innings with National Refinery Limited (NRL)
spanned the period 1968 to 1978.
TRAIL BLAZING WITH NRL
In his 10 years stint with NRL MA
created six new companies. These were Pak Hi Oil, ENAR Petrotech Engineering
Consulting, PARCO, Carbon Black, and BTX .
He also started the Huma n Resources
Development Bank with a one hundred thousand rupees grant to the Karachi University Huma n
Resources Development Bank during Dr. Ahsan Rasheed’s tenure as Vice
Chancellor.
As a Director in Jalil’s Amin Group
of Companies MA would often visited East Pakistan .
The brothers Khaliq and Jalil developed differences over MA’s rising influence,
complaining that he was running the refinery and other businesses and not
sharing information. MA was incensed. He was by nature an all inclusive person,
and would send detailed reports that nobody bothered to read! MA would assemble the entire refinery staff
once a month and share his vision and strategy for the Company. Keeping
everybody in the loop was central to his management philosophy. The training,
and more training of the staff was a major part of MA’s job routine.
Jalil said that MA should train his
brother Khaliq who was the Group’s Finance Director. MA said he would do so if
the Finance department was placed under him so that Khaliq would not stop his
salary!
Unfortunately the language riots of
the 1970s brought the Punjabi and non-Punjabi issue into focus, with Bhutto
accusing MA of a bias for Urdu speaking people. MA’s investigations revealed
that the great majority of NRL employees were from the Punjab but with Karachi domiciles! MA
toured all the major towns and cities, and recruited forty top graduates after
copious interviews. He personally undertook their training, and made them
operate NRL and staff the many expansions that took place. There are more
former NRL employees in Houston than there are
in Pakistan ,
says MA, testifying to the caliber of manpower that got trained at NRL.
DEMANDING TOP DOLLAR IN ABU
DHABI
An interesting episode took place
during MA's a visit to Abu Dhabi as part of a
delegation led by Pakistan 's
Petroleum Minister Sherpao. They were there to arrange for crude oil supplies
for NRL. Sheikh Tahnoon, the Chairman of ADNOC, had conveyed Sheikh Zahid Al
Nahyan's personal wish to ask MA to give technical help to their upcoming Ummulnar
refinery. MA agreed to do so, and formed a company by the name of Enar
Petrotech (National Refinery Petrotech). A contract for the services to be
rendered to Ummulnar refinery was drawn up, with Karachi 's eminent lawyer Ali Afridi taking
care of the legal aspects.
The negotiations for the supply of
crude oil between MA and the Abu Dhabi Minister of Petroleum carried on
throughout the day with no agreement being arrived at. The Pakistani delegation
was asking for a substantial discount on the oil being purchased from ADNOC. MA
then requested the Pakistani ambassador Jamil-ur-Rehman to Abu Dhabi to set up an audience with Sheikh
Zayed himself in order to overcome the impasse. The audience was granted at the
Hilton Hotel that evening, and present were Petroleum Ministers of the two
countries, the Ambassador of Pakistan ,
and MA. Abu Dhabi 's Petroleum Minister
complained that while the Pakistanis were asking for a substantial discount on
the purchase of oil, they were charging top dollar as per the American scale
for their consultancy services for the Abu
Dhabi refinery.
Upon hearing this MA inquired from
Sheikh Nahyan if he was familiar with the tradition of Mehr wherein the groom
promises a certain amount to the bride on demand, a right that is generally
forgiven by the bride even though the amount is very large. Sheikh Zayed
answered that he was familiar with this tradition. MA submitted that he and his
team may be Pakistani but their performance was at par with the Americans.
Moreover, MA emphasized, that any profits accruing from this transaction were
not going to any private individual, but to the Government and the people of Pakistan .
MA also offered to undertake the assignment free of profit on a goodwill basis,
insisting that if payment for services rendered were to be made then they would
have to be as per the contractual sums. Sheikh Zayed gave out a hearty laugh,
and signaled to his Minister to agree to whatever conditions MA was
stipulating.
MA developed a special team to
assist ADNOC Refinery in Abu Dhabi .
Sheikh Thanoon was invited to visit NRL by MA. He was highly impressed by what
he say, and told his people that NRL was the standard to achieve in terms of
excellence. That was high validation of MA’s efforts.
PERAC STRATEGY OF DEVELOPMENT
With the signing of a protocol with
Abu Dhabi for the establishment of a refinery in
Multan , along with a pipeline from Karachi to Multan ,
a new Corporation was required to coordinate all petroleum processing business.
Since MA was the common denominator between PARCO under the Petroleum Ministry
and NRL under the Production Ministry, it was decided by the Government to
establish a new Company by the name and title of State Petroleum Refining and
Petrochemical Corporation Limited (PERAC) with MA as its founding Chairman. A
strategy was formulated for managing existing assets and future developments. The strategy envisaged a
set of manufacturing companies along with a set of service companies.
Under manufacturing there were two
areas comprising petroleum refining and petrochemicals. Petroleum refining was
further subdivided into Light Oil and Heavy Oil, with NRL and PARCO catering to
the refining of Light Oil. For the Heavy Oil an expansion was envisaged for NRL
Lube, Wax Refining, Synthetic Fatty Acids, and other Specialty Oils.
Petrochemicals were subdivided into B.T.X. Solvents manufacturing, Naptha Cracker Complex inclusive
OF Polymers production, and Carbon Black.
Under services was conceived ENAR
Petrotech Services Limited, Petroman Training & HRD Bank, Maintenance
Engineering Services, Computer Services, and Research & Development.
NAPTHA CRACKER CRACKUP
When Bhutto nationalized NRL he
gave MA full authority, and never asked him for any favours regarding hiring
and firing, or the awarding of contracts. He gave MA sanction for a
petrochemical complex of 300,000 tons capacity of polyethylene, in five
minutes! At a Chairmen’s Conference of the Board of Industrial Management (BIM)
chaired by Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, he asked all present to give
presentations about their respective Corporations. MA told him that his
ministers knew exactly what was happening in NRL and PERAC. He emphasized the
need for a petrochemicals complex as Pakistan was short of natural resources like
wood and minerals, and therefore needed synthetic materials like plastics,
fibres, etc to fill the resource gap, and for this a Naptha Cracker plant was absolutely
essential. Some twenty years earlier Imhausen of Germany had prepared a
detailed feasibility for the Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC)
for a project with a Naptha Cracking capacity of 20,000 tons. This was deemed
uneconomical. Later a 60,000 tons capacity plant was discussed.
MA decided to go in for a plant of
300,000 tons capacity on a pay-as-you-earn basis. He had signed an MOU with ENI of Italy for a Naptha Cracker plant, with
technical services, quality control, and marketing the responsibility of ENI. The
pay-as-you-earn condition absolved PERAC of the uncertainties of the global
marketplace, and if the product did not sell then payment would not be made. It
was a real sweetheart deal with ENI
that MA had struck. The Ministry, that stronghold of bureaucratic indifference
and outright bloody mindedness, said it did not have the rupees to provide the
earnest money for the project! Bhutto glared at his Production Minister, who in
turn glared at his Financial Advisor who then meekly asked MA how much he
needed! MA quoted a sum of thirty million rupees, and even before the figure
had left MA’s mouth Bhutto barked ‘Give It!’ and the meeting was over.
MA was mobbed by those present with
congratulations for having pulled off an impossible feat. This was amongst
Bhutto’s last acts in government prior to his ouster by General Zia. With
Bhutto’s departure the Naptha Cracker plant project cracked wide open at its
seams, with MA being ticked off in no uncertain terms by the senior bureaucracy
for the unconventional and entirely disagreeable fashion in which he had gone
about securing the prime ministerial sanction for the project. The ‘proper
channels’ felt their feathers ruffled by this impetuous chemical engineer, a
Sergeant Major of the Aligarh UOTC who hobnobbed with the Army’s top brass. MA
had circumvented the many layers of Committees that such a project would have
had to negotiate in cumbersome and time consuming fashion. The urgency of
industrial development to spur national growth required the Naptha Cracker in
operation right away, a fact that MA was acutely aware of. Unfortunately, in
the bureaucracy form outweighed substance 10 to 1. MA’s approach threatened to
upset the applecart for all times to come, and this couldn’t be allowed to
happen. The message was communicated to MA to relax and take it easy.
On another occasion the Romanian
president Ceausescu was on a visit to Pakistan , and was taken on tour of
the NRL. He was so impressed by what he saw that he promised MA a Naptha
Hydrocracker plant for NRL. At a dinner in the Governor’s House Ceausescu introduced
MA to his wife, and within the earshot of many told her that he was the
gentlemen that he had told her about. The word spread that MA was being talked
about in Ceausescu's bedroom! Naptha Hydrocracker plant may never have arrived,
but the NRL’s expansion was conducted by the Romanians. They wanted to honour
him with a Romanian medal, but MA insisted that his two other team members who
had worked hard on the project also receive medals, to which the Romanians did
not agree, so no medal for MA either.
The Naptha Cracker plant got shot
down by overseas competitors, notably Shell, who dominated the import of
petrochemicals. Pakistan
imported it then, and still does. Engro has set up a small downstream
petrochemical plant now, and expansion of local production has to happen sooner
or later. At the time MA embarked upon the Naptha Cracker project a total out
of pocket expenditure of $300,000 was envisaged for a project that would cost
$700 million. MA is saddened that Pakistan lost such a mint
opportunity.
SHAHZAD SADIQ THE SPOILER
With the advent of Zia’s martial
law the Petroleum Secretary, Shahzad Sadiq, started a campaign bad mouthing MA,
taking advantage of the confusion that invariably follows regime change. Since
he was the Chairman of PARCO by virtue of being Secretary Petroleum, his
interactions with MA were unavoidable, and increasingly stressful.
The Naptha Cracker plant was never
set up. Its utility to the nation’s industrial development still remains
central, says MA. The cost, meanwhile, has gone through the roof, and it is highly
unlikely that any manufacturer will offer it on a pay-as-you-earn basis. In
fact, due to the Islamic Bomb and terrorism associated with Pakistan , it is highly unlikely that the
equipment itself will be available for Pakistan as its end-user.
Shahzad Sadiq had really played the
spoiler. He had raised questions in the PARCO Board about the manner in which
purchases were being made, with the lowest bids not always awarded the
contracts. PARCO was in full bloom, with a state of hyperactivity at all levels.
It was a pace of work that permitted no time or space for the backroom tactics
and kickbacks upon which the Ministry thrived. The criterion for all
procurements and inductions was purely merit. with MA ruling the roost and
riding rough shod over all deviants. Shahzad Sadiq filled the ears of his
Minister, Mr. Khattak. General Jamal was a member of Zia’s Cabinet, and knew MA
well. Once on a visit to his office MA ran into Zia, who said that he would be
visiting the NRL. General Zia was impressed by what he saw, and commended MA on
doing a great job.
MA then decided to write a letter
to General Zia, mentioning the rumours that were circulating about his lack of
integrity, and asked that an inquiry be instituted so his name could be
cleared. Sometime later he received a message from Zia telling him to forget
about the rumours, which he said were inevitable considering the huge size of
the projects that MA was handling. Unfortunately, at a PARCO Board meeting that
included the Abu Dhabi
stakeholders, Shahzad Sadiq decided to have another go at MA’s modus operandi,
questioning a number of his decisions. MA had undergone some painful dental
procedures that day, and was not in a very happy mood as it was. He found very
insulting Shahzad Sadiq’s barrage, specially in the presence of the Arabs who
held him in very high regard.
Obviously Shahzad Sadiq took a dim
view of this rising star who by all reckoning was getting too big for his
boots. This attitude of the petroleum secretary made a smooth working
relationship with him very difficult. MA decided to resign and return to PERAC
with whom he was under contract. PERAC worked under the Ministry of Production
with Rafi Raza as minister.
“In retrospect I think it was a
foolish decision to resign,” says MA. “But I was in an agitated mental state.
The kids were growing up, and there were all kinds of pressures.” Not
withstanding his multiple roles, MA received only one salary, that from NRL.
When he was wearing his other hats he apportioned his expenses to each
organization that he was serving. After nationalization NRL had come under the
administrative and policy control of the Ministry of Industries that was later renamed
the Ministry of Production. Then with the advent of PARCO , MA
Many years later in Houston where Shahzad
Sadiq was residing he expressed a desire to meet MA who was casting about for
work. MA did not want to meet a man who was not fair minded. But Shahzad Sadiq
persisted, and threw a lavish banquet for MA at the Houston Club, complete with
classy matchboxes with MA’s name inscripted upon them! MA accepted the
invitation, but only after quizzing him about the misinformation that he had
been feeding General Zia about him. Shahzad Sadiq accepted that he had been telling
lies about MA to General Zia, and apologized. Shahzad Sadiq was now a wanted
man, having run afoul of General Zia, and could not return to Pakistan . Thereafter MA forgave
him, and embraced him for admitting the truth.
LET HIM FRY IN HIS OWN OIL !
During his tenure Bhutto had asked MA through Ghulam
Ishaq, the most powerful bureaucrat of the time, to become Chairman Defence
Production. When Ghulam Ishaq refused to take no for an answer and accepted all
of MA’s conditions, MA turned to Rafi Raza, the Minister of Production and a
close Bhutto aide, for advice. His advice was simple and direct. He told MA
that his independent approach so far had only cost him his job. If he took the
same approach in Defence Production then he could wind up with a hole in his
head!
Next day MA accordingly conveyed
his inability to accept the Defence Production job to Ghulam Ishaq, saying that
as a professional he was averse to making decisions based on the flip of a
coin. The decision to accept the Chairmanship of Defence Production would
amount to just that. MA thanked Ghulam Ishaq for his generosity at having
agreed to all his requirements. Ghulam Ishaq reluctantly agreed to inform
President Bhutto, and promised to try and soften the weight of Bhutto’s displeasure.
Three days later when MA was in the middle of a high-powered meeting, his wife Rahat
barged into the meeting room, and announced that the house that they had been
constructing had been requisitioned by the Intelligence Bureau, and they had
taken over its physical custody while she was in the process of giving it the
finishing touches. Rahat was understandably livid, and a call to the IB chief
who was a relative of hers had drawn a blank for he knew nothing about it. He
rang back after a little while with the information that a very expensive cable
had already been laid to the house, and nothing could be done about it. Then
the news arrived that the police guard posted there had put MA’s chowkidar
under arrest for stealing their radio! MA had heard that the Inspector General
of Police was a good chap, and went to him for redressal. He was furious when
he heard of the incident, and had the four policemen locked up for negligence.
How could they be expected to guard the IB office when they couldn’t even guard
their own radio?
With his house requisitioned and
his family still living in rented accommodation, MA cast high and low in an
attempt to get his house derequisitioned, but to no avail. His request for help
to Bhutto himself brought forth a response that pointed to the reason for his
trauma. Let him fry in his own oil, Bhutto is supposed to have said, showing
that he was angry about MA declining the Defence Production job offer.
NATIONALISATION – ENTER THE BUREAUCRACY
His tenure at NRL, which led to
PARCO and the other enterprises, MA describes as the prime time of his career.
He was the General Manager NRL when he got a call from Qamar-ul-Islam, a very
senior secretary of the federal government whom Bhutto had entrusted heavily
with work after nationalization, along with Mr. Mubashir Hassan, the finance
minister. He told him that the inevitable had happened, and NRL had been
nationalized, and that Mr. Bhutto would like MA to assume the post of its
Managing Director. MA was stunned! The thought of answering to the bureaucracy
and politicians was quite unnerving. MA told Mr. Islam that he was an employee
of NRL with full autonomy to run it in his own particular style. Qamar-ul-Islam
assured him that there would be no interference with his way of work. MA then
asked him whether he had a choice in the matter of accepting the assignment?
The answer that he got was yes, upon which MA accepted the offer.
Qamar-ul-Islam expressed his surprise, and wanted to know that if MA was going
to accept the job why then did he ask about the choice in the matter? MA said
that being a professional he liked to make his own decision. Upon which
Qamar-ul-Islam got up and shook his hand, saying that he was now sure that they
had got the right man.
Subsequent to the meeting MA was
appointed the Managing Director of NRL, and got down to the serious business of
organizing NRL's assets both of men and material to form a corporation. He then
sought a private meeting with Mr. Islam, in which he presented to him his idea of
expanding the scope of the petroleum processing business that went beyond the
operation of just one refinery, and covered the entire ambit of manpower
development and technology transfer, with a view to becoming self sufficient in
technology. This would necessitate the formation of a separate company that
dealt only with the issues relating to technology. As a follow-up MA wrote a
letter to Qamar-ul-Islam outlining his ideas. Relentless human resource
development was central to a high performing sustainable industrial endeavor.
Qamar-ul-Islam initialed his
concurrence with MA’s plans, provided he did not ask for any money! MA wrote
back “I accept!” and ENAR (National Refinery) Petrotech was born, and is performing
its intended function with flying colours. “Today there are more former NRL
employees working in Houston then there are in Pakistan ,
and are occupying senior positions,” says MA with pride. “We taught them to a
globally competitive level, and they are recognized and appreciated.”
Commenting upon different
international management styles, MA observes in a light vein that when an
American decides to set up a refinery he first makes the offices, then the
club, and lastly the refinery. An Englishman will first make the club, then the
refinery, and lastly the offices. When a Pakistani makes a refinery he first
makes the refinery, then the refinery, and lastly the refinery! When MA left
NRL its offices had yet to be made, and work was carried out from the same
construction shacks during those four to five years, sitting in small cubicles
that also accommodated the secretaries. There were no peons, and all files were
self-delivered. There were no separate toilets for officers either. The same
facilities were available to all 1000 employees, with strict janitorial
supervision ensuring hygiene. Doing things the ‘NRL Way ’ became a common refrain.
VENTURING BEYOND PROFIT
In his definitive book on the Pakistan – Abu
Dhabi collaboration in the oil sector, Mr. S.A. Abidi
pays high tribute to MA. In his introduction to the problems being faced by Pakistan ,
he writes that “…although three oil refineries of modest size were operating in
the country since the 1940s and 1960s, the oil import bill took the lion’s
share of the total imports. It was likely to climb much higher if industry was
to grow and agriculture mechanized. The transportation of diesel and kerosene
had a dizzying pattern with thousands of oil tankers and railway wagons running
criss-cross all over the country day and night. They carried the product one
way and returned empty on the way back, thus burning a great deal of fuel
unproductively and causing avoidable pollution of air. Import of heavy
vehicles, spare parts and consumables, and maintenance of roads was only adding
to the indirect costs of energy. If no alternatives were found the logistics
and cost burden could become a constraint of growth. The laying of a pipeline
network for efficient transportation, and installing another refinery for
import substitution, were two much talked about options. But no private
investment was forthcoming to undertake such a mega buck project, and no funds
of such magnitude were available with the government.
“There was an obvious need for a
national oil strategy, and an organization to implement it. The search for the
leader of this vital segment stopped at Mr. M.A. Allawala, a highly regarded
veteran of oil processing, and already the Managing Director of the ‘taken
over’ National Refinery Limited in 1972. initially he was asked to continue
working in that position in the service of the State. Being an energetic man of
versatile skills of business and technology, leadership qualities and patriotic
sentiments, it took him no time to switch over from the orientation of private
business to the broader horizons of national development. Eventually Mr.
Allawala would prove to be a fortuitous choice, who could take irrevocable
actions so fast that the detractors, soon to enter the scene, would find
impossible to undo. His tenure in nationalized industry would also highlight
the fact the only a leadership with entrepreneurial drive can translate the
vision of policy makers into reality. He is also a case in point that such
achievers are often prone to have their fingers burnt by political and
bureaucratic interference, unless highly skilled in the art of self-defense.
“Without waiting for brief from Islamabad , which was not
likely to come in those circumstances, Mr. Allawala got down to laying the
groundwork for the future of the oil industry on his own initiative. He knew
that hired foreign consultants are not only exorbitantly expensive, but are
also likely to produce faulty designs and malfunctioning plants if the client
was not technically competent to evaluate and question their work. He was well
aware that essential knowledge required for setting goals and pursuing them
successfully cannot be bought, and had to be self developed to be of true
value. Only then can one be capable of briefing the outside experts. Moreover,
a base of trained technical personnel had to be developed for operating,
maintaining and expanding the industry. His first move, therefore, was to
organize and groom an indigenous pool of expert knowledge that would spearhead
planning and supervising the entire gamut of development in the oil processing
industry. He visualized that such a group would eventually export technical
services and personnel to other countries, and also help other industries in Pakistan
to introduce the latest tools of management. The Government had no money to
support the group, but would not stand in its way if it could earn its own
wages.”
5 & 7 OF NRL – A PHILOSOPHY, NOT A JOB
MA formulated five principles and
seven objectives that came to be known as the 5&7 of NRL (see annexure). According
to these, Management, first and foremost, makes commitment to all its
employees. Unfortunately, after MA left NRL the Petroleum and Production Ministries
people undid one by one everything that he had put in place. That was, and
remains such a tragedy, because whatever MA had done had clearly worked.
MA applied the 5&7 formula
where ever he went. “First one needs to clearly establish one’s intentions,” he
says. “What is it that one wants to do? NRL was more than a job. It was a life's
philosophy.” The other principle that MA abided by, and offered as advice to all
colleagues and associates, was to avoid self-seekers. This advice was presented
to Mr. Bhutto as well in a private conversation, along with the 5&7 of NRL
that met with his great approval. Anyone who shone too brightly in an attempt
to invite attention to himself was to be avoided. “Having said that, everyone,
including me, is self-centered. This is embedded in the human survival
instinct, and has to be judiciously controlled.”
MA had no role model as such where
the Chief Executive was concerned, and learnt from experience and observation,
often wondering why it was that when everyone wanted to do a good job, a good
job was not done? He is skeptical of large organizations that profess to work
for the good of their employees and society, saying that behind a smokescreen
of goodwill there are ulterior motives focused entirely upon maximizing returns
for shareholders. The greater philosophy that seldom finds expression is to treat
others as you would want to be treated yourself.
NRL has been privatized again and sold
to Attock refinery group.
HRD BANK
The non-implementation of the HRD
Bank is another thing that saddens MA. It would have ensured the concurrent
development of human and non-human resource when setting up an Industry, with
inventory management central to the enterprise. A double decker system, the HRD
Bank was envisaged under PERAC. It would identify HR requirements in the
present and future terms, ensure its supply, and have a holding area for
surplus HR. In short, HR inventory management, research and development through
a search tank. It was envisaged that the producing companies under PERAC would
be adding value to both human and non-human resources simultaneously as their
objective. The HRD Bank was to have a Fund dedicated to research and
development. The surplus output of Petroman that could not find placement
within the oil industry was to be absorbed in the R&D pool of the Bank and
supported by the Fund. MA gave the Karachi
University
MA calls this idea of the HRD Bank
as ‘our human bomb!’ and it is unfortunate that his successors in PERAC and
elsewhere could not grasp the concept and failed in the follow up. It was a
systems approach as opposed to a product approach, and has had a high degree of
relevance and urgency during every era, past, present, and future. Today people
do not share knowledge, and there is a critical shortage of trained and
competent manpower across the board in Pakistan , says MA. “The great
reward of one’s living is to leave behind someone who is better than you. It
requires a very large heart, with modesty and noble poverty as its hallmarks.” The
first responsibility of any country’s leadership is to protect its intellectual
assets, says MA, lamenting the manner in which Dr. Abdus Salam and his work
have been systematically attacked and made ineffective.
THOUGHTS ON HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
It is being said that the
consumption patterns of the world’s human resource are being scaled down
through a deliberate and unprecedented increase in oil prices. Given MA’s
association with the oil industry, has he ever been accused of contributing to
global warming? That is an area in which Pakistan has made a negligible
contribution due to its almost non-existent industrial base, replies MA “MNCs
in the oil business are the forward players, covering all their bases. The rise
in oil prices has made feasible the commercial development of alternative
energy sources that were previously thought to be too expensive. Planning is a
continuous process, with actions and their reactions making for dynamic
situations. Molecules clash and create change which would not take place if
they stayed apart.”
Wars and natural disasters play a
role in human development, but they need to be controlled, and their energy
harnessed, he says. The principle operating in an atomic bomb is the same as
that in an atomic reactor working for the betterment of society. There are
pitfalls, but we are still harnessing that energy. When people interact they
teach and learn from each other. Some are better than others and progress far
ahead. Some people don’t learn so well, and remain static, but they also
contribute to civilization and its evolution. The bottom line is that one
should remain and involved.
The earthquake and tsunami of 2005
released an enormous amount of energy, mobilizing millions of people across the
world that rallied unconditionally in support of a humanitarian cause. There
was an unprecedented closing of ranks and meeting of minds that restored faith
in the goodness of humanity. “We are battling on many fronts, and I am saddened
by the general lack of attention to HR. My preoccupation with mentoring and
counseling is because I realize that my time has part in terms of making a
physical energy contribution. The best thing that I can do now is pass on the
lessons that I have learnt through life to people who are inclined to listen.”
The hyperactivity that we around us
is a gift from God, says MA. “The casualties and disappointments along the way
happen for a reason as the individual pursues the path to contentment and
happiness. On the Frustration Index one must strive to achieve a sustainable
position, between 4 and 7 on a scale of 1 to 10, where sufficient frustration
remains to keep one active and striving, ad there is sufficient contentment to
shun the mindless rat race where rationality takes a backseat to rampant greed
and unbridled desire. Dead men have no fear, and no desire. In paradise all our
desires and wants will be satisfied, and there shall be no striving. On Earth
as we do so we are rewarded or punished. It is a combination of both hell and
heaven. Mankind thrives in the challenge to find a better and more comfortable
way of life, and has been given the option of creating his heaven or hell, or a
mixture of the two, right here in this world. When the struggle becomes zero we
become jannatees! Struggle means a step forward in fulfilling our needs. It
means achievement. When the struggle ceases it means that we have achieved the
ultimate.”
MA once told Zia-ul-Haq that God
had gifted him with a powerful voice in the affairs of the country, and when he
spoke people listened. He advised Zia to tell the preachers that they should
exhort their congregations to turn their individual worlds into paradise.
Irrespective of the success that they might achieve, they should try anyways.
“What right do we have asking for Heaven in the Hereafter when we never strove
for it in this world? Muslims are confused. They have shunned this world in the
hope for heaven in the next world. Suddenly they realize that in this world
they have been left far behind, and the extremists amongst them try and destroy
in others that which they have not managed to achieve for themselves.” MA told Zia that the Jannat model was common
knowledge, and involved total freedom, and the endless availability of hoors
(pure damsels) and all the other things forbidden in this life! Zia was taken
aback, and told MA not to speak in this manner or else, along with himself, he
would take him down as well! He had a pleasant disposition and understood these
things, says MA.
CHAPTER TEN “LIFE AS AN
ENTREPRENEUR”
OUT ON A LIMB
On the 1st of January 1966 MA took
over as General Manager and Chief Executive Officer of NRL. He left in 1978,
resigning simultaneously from NRL, PARCO, PERAC, and all the other companies
that had been set up under his watch. On his six months leave preparatory to
retirement (LPR) MA headed overseas to seek his fortune, leaving his family in Karachi . The official
bungalow and other facilities car,
servants remained with his family during his LPR as per his contract and their
life styles were not affected for the moment. It was a difficult choice of
destination. MA thought of Chicago where he had received his education and
training, and knew the Industry people, but ruled it out since he had conducted
business there on behalf of NRL and was not looking a for job either.
. Houston was one place where MA had no
relationships developed during his NRL tenure and looked inviting. It was also
an oil town. Jalil, meanwhile, had gone to Atlanta and set up a polyester carpets business. He invited MA to
come and stay with him and chill out for a while, which MA did, spending three
weeks sorting out his thoughts and discussing courses of action.
KICKING THE HABIT
In 1977 MA quit smoking, having
averaged two and a half packs a day. One would never find him without a lit
cigarette, he says. His work involved a jet setting life style that kept him
air borne for considerable periods. Every once in a while he would stop over at
his medical insurers, BUPA, in London
to get himself tested and checked. On one such visit his consultant doctor
asked him whether he was unhappy with his work that entailed incessant travel?
Or was he having problems with his wife? MA replied in the affirmative to both questions. "Why
then, you smoke so much? you are a normal man" said the doctor to MA. The
doctor then took MA through the impact that cigarettes were having upon his
brain by way of oxygen scavenging put in place by the carbon mono-oxide
released by the burning cigarette paper.MA retorted " Doctor you mean I
can become more stupid than I already am?" Doctor said "yes!" That
day MA quit smoking, and has not touched a cigarette since. He tells me this as
I am merrily puffing away on my own cigarette! And I make a mental note of
doing a few extra laps in the pool to further enhance the oxygenation of my
bloodstream and brain.
“I was a slave to my ciggies,” says
MA, “and told myself that if I managed to do without them, I could also summon my
self to do any thing I put my mind to.. One smoke-free year later I quit my job
at PARCO in 1978.
EXPLORING OPTIONS
The day MA had resigned his job
with NRL and PARCO, and all the others, Agha Hasan Abidi, the legendary banker,visited
his company residence at Old Queens road in Karachi and offered him a position in his
organization which was contemplating the acquisition of Attock Oil Refinery. MA
put forth one condition, his cherished desire to be part of the ownership, a
junior partner even with one-sixteenth of the shares. He wanted to break out of
the employee grid, and become an owner in his own right, and be a credit to his
Punjabi Saudagaran Biradari. Abidi said that that would be difficult, but
continued to pursue MA for sometime after that, offering him a highly lucrative
deal that entailed the going rate for
refinery professionals in the international market, as well as retirement benefits
of similar nature. But MA was stuck on being a part owner of the project,
seized with the 1 anna dilemma!
Then came an offer from Jalil to
set up a refinery that was being partnered by an American enterpreneur in which
MA would be a junior partner, and MA accepted. Unfortunately, Jalil and the American
partner fell out over money matters and the project got hit for a six. MA took
the news and attendant disappointment in his stride. He asked Jalil to provide
him with a loan of $18,000 for six months, assuring him that it would be
repaid, if not by him then by his children and grandchildren. With this money
he first attended to his kids whose college admissions were due, and made sure
that his wife has sufficient money for her kitchen expenses. Then he set out in
search of livelihood. Within four months MA had brokered a small oil deal and
moved from red to being firmly in the black. MA made the move to Houston in 1978.
“I returned Jalil his money and
have never looked back. I am not rich. I am not wealthy. But I am happy,” he
says as he relaxes on his front lawn, oblivious of the mosquitoes that gather
with the approaching dusk.
EMMAY ASSOCIATES
MA formed his own consultancy
company in partnership with Masood Hasan, a very accomplished chemical engineer
who rose to senior management position with Wazirali Industries. The name of the
new enterprise was EMMAY Associates (pvt,) Ltd. Massod Hasan functioned as
managing director and had his office in Lahore, while MA served as the chairman
and manned the Karachi Office that was situated on the ground floor of his
residence in Karachi’s Kehkashan Clifton area. Two other very senior engineers
also joined EMMAY Associates at this time. Becoming the third partner was a
senior mechanical engineer Abul Kalam who had served as Secretary Railways
during the time of General Zia. The fourth partner to join up was Dr. Wajid,
MA’s old colleague from Attock Refinery, who joined EMMAY Associates after his
retirement from Attock Refinery.
The idea of forming the partnership
was to provide senior engineers with a
platform from which to operate in their post retirement period, and remain
active in the Industry. The four partners, one in Lahore
and three in Karachi ,
collaborated with each other on assignments. Broadly speaking the assignments
connected with energy, petroleum refining, petrochemicals transportation and
other process and mechanical industries were primarily handled by MA, Mr Abul Kalam
and Dr. Wajid. Mr. Masood Hasan handled general consultancy through the Lahore office with the Water
and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) and other companies. Whenever
assistance was needed in specific areas the required staff would be hired
either on contract or assignment basis. The technical staff comprised of four
people in the Lahore
office comprising a mechanical engineer, one structural engineer, and two civil
engineers. The Karachi
office had the services of a senior mechanical engineer and a fresh chemical
engineering graduate.
MADE FOR MOIZ
MA Associates was set up by MA with
his son Moiz in mind, who had followed in his father’s footsteps and had turned
out to be a first rate chemical engineer in great demand in petroleum refining,
specializing in the process of hydrocracking. For many years he worked for UOP,
a world renowned Petroleum refining company with projects in the USA and many countries of Europe, Middle East,
and the Far East . Starting up refieries and
hydrocrackers, he had moved to Thailand
on deputation from his American employers to set up a refinery, and decided
join the local company and settle in Thailand .
Moiz died in the prime of his life
in 2001 at the age of 51, having seen his father off at the Bangkok Airport
MA lost interest in Emmay
Associates after that, and his health started deteriorating as he struggled
with the tuberculosis. His mental strength, developed over years and years of
deep scientific study and analysis, came to his rescue as he finally vanquished
the dreaded ailment. But the fire was gone with Moiz. His two other sons, Azeez
and Rameez, had taken different routes in life far removed from the worlds of
chemical engineers and oil refineries, and they were not equipped to run Emmay
Associates.
GULFSTONE INC.
In the 1980s MA busied himself
representing the Bahraini Arabs in the purchase of a petrochemical complex from
Puerto Rico belonging to the Pittsburg Glass
Company. It was a fine plant in good
condition, and MA was pained at the thought of it being dismantled and sold for
junk. Backed by the Bahrainis he topped the highest bid and bought the Naptha
Cracker plant for $2.2 million. His son Rameez was with him in Houston assisting him in
the management and maintenance.of the aquisition through Gulfstone Inc of which
he was also a President. Various studies
were carried out by Emmay Associates for utilization of the assets as an
addendum to the proposed Manglore refinery in India .
Various Process Packages were
prepared for the Manglore Refinery and Petrochemal Complex in association with
Snam Projeti of Italy .
During the period of negotiation MA had to visit India
many times including Delhi , Bombay
and Madras .
These were nostalgic days as MA was revisiting the country of his birth after 30
years. In New Delhi MA Madras and was very considerate and
respectful in his dealings with MA. During the meetings in his office he would
be partial towards MA's views as opposed to his own staff, and at times was even
rude to them. This put MA in a difficult situation, and in a private meeting with
the secretary MA expressed his discomfort at meetings when the secretary sided
with MA in front of his staff. MA suggested he will be more comfortable if he
did not scold his staff in front of him as it was liable to develop some
hostility between MA and his ministry's senior staff. The Secretary brushed aside
MA's concerns with the following remarks. "Do you know we have a problem
in India .
The Punjabis think they are superior and UPites behave like superiors, but we
Madrasis know that we are superior!" MA was much amused by Secretary's
anecdote and drew some comfort from the
similarities on the issues of Provincialism between India
and Pakistan .
When the pace of work accelerated
the Bahrainis backed out. MA cast high and low for a buyer, from India to across the Middle
East . Finally it had to be broken down into six units, with the
attendant reworking of designs and feasibilities.
CHAPTER ELEVEN “BACK IN THE SADDLE”
MAKING MINISTER
. Zia was constantly on MA’s case
to return to Pakistan .
During one of MA's visits to Karachi ,
he got a call from General Zia's Military Secretary to inviting him for a meeting
with the President in the evening at State Guest house in Karachi . General Zia as usual very warm and kind, and after some chit chat again raised
the prospect of MA's returning back to Pakistan . He asked MA to head the
Ministery of Petroleum. MA felt very honored but explained that he was commited
to a large Petrochemcal project in India and the Middlest and could
not get out of it. General Zia understood his problem, and wished him success
with a promise that on his next visit to Pakistan he would inform his military
secretary of his arrival.
A couple of months later on a visit to Karachi MA received a call from the
Secretary of Prime Minister Junejo, saying that Mr. Junejo was visiting Karachi
and wanted MA to meet him the next day. Junejo showed MA the courtesy of a
thorough gentleman, and broached the topic of his return to Pakistan . As the luck would have it
the Manglore refinery and Petrochemical complex that MA was promoting was in the
doldrums, and MA was free to consider returning to Pakistan .
MA asked Junejo what he had in mind,
and was told that the position of chairman Export Promotion Bureau was open. MA
gave his conditional acceptance. The
conditions were that MA would work with
out any monthly salary; that he would be allowed to leave the job without let
or hinderance, and that he would join after Martial Law had been lifted. Junejo
accepted all the conditions, and MA went back to Houston to await the lifting of Martial Law. At
the end of December MA got a call in Houston
from General Zia. He informed MA that he had lifted Martial Law, and wanted to
know when MA would return to Pakistan ?
MA answer was " on the next
available flight!"
MA flew home next day to Karachi on the 1st of Jan 1986 .
Zia appointed MA as Chairman of the Export Promotion Bureau with the rank of a
Federal Minister of State. For the one year that he held the job he tried to
make it function in a professional and objective oriented fashion, keeping
himself aloof of the politics of textile quota allocation. He describes Prime
Minister Junejo as a straight forward person who for some reason felt that MA
had been forced upon him by Zia, something he has alluded to in a book written
on him. MA insisted that matters should be transparent from the very beginning.
“On a matter of quota allocation
from the Prime Minister things came to a head,” says MA. “The instructions had
come from the Commerce Minister that the PM desired an allocation of textile
quota to be allocated to a certain individual for export. The Export Promotion
Bureau (EPB) was the agency responsible
for implementing the scheme approved by the Government, and reported to the Commerce Ministry. I had made a
notation on the file marked to the Vice Chairman that the new applicant may be
entertained as desired by the PM along with the old applicant, provided a way is found to entertain both people since
the quota had been exhausted to my knowledge. The Vice Chairman complied and
found a way to accommodate the newcomer,
so obviously the quota had not been fully exhausted. I advised the Vice Chairman
that next time when the Textile Qouta allocations were being calculated all
figures should be accurate and transparent.
“Subsequent to that the Vice
Chairman was very anxious since the Commerce Secretary had put up an adverse
report to the PM regarding the quota manipulation. The PM ordered an inquiry
into the matter, and in a meeting where the minister, secretary and myself were
present, the minister denied any knowledge of the matter! Even though it was
him who had passed the order. I offered to accept the blame and resign from my
post. When confronted with the gravity of the situation the Commerce Minister accepted
that it was he who had passed the instructions on the Prime Minister’s behest! PM
then told the Commerce Minister that ‘one may give one plot or two as a favour,
but not the whole scheme!’ After that the Minister apologized, in the presence
of his Secretary, a senior bureaucrat, promising not to do it again.”
It was a most embarrassing sight
for MA to see his Minister humiliating himself, and suggested to Junejo that he
was ready to take the blame and requested the PM to fire him. Junejo did not
agree to that, and suggested that MA go back to Karachi and take legal advice to see if the
allotment could be cancelled. At the end of the meeting MA requested a private
audience with the PM. Every one left the room, with the PM standing up and bolting
the door, and while standing asked MA to say his piece. MA told PM most
politely that humiliation of the Minister in the presence of the Secretary Commerce
and other senior staff does not auger well for his Government. PM acknowledged
the fact and said something to the
effect that he wwould do some thing about it.
A couple of days later MA returned
from Karachi and informed the PM that in his lawyers’ view the allotted quota could
not be cancelled, and again requested that he be relieved of his responsibility
forthwith. The PM suggested that MA should send in his resignation after returning
to Karachi as
it has to go to the President first. MA insisted, saying that he would prefer
to walk out of the PM’s room a free man. Finally Junejo agreed and MA went to
his secretary Capt. Isani's room, scribbled his resignation ,handed it to him, thanked
him for his sympathies and cooperation, and walked out a free man.
HOBNOBBING WITH ZIA
MA says he was on good terms with
Zia-ul-Haq. Colonel M.A.R. Khan of the Medical Corps, later promoted General,
was where MA was staying on one of his visits to Rawalpindi . Returning from a day’s work MA
found MAR near hysteria. Zia’s office had been calling all day long to invite
him for a dinner at the Presidency. The cream of Pakistan ’s bureaucracy was in
attendance. Mahboob-ul-Haq was also there to be interviewed. MA arrive five
minutes late, and was the recipient of very hostile stares, except from Zia who
gave him a broad grin. Everyone was blowing his own trumpet vociferously,
hailing loudly their deeds to each other, hoping that Zia would catch some part
of their conversations. But Zia was merrily eating from his bowl of curd with a
spoon and chatting with MA.
The dinner came to a close and one
by one the party departed. MA hung back, not wanting to draw attention to
himself. When he finally took Zia’s leave the General asked him to stay on for
a bit more. He made small talk for the next few minutes, expressing his desire
to meet MA at length upon his return from Brazil . When he finally gave MA his
leave and they stepped out onto the porch, the rest of the party was still
there in the drive way sitting in their cars, waiting to see when MA would
emerge. This fact was not lost on Zia, who pointed it out to MA with a smile!
The high level of insecurity and inquisitiveness which the top bureaucracy in Islamabad was seized with
made him feel sorry for them, says MA.
MA filed a case in court for the
release of his house, and won a decree in his favour following which the house
was derequisitioned after a period of six years.
CHAPTER TWELVE “BIRDS EYE VIEW”
WHAT IF?
I pose a ‘what if’ scenario to MA.
What if his mother had permitted him to join the Pakistan Military Academy
Kakul in 1948? Would he have made General? His response is unambiguous. No. He
feels he had two fatal flaws that would have dashed his progression up the
hierarchy. The fact that he was an Indian Muhajir made him a security risk,
Pervez Musharraf’s rise no withstanding. Secondly, his inability to carry out
irrational commands would have secured for him the boot from the Army sooner
than later!
Dwelling upon current affairs for a
bit, I ask MA where Musharraf has gone wrong? “He has violated a core commando
principle. Commandos never occupy the land. It’s always hit and run, shock and
awe missions behind enemy lines. Musharraf came in with a bang, which is what
commandos do, but his exit strategy was way too prolonged. He should have done
the necessary surgery, struck the fear of God into the hearts of corrupt
politicians, handed over to the cleanest set of hands available, and ridden off
into the sunset, or sunrise, or whatever. But to stay on and on and on, and
drag the armed forces into needless controversy, was bad strategy.”
SOLDIERING IN ISLAM
I felt here that MA was missing an
important rationale for the way in which Musharraf had acted. The institution
of the coup, for that is what it has become, an institution, is presented as
evidence when condemning the army as a rogue pillar of state with a mind of its
own and not amenable to civilian command and control. However, a higher purpose
than the mere lust for power is attributed to such actions. The Muslim
philosophy of command and control is distinct from the Hindu philosophy in
neighbouring India .
While was may be too important an issue to be left entirely in the hands of
generals, equally important is that during times of peace the generals and
their troops shed their armor, and convert their swords into ploughshares, and
transform their military strategies for winning wars into civilian strategies for
enhancing the dividends of peace, i.e., progress and prosperity.
The soldier in Islam can and does
assume a leadership role in civil society during times of peace, operating as a
profit center, a net asset to the community, and not a perpetual cost center
burdening society. The fashionable thinking amongst ‘lily livered liberals’
that the army must be restricted to its barracks, is a non-starter and a
dangerous recipe for war. Soldiers must be demobilized in times or peace and
made a useful part of the civilian structure. For if they continue to prepare
for war in the name of professional excellence, then rest assured that they
will indeed go to war one day, if only to justify and perpetuate the costs
being incurred upon them. Enduring peace is the preserve of the diplomats, the
economists, and the generals. The three must cohabit in the same body and mind.
AYUB KHAN ERA
During the 1960s MA experienced the
Ayub Khan era from up close. Located in Attock he was in close proximity with
the seat of power in Islamabad .
MA believes that Ayub Khan was on the right track, whatever his failings, and
he was saddened the day Ayub was made to leave office. His performance and
dynamism improved the lot of the Pakistanis. MA says that he loves the Faujis,
their discipline and objectivity. Ayub’s
fault lay in assigning his personal agenda a higher priority that his
professional agenda. The Faujis tend to slip up in the delivery stage. The
Civil Service that ensured the delivery was systematically eliminated by the
vested interests promoting their personal agendas. The day Altaf Gauhar wrote
‘Friends, Not Masters’ MA says that the signal was up in the Western world that
Ayub’s days were numbered. He had become proud. He attracted a lot of
unnecessary attention, and for that Altaf Hussain has to shoulder some of the
blame.
MA ranks Musharraf as the second
best leader to have graced Pakistan .
Unfortunately, all his good work fell victim to a desire for self-projection
and absolute control that cost him the goodwill of the people. Bhutto would
rank amongst the top three leaders in MA’s estimation. “ZAB never interfered in
my work and gave me complete latitude,” he says. “Qamar-ul-Islam and V. A.
Jaffery were fully supportive. My associations invariably started out as
confrontations and proceeded into good friendships. I was not given to
relationship development, so people in power did not view me as a threat and
left me alone.”
ANALYZING KHEM KHARAN
MA says that second debacle that
Ayub Khan suffered was at Khem Kharan during the 1965 war with India .
Within three days of the cessation of hostilities MA was on the ground on the
spot where the action had taken place. “The cavalary General leading the tanks
goofed up,” narrates MA. “Khem Kharan is agricultural land, crisscrossed with
canals. General Hamid was the General Officer Commanding. The Armoured Corps
constituted the punch of our Armed Forces. The rumours were flying thick and
fast. One was that General Hamid had been martyred. I made my way to Khem
Kharan the first chance I got. There were regular black outs because of the
war. General Hamid was a brilliant man, and had been Director General Military
Training. I found him alive and wel, and he took me to Ops Room which was in a
Bunkered tent full of operations maps.he gave me a tour of the battlefield through these maps.. I was looking for the
human failure component responsible for our defeat. It couldn’t just be
attributed to bad luck.”
MA was incredulous with disbelief
as General Hameed narrated what had happened. The punch of the land forces was
released with full fury, and the Armoured Corps devastated the enemy that stood
in its way, occupying large tracts of enemy land, and approaching to within a
stone’s throw of Amritsar .
Satisfaction was writ large over the countenance of General Hameed as he
received news of the enemy’s utter capitulation and disarray. The nect morning
the General’s situation report showed that the Armoured attack was camped back
where it had been released from! General Hameed was furious. It transpired that
the Armoured Corps manual stipulated that its units shall establish camp at the
place where they were launched into action from. It made sense if the Armoured
Corps was seen as the punch, and not the whole embrace! With the embrace
provided by the Infantry that advanced in the wake of the trail blazing tanks.
LAKEER KEY FAQIR
General Hameed lit a right royal
fire under the Armoured Corps, and sent the ‘punch’ flying back double quick to
the forward position that it had captured the day before. The enemy was still
in disarray, and the Armoured Corps managed to gain the forward position facing
little or no resistance from the enemy. The cherry on the cake was yet to come,
when on day three the situation report showed that the Armoured Corps was once
again back at its base as the night before! It was an extreme consequence of
the ‘lakeer ki faqiri’ for which the Faujis are notorious for. When on day
three the order to relaunch once more went out it was too late, and the enemy
had taken defensive measures. They had broken the canal embankments and flooded
the fields. Our tanks were comprehensively bogged down. That was the debacle.
When Ayub Khan heard what had happened he lost his nerve.
MA asked General Hamid two
questions. As Director General Military Training didn’t he have an analysis of
procedures identifying the shortcomings in coordination? He replied that the
extent of knowledge dissemination and disconnection within the Armed Forces was
scandalous. This should have really not been the case given the presence of Staff Colleges
Because of Khem Kharan the map of Pakistan
was altered. If that debacle had not occurred then much of East Punjab would
have been part of Pakistan .
What happened in 1971 with Bangla Desh is a different story. Bhutto made full
use of Ayub Khan’s weakened position. In Pakistan , they say, it is not
enough that you succeed. The others must fail.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN “DAD &
GRANDDAD”
RAMEEZ, THE ENTRPRENEUR
“While working with NRL I got all
the three boys together and asked them what they wanted to do in life. Rameez
was the first one quick out of the blocks, and said he wanted to be a
businessman. Rameez was in his late teens at the time and beginning to sprout a
mustache. I asked him what were the attributes of a businessman that he felt he
had, or should have? Rameez said that being a businessman meant making money! I
said fine, but everybody wanted to make money, so did that make everyone a
businessman? What were the special qualifications for being considered a
businessman? Should he be wise? Should he be very well read? Should he be
playful and social?
“Rameez responded that a
businessman was one who lived off the land. He lived off not just his own hard
work, but also harnessed other people’s hard work. So I asked Rameez what he
would do if I gave him some money, $500/-, an airline return ticket to London,
and the telephone numbers of my friends living in the West, and we would see
how long he would last on it living off the land. He was free to contact my
friends and see if they would put him up. His grades as a businessman would
depend upon how much money he could save upon his return, and how long he could
live off the land! Rameez accepted readily and said he was prepared to do that.
So off went Rameez. I didn’t inform anyone that he was coming, but provided him
with the necessary contact details of my friends.
“I never heard from him in a while,
not that I was expecting him to call me or anything. Phone calls were expensive
those days, and also there was the teenager’s need to exercise his independence.
After three weeks or so I had to make a trip to London . By now I was a bit worried about him,
not having received a letter or phone call from him. The moment I arrived in London I called a friend
whose phone number was one of the few I had given Rameez. He told me that
Rameez was on his way to Karachi ,
and would be boarding his flight about the same time. I told him that I would
discuss his stay with him later, and dashed off to see if I could catch Rameez
before he boarded his flight. I was in tears! I had arrived in London hoping to spend
some time with him and enjoy a bit of his company.
“With great persuasion I managed to
get some sympathy from the Custom officer on duty, and after some fifteen
minutes he returned with Rameez in tow dressed in buckskin attire like an
American Indian, with long hair and mustache clearly visible! He saw me and
said ‘Oh Abbu! Good thing you have come, you must need some money!” he took out
two hundred dollars and said I could have it since I would need it in London , and he wouldn’t since he was going back to Karachi ! We chatted for a
bit, and I told him that he had passed the test of being a businessman!
“After finishing with Grammar
School Rameez joined Babson College in the USA , and spent four years
completing his degree in business administration. By that time I had almost
migrated to the USA and
taken an apartment in Houston .
Azeez was studying in Mich iganOklahoma , and Rameez had
joined me in Houston
and started helping in whatever I was trying to do. He helped me there a lot.
He never sought corporate employment and has remained self-employed all his
life.
RAMEEZ FINDS A MATE
“During that period I traveled a
lot in and out of the USA ,
and each time Rameez would drop me off at the airport and come to receive me.
After one of my trips when I returned to the USA I saw there were two persons
receiving me! Rameez was there with Karen, and I realized that she will be
sharing the apartment. She made a beautiful breakfast for me the next morning,
and I was very impressed. She behaved like a typical Pakistani ‘Bahu’
(daughter-in-law). Rameez was very cagey all day long, waiting for my reaction
without revealing his intentions. So we played a little bit of cat and mouse to
see who broached the subject first. Then Karen opened up some more and asked me
if she could call me ‘Abbu’, having heard Rameez call me that. After that it
all started coming out about how they were interested in each other and wanted
to get married, with the marriage taking place in Pakistan.
KAREN THE PIOUS
“So I told my wife Rahat about what
had happened and how we would have to accept it since the children were grown
up. After all I had married Rahat out of my own choosing. So we made the
wedding arrangements, and Karen converted to Islam, and has turned out to be a
very good Muslim, offering her prayers five times a day. She performed Hajj in
2007, and Rameez tells me that her devotion at Mount Arafat
“For sometime Karen and Rameez
remained childless, and one day he came to the house with a child and told me
her name was Anisa, and that they had adopted her, and here she was to receive
her grandfather’s blessings. After some time Karen gave birth to Alina. Then
again after some time they both brought to me a boy! Meet Zakaria said Rameez,
and informed me that they called him Zaki, and he had also been adopted to
complete the family with a son. They have lived very happily together by the
grace of Allah. The girls are both in their teens. Alina has gone to Hawaii for her studies in marine biology, and Anisa
should be leaving for Hawaii shortly to study
hospitality management, having done a month’s internship at the Pearl
Continental Hotel in Karachi
and quite enjoyed it. Zakaria is ten and still to young to be going any where!
“Karen’s working background has
been in the mail order business, but when she came to Pakistan she preferred to lead the
life of a ‘Dulhan’ (bride) dedicated to looking after her husband. When Prime
Minister Junejo invited me to become chairman of the Export Promotion Bureau we
sold our apartment in Houston and all of us
returned to Pakistan .”
NO FAVOURITISM!
“Being his youngest child, did MA
have a soft corner for Rameez? “No! All three were the same to me!” says MA of
his boys born two years apart. That is not humanly possible! There has to be a
favourite! “No, I’m telling you, it is possible. Azeez, being the eldest,
relates to me since I was the eldest son as well. With Moiz, his uprightness
and diligence, and intense focus on his job, I can relate with that. Azeez has
got tremendous qualities, and intellectually he is superior amongst the
brothers. I value his wisdom and insight. Azeez’s defining feature is his
intellect, and he is drawn to exploration and experimentation, making him a
rolling stone in some eyes. I have never tried putting any of my sons in
harness, and let them arrive for themselves at their individual equilibriums.
With Rameez it is his ‘can do’ attitude, his flexibility and versatility. These
are the qualities of a businessman. He is drawn easily to new areas and is
prone to changing his route. He gets bored of doing the same right after a
certain length of time. That might me considered a fault. I feel it is his
inherent entrepreneurship in keeping with his Saudagran roots.
MOIZ BATTLES THE HARD TIMES
“Because Azeez was the eldest he
got all the attention until Moiz arrived. Moiz was the quiet type, probably a
bit overawed by all the attention given to Azeez who was a handsome little
‘gora’ (fair complexioned)! Moiz had a darker complexion and probably felt a
bit complexed on that account. Rameez had a bouncy disposition and drew
attention to himself on his own accord. Rameez was, and still is, an extrovert
and made friends easily. Moiz, on the other hand, was reserved in his approach
to people. By the time Moiz came of age we were in dire financial straits. I
had left the job, and my house was under construction and requisitioned by the
Intelligence Bureau. My pension had been denied by NRL and PERAC, and it was
generally a very bad time. My wife Rahat’s sister in the USA came to our rescue. She
sponsored Moiz for US
resident-ship, and he went and lived with her in Iowa . Her husband was a very hard working
man, a professor, and very handy around the house with tools like a typical
American. Moiz’s stay with them sobered him a lot. He knew the difficulties
that his father was in, and he was very worried about me. He kept his focus on
his studies and worked very hard. He was frugal with the little money that was
provided to him. He had seen the good days in Attock and then in Karachi , living in big
houses with plenty of domestic help. The quite suddenly he had seen fortunes
change. After he finished his studies in Oklahoma Moiz got a job with UOP, a
refinery consulting firm. Initially they gave him a job in Tulsa to do some leg work for them. Then they
gave him a job in Chicago
where he also got further training in the petroleum field. Then they gave him a
permanent appointment.
AZEEZ, THE INTELLECTUAL
“We shared a common neighborhood
with Air Commodore Turowicz on Queen’s Road, and all our kids were in and out
of each others’ homes all the time, with Mark Torowicz, Rameez and Moiz quite
inseparable. Azeez was more drawn to Mark’s sister Alice, a very beautiful and
intelligent girl. It’s amazing how things happen. Azeez never promised to marry
Alice , but they
were together all the time. I have indirectly counseled my boys as a friend and
storyteller, but have left it to them by and large to make their own decisions.
After marriage I feel Azeez was very possessive and overprotective of Alice who
was very dependant upon him. When Azeez went to study in the USA he took Alice with him. They had two lovely kids,
Altan and Nadya. We lost Alice
to cancer in the prime of her life. Azeez seldom opened up and kept his affairs
and feelings to himself. Now with time he has become more forthcoming.
“I have a very special relationship
with Azeez’s son Altan, and Azeez is secure in my love for his son. Like his
father, Altan has a very keen mind. But where my granddaughter Nadya is
concerned Azeez is not so sure, and thinks that I am being harsh and unfair to
her whenever I give well meaning counsel and perhaps ask her to do things
differently.”
DOING DADDY PROUD
In terms of focus and disciplined
application, Moiz came closest to his father, to the extent that he followed
the same academic discipline of chemical engineering and got into the oil
refinery business, as it were. Rameez is a mellower version of his father,
focused and disciplined in what he does, but flexible and versatile in what all
he can do. Azeez, on the other hand, is typical of the pendulum swinging to the
other extreme, defying structuring and giving full expression to the spirit of
inquiry within the framework of critical thinking. What he does have in common
with his father is his relaxed attitude towards the pursuit of material wealth,
bordering on contempt! In my last meeting with Azeez he had recently returned
from Australia where he has
relocated after Alice ’s
death, and now married to Cheryl, a lovely Aussie lass as per MA’s description
of her. Azeez had gain weight and had filled out considerably, and with his
long hair worn in a ponytail he reminded me of Crocodile Dundee, the great
adventurer. All three have done their father proud in their own different
ways.
TAILPIECE - AUTHOR’S NOTE CONTINUED……
MA was born on the 24th of July 1925 in Delhi , and will this year, in 2009, turn 84.
He is very much in tune with the times and points out that his date of birth
puts him at the cusp of Cancer and Leo. At 84 the stereotypical man has all but
lost it! Not MA, by the grace of the AllMighty. He defies the stereotype in
every sense of the word, and has done so throughout his life, as should have
become amply evident from the foregoing chapters. Like all people gifted with a
high IQ there is an impishness that comes through very clearly through the
twinkle in MA’s eyes, and his ever readiness to pull a good natured fast one on
unsuspecting friends and others in the shape of ‘collateral damage’! One such
instance that sticks to MA’s mind happened while he was at Illinois Tech in
1949 and living at International House of the University of Chicago
His bagpiper friend Bill Norman of the Chicago Kilty Band
had a friend who was the son of the British diplomat manning the consulate in Chicago . He was someone
with a lot of money, and wanted to throw a party while his parents were away in
Europe . Bill suggested that to spice up the
proceedings MA should pretend to be visiting royalty from the East. It was a
role that MA could perform effortlessly, being to the manor born! For purposes
of introduction MA picked on the title of the Nawab of Habash Khan. There was a
real life mohallah (locality) in Delhi
named Bara Dari Nawab Wazir at Habash Khan, and therein lay the inspiration for
MA’s choice. Invitations were issued to various people and there was quite a
gathering that took place at the British diplomat’s residence. The Pakistan
national anthem had recently been circulated by the Pakistan Embassy, and Bill
Norman had volunteered to adapt it to the bagpipe. At the party it became the
first time that the Pakistan
national anthem was played on a bagpipe in a foreign land, with Nawab Habash
Khan the leading Pakistani dignitary present!
At the party, which was conducted like a formal diplomatic
reception, a water melon (Tarbooz) cutting ceremony by the Nawab of Habash Khan
was organized. The master of ceremonies explained the significance of the water
melon by cutting a piece that resembled a crescent. During the ceremony
whenever the word Tarbooz was mentioned the guests were encouraged to chant
‘God Bless!’ Amongst the drinks served was a water melon based punch. As the
Nawab was a Muslim, alcohol at the party was served surreptitiously.
In the United
States of America the Orient, as the
Subcontinent was romantically known, was a land of much mystery and exoticism,
and the largely local American turnout was in a high state of enchantment by
the presence of a true blue Pakistani Prince, or ‘Naboob’ as they were prone to
pronouncing it. With much protocol and affectation the Nawab of Habash Khan
stood at the head of the reception line, oozing gallantry and chivalry, looking
every bit the regal heir to a kingdom, being introduced to the guests by his
very upper crust American host. The invitees were truly floored! MA and Bill
Norman were in their elements, having the time of their lives.
There was one young lady in particular who caught MA’s
attention, for each time she would move up the line to where he was positioned she
would quietly slip back to the end of the line. This happened a couple of times.
The third time MA made a swift move as she was about to execute an about turn,
and caught her by the wrist. She blushed profusely, and never was there a
prettier sight says MA, quoting Bill Norman! Being a scientist, a blush for MA
held no more meaning than an enhanced flow of blood to the cheeks caused by
unexpected emotions of a pleasant kind! Being a bagpiper and hence more
romantically inclined, Bill Norman was more prone to seeing the beauty in the
blush. The ‘Naboob’ of Habash Khan thereafter proceeded to comprehensively
sweep the young lady off her feet, and, I am sure, there were many a broken
heart in the gathering caused by this excessive display of attention to one
young lady in particular!
The party continued until 4 o’clock in the morning, and some people in the know of
the activity started talking about the hoax being played upon the guests, and
the organizers whisked the ‘Naboob’ away to keep him from harms way. Not withstanding
the prank, in fact in great part due to it, everyone had a great time! The
apartment of the British diplomat, however, was turned upside down! A couple of
weeks later MA got a phone call from him inquiring after the whereabouts of a
certain ‘Naboob’ of Habash Khan! And threatening to send MA a bill for damages
caused. That never happened, and all was forgiven and forgotten.
Right through life, irrespective of the adversities that may
have accosted him, MA has possessed a bubbly and positive disposition. It has
been difficult, if not outright impossible, to puncture his sense of well
being. He has felt like a million dollars even when he has had just the shirt
on his back. Once, shortly after the nationalization of the National Refinery,
MA received a call from Mr. Abdul Qadir, the chairman of the Amin Group and the
former finance minister of Pakistan .
As the former chairman of the National Refinery, Mr. Abdul Qadir had been very
close to MA. On this occasion he was calling to ask MA to collect his wife who
had been visiting. Rahat , MA
Shortly thereafter MA got a call from Jam Sadiq Ali, the
provincial minister for local bodies, offering him a plot of land. MA politely
declined the offer, telling the minister that he had no money with which to pay
for it. But this was one allotment that the Jam had to make, so a special
installment plan was devised that fell within MA’s limited financial means. Now
that this hurdle had been overcome, there remained the matter of financing the
construction of the house! A loan of half a million rupees was obtained from
Habib Bank, which increased to one million rupees by the time the construction
was completed. Mr. Abdul Qadir’s son, Mr. Waheed Qadir, helped in designing and
building the house.
The only times in his life that MA was devastated and lost
was when his son Moiz, and then his wife Rahat left for their heavenly abode. Moiz
had followed in his footsteps and excelled as a chemical engineer building
refineries all over the world. She had been by his side through thick and thin,
and given him three stout sons and as lifetime of priceless companionship.
Moiz’s loss took a heavy toll on MA’s health, and he struggled with
Tuberculosis for a while, losing interest in the consultancy business that he
had so painstakingly built for Moiz to take over. Rahat’s departure may have
left MA lonely, but he appears to have handled it well, reconciling himself to
the inevitability of it all.
At 84 MA is up and about, and on the move, his open heart
surgery of a few years ago not withstanding, and his faculties of the mind are in
good working order. Recently I accompanied him on a trip down memory lane that
left him fairly exhausted both emotionally and physically. Back in 1949 while
attending Illinois Tech in the USA ,
MA had for his roommate in International House one Lindel Sawer, a World War II
veteran. Sawer had been part of the Allied forces in Germany when Hitler had
surrendered, and had personally accepted the Luger pistol of a German officer
as part of the surrender ceremony. Sawer got to know MA very well during the
course of their stay together, and was much impressed by the deep interest and
knowledge that MA had in military history, and the tactics and strategy of
warfare. So much so that when they were parting ways at the end of their time
together, Lindel Sawer took out the Luger and made a present of it to MA,
saying that he would appreciate it far more than Sawer himself, to whom it
probably brought back nightmarish memories of blood and gore, and the
beastliness of mankind. Lindel Sawer’s father was a man of the cloth, a priest.
MA had shown me the Luger some months into our interview
sessions for this book, and a mighty fine specimen of martial craftsmanship it
was, encased in a wooden sheath that doubled as a shoulder rest, the pistol
butt, for purposes of marksmanship. The only regret that MA had was that he had
never once got the opportunity to fire the Luger. Fortunately, I was in a
position to help. Journalists, specially of the freelance variety, have friends
in all manner of places, and amongst them are friends that one cannot freely
speak of. It was one such friend, hailing from amongst the ranks of the
clandestine jackboots that I got in touch with, and he readily agreed to do the
needful at his equally clandestine small arms firing range in the heart of the
port district of Karachi.
Upon my last visit to this CSAFR (Clandestine Small
Arms Firing
Range
The invitation was duly issued to utilize the CSAFR and
reawaken the beast after over five decades of well oiled and greased
hibernation. The Luger would roar once more, but it would not shed blood nor
take life in the service of Hitler. The Luger would now manifest the essence of
life that took the spirit of youth into old age. ‘Old age’, however, is a relative
term, and it can never apply to one who has his entire life been seized with
the spirit of inquiry and discovery, and subjected to critical thinking that
which was found, careful not to cross the limits that defined the realms of the
arrogant. Son Azeez and grandson Altan comprised the rest of the party, with
son Ramiz having declined due to reasons of livelihood. Azeez and Altan are
settled in Australia where Altan is pursuing higher education and is a
naturally gifted swimmer, while Azeez, with his flowing white hair and leather
hat, has developed an uncanny resemblance to Crocodile Dundee, though wrestling
crocodiles is not part of his job description or life’s ambition, much to his
father’s relief.
On the firing range, however, Azeez showed a remarkable
skill with small arms, and generated the kind of grouping on the target that
impressed the clandestine jackboots present on the occasion. Altan, meanwhile,
had a blast! Gramps was completely elated seeing his progeny bond over a
martial pursuit that had always been close to his heart dating back to the
Akhlaqi Fauj and the University Officers Training Corps (UOTC). Then it was
time to reawaken the beast and lug the Luger out of its case and make it roar
as it had once done on the battlefields of Berlin . But the Luger wouldn’t roar. It was
handled with kid gloves by the clandestine jackboots who appeared to be in
special awe of it given its history. Had the firing pin been taken out of it at
the time of the surrender? That would have made sense since it was not meant to
fire ever again.
There was disappointment writ large upon MA’s face. As
compensation he was given the Walther 9mm to try his hand on, but it wasn’t
quite the same, and understandably enough. Then up stepped a gentleman in white
not from amongst the clandestine jackboots, but possessed with a formidable
knowledge of what made tick these machines of mayhem. He subjected the artifact
to a close examination, gently prodded and pushed a knob here and a bolt there,
took apart a casing, used his fingernail to pry open a spring, and that’s where
I lost track of what he was up to as my turn came to let fly with the Walther.
Suffice it to say that Azeez’s grouping was better than mine, and just as he
had begun showing signs of gloating over his superior marksmanship, I hinted
that perhaps I was not interested in broadcasting my prowess with a handgun! He
was not about to buy that, but I could see, and quite clearly, that I had
stumped his euphoria. After all, being intimate with the clandestine jackboots
meant that one did not expose one’s hand. Azeez had exposed his hand by
revealing his propensity for marksmanship. I had kept mine clandestine. Azeez
would never know! Could I honestly not hit the backside of a barn? Or was I a
crack-shot in disguise? Did I really have open heart surgery? Or was I
operating behind enemy lines while ostensibly laid up in hospital? Did Mumbai
actually happen? Or was it the tail wagging the dog all the while? Welcome to
life in varying shades of gray.
The-gentleman-in-white-not-from-amongst-the-clandestine-jackboots
stepped forward as the firing range went from hot to cold. Azeez and Altan had
just finished a round of rapid fire, the jerk from which they were ill-prepared
for, missing the target all together. ‘Short bursts’ was the advice on offer,
with no more than two to three rounds per ever-so-gentle squeeze of the
trigger. The Luger’s magazine was loaded up, and as all watched with bated
breathe, the bullet was eased into the firing chamber with a smooth metallic click.
The hammer was cocked. The pleasure and privilege of that first shot in five
decades should really have gone to MA, but there was an element of danger
involved considering the lengthy period in which the weapon had not been fired.
That danger was willingly assumed by those whose business it is to live
dangerously for the country and its people. The Luger roared! And it roared
again, and again in quick succession as we all cheered. The-gentleman-in-white-not-from-amongst-the-clandestine-jackboots
had worked his magic, and proved that he was no idle craftsman.
The hour spent at the CSAFR left all concerned with one heck
of a rush! more so MA, even if it did leave him feeling a bit sore from lifting
the Walther and Luger. One tends to forget that the muscular disposition of an
84 years old may not quite match the enthusiasm of one who has carried the
spirit of youth into old age. Or to put it another way, a classic instance of
the spirit being willing but the flesh is just a wee bit weak. It was a self-declared
soreness that none present would have noticed had he not alluded to it. The
clandestine jackboots served up the sort of lunch in air-conditioned comfort that
one would not normally associate with martial camps. These, however, were times
of peace, even if the entire country appeared to be in a state of red alert.
More to the point, the clandestine jackboots were honoring a
major league campaigner who had dedicated his life to generating the critical
surpluses that had sustained in top order the clandestine jackboots and their
allied fraternities elsewhere in the land, sea and air. Mohammad Ahmad Allawala
wore a smile of satisfaction. It had been a day well spent.
Wow! Such an amazing and helpful post this is. I really really love it. It's so good and so awesome. I am just amazed. I hope that you continue to do your work like this in the future also. Jawahar Thomas
ReplyDeleteIt would not be wrong to justify the fact that such a blog enhanced with very potential information, would always help an individual and group of companies to learn, understand and make a decision accordingly in their corporate world.
ReplyDeleteApparently I would like to give an overview of my company. We are HRSG “THE ULTIMATE CLOUD SOLUTIONS YOUR COMPANY NEEDS.” We help Multinational Companies to grow and give them a proven record support in “Recruiting, outsourcing, consulting, management software’s and Business solutions, enabling them to become a market leader.
Management Consulting Pakistan
All the tips are really amazing Forte Notation FORTE 11 Premium 11.1.1 Crack
ReplyDeleteAppreciation is a wonderful thing...thanks for sharing keep it up. Analog Brass Winds Crack
ReplyDeleteTenorshare iCareFone Crack
Producers Choice
Nexus Expansion Pack Crack
Freaky Loops Ultimate Fills & Drops
Blocs Crack
Excellent blog you have you shared with us. Thanks for sharing and keep it up...
ReplyDeleteCapital smart city Booking office Rawalpindi
Hey Nice Blog!! Thanks For Sharing!!!Wonderful blog & good post.Its really helpful for me, waiting for a more new post. Keep Blogging!
ReplyDeleteHome Shifting & Packing Service Islamabad
Nice post! Good information to share and very useful and informative.
ReplyDeleteRent a car Islamabad to Naran