A Leader is not a person, a leader is a Philosophy. Once upon a time in August 1941, in Agar, Uttar Pradesh, India, a
boy named Zafar Altaf was born.
Zafar Altaf, with his right-handed batting style and right-arm
leg-spin bowling, made his first-class debut in Lahore in 1958 as a
middle-order batsman. He was selected to tour India with the Pakistan Cricket
team in 1960; I suppose he was about nineteen at the time.
In 1963, Doctor Sahib received his Master’s Degree in Psychology from
the University of Punjab. He continued to play Cricket, and in 1965 he set a
fourth-wicket partnership record for Pakistan with Majid Khan. Doctor Sahib
went on to serve as Secretary of the Pakistan Cricket Board from 1972 to 1975.
He then went to the University of Birmingham
and completed his PHD in Economics in 1981. In addition to teaching at three
known universities in Pakistan, Doctor Sahib served on the National Selection
Committee in the 1980s and as Chairman of the Committee for two years, from
1994 to 1996. He also managed the Pakistan Cricket Team during the 1999 World
Cup. The sportsmen spirit was close to his heart, he loved the game and he
loved the players. So much so that he always wanted to keep them motivated and
felt the Government had let the team down and demotivated the team’s spirit for
their beloved sport.
He worked extensively as an Economist in the Pakistan Civil
Service and kept the position of Federal Secretary for Agriculture, a role he
stayed in for a decade starting in the 1990s. He was also Chair at the Pakistan
Agriculture Research Council around this time and once again in 2009.
He writes: “Goethe once remarked that culture is developed in solitude and
character in the stream of events. Jung would have said that the fusion of
opposites (Enantiodromia) will lead to harmonious and useful living.” Dr. Zafar
Altaf was an extraordinary character with extraordinary character; he was a
culture in himself. I was delighted to read what he wrote in Culture and Character and I love the way he credits his parents here: “In Pakistan we have
neither character building nor culture development. It was a habit with me to
sit in solitude for one hour after a day’s effort to work out the pros and cons
of the day’s work; to see if I had erred in my duty not to the government of
the day but to the people of Pakistan. This was ingrained in me by my parents
who said that since you have been given authority to serve then make sure that
you serve.” The stuff that heroes are made of.
He goes back to this thought
in The Sound Footings of an Economy and asks: “Are we in the service of this
country or are we in our own service? There lies the crunch for I can rationalize
anything and everything.”
There
is no iota of doubt in my mind that he deeply loved his country and countrymen.
Often attempting to remind Pakistan of why it was born, where we have tripped and
how we continue to stay down. He talks about it in Fantasy Economics – “Pakistan
was made from a policy of compassion where all the people living would receive
their rightful measure. Ask Hameed Nizami the late founder of Urdu daily
Nawa-i-Waqt who formulated the philosophy back in 1940. Is this what we have
got into? We should have realized what we did to former East Pakistan but we
are very poor at learning from our own history. We can learn from Ata Turk (and
so have I been there). His library is one of the finest. The value system that
he gave to the people was from his own doings. Do we have that kind of commitment
from our own leaders? Our thinking like our other aspects are not deep. We are
shallow in thoughts and seldom meet our ever growing needs for deep thinking.”
I think he believed in doing everything for a good reason, the result of the exercise must somehow have value and enhance an individual. In his article, The Economics of Lying, he writes: "Technology nowadays rides people and that is harmful for it diminishes human judgement and therefore makes the system more selfish and complicated." He uses the example of flashy models creating desires for things that we need for other reasons but do not desire in the manner we are programmed to think: "It is not meant for gallivanting. The desire is controlled by the thinking that is developed by the elders in a family. The nucleus family itself is in turmoil so how can it take care of its off springs." This is all true, we lack caring. He goes on to say, "How is caring managed? One meaning of care is love. This may mean many things to many people but if one is careful and loving to oneself then that becomes in-built in a duty of care to the others you want to hate." Later on he says, "Sometimes hope, excessive hope, is built on lies. The hope is in the future and sometimes this hope is two or three decades away." He ends the discussion with, "There are no hard and fast rules and therefore the thinkers will have to devise new and positive means to perform well." Almost as if he is asking, do you have what it takes?
With each piece I read, I couldn't help but be reminded of love for my country. It pains me to see the state of things here and where they are headed if we don't change the wrongs. Dr. Zafar Altaf's writings seem to be almost like written messages a concerned father would send to a problematic child in trouble repeatedly, the father constantly trying to offer advice and solutions to set this child towards betterment and a secure and prosperous future. This was his love for Pakistan. He wanted to take us towards betterment and prosperity. In Learning to Fight Gangsters, he writes: "Where Mercedes Benz and BMW travel roads the roads are in pristine condition. Where the poor man's car does a few miles the roads are non-existent." His reflections and predictions speak volumes. "If those that are sitting on high pedestal do not realize they will be brought down. What a fall that will be my countrymen. As it is the north is in a kind of natural disaster and the south some kind of personal disaster. Inequality breeds some kind of criminal activity. Pakistan figures though unreported, still cross the 12000 cases reported for theft and dacoities in a week. Criminals rule this country. And this will continue till the politicians clean up their act. We are so good at telling others what to do that it is now an embarrassment." This statement reminds me of what he wrote in Culture and Character: " Culture and character and any other manifestation that we have do not fo together in a country. In fact what do go together is not law and order but police and disorder." Because... as he says, "The culture and the fashion of culture is developed by written not by the verbal word."
"Lessons of history are never learnt by supercilious idiots. They only abuse these lessons." He constantly tried to make us think. "Does the truth pay? That was the question that one faced in an introspective manner. Is it worthwhile to have trust on one's side? As I look back I find that the character that is built in the personality is not only a function of education but also a function of censorship which comes from multiple sources. However, the system that Pakistan seems to be building on is about short-term cleverness never mind what happens later. The social systems have collapsed thanks to the media exposing the doings and undoings of the powerful. The unknowns of previous times have become the knowns of the present." - from The Sound Footings of an Economy.
In Fantasy Economics he starts, "In life one is always concerned with the poor and their welfare. Pakistan is no different but there have always been statements to this effect by politicians. Yet the facts are different. If one were to go by the asset declarations given by the politicians then the evidence is that the powerful people have used this country for their own ends." He made me laugh (and cry) at how cheeky yet powerful the message is, "I suggest that the politicians live in a village and share the bedroom with the buffaloes. The indigenous Eau de Cologne will last for at least a week. In fact it will be a great experience if the entire NA were to go and have a month long session over there. I am sure that the hospitality of the villagers will be overwhelming. The other advantage will be that these members of the NA will come to terms with reality." Clearly he loved Pakistan, he loved the citizens, the common man, and understood the suffering of the citizens at the hands of the politicians and Government. This is evident in Economic Delusions of grandeur - "The Mina Tragedy people will be given five lakhs for the death of the dear ones while injured get two lakhs. How insulting a behaviour is this? When will we learn about human dignity? Or are we born in a dead state?"
Dr. Zafar Altaf was no ordinary human being. We have lost a treasure, a scholar, a mentor, thinker, father of the countrymen, a gentleman... we have lost a legend. I pray and excessively hope his principles, his value system, and his philosophies have transfused into some of the current generation, because we will need all these to change the sad condition of Pakistan.
I am sad for Pakistan's loss as we say goodbye to Dr. Zafar Altaf. But I am personally also deeply sad that I never had the good fortune of meeting this great man during his lifetime. I can't begin to imagine the impact his spoken words would have and how he could inspire in person a thousand times more than his written words have moved me. But then I comfort myself as I remember what he wrote, "The culture and the fashion of culture is developed by written not by the verbal word."
I think he believed in doing everything for a good reason, the result of the exercise must somehow have value and enhance an individual. In his article, The Economics of Lying, he writes: "Technology nowadays rides people and that is harmful for it diminishes human judgement and therefore makes the system more selfish and complicated." He uses the example of flashy models creating desires for things that we need for other reasons but do not desire in the manner we are programmed to think: "It is not meant for gallivanting. The desire is controlled by the thinking that is developed by the elders in a family. The nucleus family itself is in turmoil so how can it take care of its off springs." This is all true, we lack caring. He goes on to say, "How is caring managed? One meaning of care is love. This may mean many things to many people but if one is careful and loving to oneself then that becomes in-built in a duty of care to the others you want to hate." Later on he says, "Sometimes hope, excessive hope, is built on lies. The hope is in the future and sometimes this hope is two or three decades away." He ends the discussion with, "There are no hard and fast rules and therefore the thinkers will have to devise new and positive means to perform well." Almost as if he is asking, do you have what it takes? With each piece I read, I couldn't help but be reminded of love for my country. It pains me to see the state of things here and where they are headed if we don't change the wrongs. Dr. Zafar Altaf's writings seem to be almost like written messages a concerned father would send to a problematic child in trouble repeatedly, the father constantly trying to offer advice and solutions to set this child towards betterment and a secure and prosperous future. This was his love for Pakistan. He wanted to take us towards betterment and prosperity. In Learning to Fight Gangsters, he writes: "Where Mercedes Benz and BMW travel roads the roads are in pristine condition. Where the poor man's car does a few miles the roads are non-existent." His reflections and predictions speak volumes. "If those that are sitting on high pedestal do not realize they will be brought down. What a fall that will be my countrymen. As it is the north is in a kind of natural disaster and the south some kind of personal disaster. Inequality breeds some kind of criminal activity. Pakistan figures though unreported, still cross the 12000 cases reported for theft and dacoities in a week. Criminals rule this country. And this will continue till the politicians clean up their act. We are so good at telling others what to do that it is now an embarrassment." This statement reminds me of what he wrote in Culture and Character: " Culture and character and any other manifestation that we have do not fo together in a country. In fact what do go together is not law and order but police and disorder." Because... as he says, "The culture and the fashion of culture is developed by written not by the verbal word."
"Lessons of history are never learnt by supercilious idiots. They only abuse these lessons." He constantly tried to make us think. "Does the truth pay? That was the question that one faced in an introspective manner. Is it worthwhile to have trust on one's side? As I look back I find that the character that is built in the personality is not only a function of education but also a function of censorship which comes from multiple sources. However, the system that Pakistan seems to be building on is about short-term cleverness never mind what happens later. The social systems have collapsed thanks to the media exposing the doings and undoings of the powerful. The unknowns of previous times have become the knowns of the present." - from The Sound Footings of an Economy. In Fantasy Economics he starts, "In life one is always concerned with the poor and their welfare. Pakistan is no different but there have always been statements to this effect by politicians. Yet the facts are different. If one were to go by the asset declarations given by the politicians then the evidence is that the powerful people have used this country for their own ends." He made me laugh (and cry) at how cheeky yet powerful the message is, "I suggest that the politicians live in a village and share the bedroom with the buffaloes. The indigenous Eau de Cologne will last for at least a week. In fact it will be a great experience if the entire NA were to go and have a month long session over there. I am sure that the hospitality of the villagers will be overwhelming. The other advantage will be that these members of the NA will come to terms with reality." Clearly he loved Pakistan, he loved the citizens, the common man, and understood the suffering of the citizens at the hands of the politicians and Government. This is evident in Economic Delusions of grandeur - "The Mina Tragedy people will be given five lakhs for the death of the dear ones while injured get two lakhs. How insulting a behaviour is this? When will we learn about human dignity? Or are we born in a dead state?"
Dr. Zafar Altaf was no ordinary human being. We have lost a treasure, a scholar, a mentor, thinker, father of the countrymen, a gentleman... we have lost a legend. I pray and excessively hope his principles, his value system, and his philosophies have transfused into some of the current generation, because we will need all these to change the sad condition of Pakistan. I am sad for Pakistan's loss as we say goodbye to Dr. Zafar Altaf. But I am personally also deeply sad that I never had the good fortune of meeting this great man during his lifetime. I can't begin to imagine the impact his spoken words would have and how he could inspire in person a thousand times more than his written words have moved me. But then I comfort myself as I remember what he wrote, "The culture and the fashion of culture is developed by written not by the verbal word."
May he rest in peace, amen.
1 comment:
Well written Sarah, indeed it conveys the personality and mind set of the gentleman effectively. But I just want to share a point; we as a nation have forgotten the theory and ideologies of Allama e Iqbal and Quaid e Azam. We are fighting on non issues and sitting content on matters that need debate, society lack the accountability and justice two basic ingredients for a flourishing society.
In such scenario it looks difficult that we will remember him or his philosophy for a long time. But then again we need heroes, and characters that bring hope through their acts and storytelling, and every era will keep on producing such gems. I am confident IN SHA ALLAH there is a rise down the line. As said in Holy Quran by ALLAH Pak, “After every hardship there is comfort”
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