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On
his last visit to Islamabad, Akhter Hameed Khan confided
to me that in 1929 Cheerio, the world famous palmist,
had told him at Delhi that he would live up to 85 years
of age. I dismissed it as the figment of imagination but
even the thought of the event sent shivers down my spine.
He was my mentor not only in name but in reality.
Every time I met him, I learnt
something new. Every time he visited the Rural Support
Programmes (RSPs), he gave the programme a new dimension,
a new interpretation and a new direction but his humility
was overpowering. He would explain that his job was very
difficult. His students are like McEnroe, Bjorn Borg and
the like: they need the most refined and the minutest
of infinitesimal adjustments in what they are already
doing.
He found it very challenging
and exhilarating. Now that he is no more who is going
to be my beacon? He never failed me in showing the light
when I would be desperate and have the feeling of being
caught in a cul de sac or faced with an insurmountable
wall. He would explain every issue--social, economic,
temporal or metaphysical--with the ease of a person having
full command on the subject. His explanation of the religions
of the world especially of Islam used to have a depth
and breadth which left even the most ignorant deeply moved.
When in Sri Lanka I took him to a Buddhist monastery and
the monk started reading Dhamma Padda in Sinhalese, Khan
sahib recited it in the original Pali.
The monk was simply amazed
and couldn't believe his ears. He had, of course, never
read the book in Pali like Khan sahib had.
Although I had heard about
this unusual person who had resigned from the most coveted
service in India, the ICS, I came face to face with him
for the first time in 1959 on Green Arrow train in the
then East Pakistan. He had already selected the subdivision
of which I was the assistant commissioner as orientation
and training ground for the Academy for Rural Development
of which he had accepted the directorship. He said how
the chief secretary, Mr Azfar, called him and said Akhter
you are a "fool but a good fool" and government
would very much like you to run the academy.
This was the beginning of
my long internship with Dr Khan. I had suddenly found
a teacher who opened new horizons and vistas for me but
I was still too deeply steeped in status, power and the
glitter of the civil service to become his true disciple.
He was disappointed and accused me of running away. The
unfortunate events of the break-up of the country in 1971
brought me close to him again.
In 1970, I got an opportunity
to visit my old subdivision after a ten-year interval.
I could not believe the changesbrought about by Khan sahib's
approach to development in the area. In my road travel
throughout Comilla and Brahmanbaria subdivisions, I did
not come across a single paddy field which was not scientifically
planted.
The Thana Training and Development
Centres, as he had visualised, were real symbols of development
as against thana building which for centuries had been
the symbol of law and order. The condition of the poor
people had changed beyond recognition. Traces of poverty
were nowhere visible and even today, thirty years after
Khan sahib's departure, Comilla district has a per capita
income of $600 compared to the national per capita of
$220 in Bangladesh. His photographs still adorn the houses
of Comilla district dwellers.
Khan sahib was a towering
personality but innocent like a child. I used to chide
him about his being an awfully bad judge of people and
of course I used to have full support of his wife. He
accepted everyone on his or her face value which sometimes
landed him in deep trouble. The blasphemy case was one
such example. All engineered and crafted by a man Khan
sahib so genuinely trusted and wanted to become his right
hand man. He would dismiss my protestations but listen
with great attention what Tariq Siddiqi had to say.
In all my travels throughout
the world, I have never come across a person of the stature
of Akhter Hameed Khan. I sometimes wonder if Pakistan
really made the best use of his unique experience with
which he was so willing and keen to benefit his countrymen
and women. But now it is too late even to ask this question.
The country has missed the opportunity of a century.
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