Legends-Ahmed E. H. Jaffer

(With special thanks to Memon.com)

The above name in fact represents a family tree and includes not only Ahmed, but his father Sir Ebrahim, his grandfather, Haroon, and his ureat grandfather, Jaffer. All of them were very well-known Kucchi Memons.

Jaffer started his business empire in 1861 in Pune, near Bombay, which was then one of the main cantonment of the British army. Jaffer was not only the leader of the Muslims, but he was a well-known philanthropist also.

Marriage ceremony of Mr. Nooruddin Hasan Faruqi and Miss. Maryam Jaffer at 4 Windsor Place, New Delhi, India on April 6, 1947.

Standing L to R: 1. Mohammad Ali Maniar, 2. Khwaja Hasan Nizami 3. Saeed Ahmad Siddiqui 4. Haroon E. H. Jaffer 5. Essa E. H. Jaffer 7. Mr. S. Ghani 8. Syed Azizul Hasan 9. Aziz Ahmad Siddiqui 10. Badruddin Hasan Faruqi 11. Mr. Mohammad Mustafa 12. Aziz Ahmad (Khalish) Siddiqui 13. Raza Habib Rizvi 14. Khalil Ahmad Siddiqui 15.Ahmad E. H. Jaffer 16. Rafiq Ahmad 17. Neena Ismail Jaffer 18.Ismail E. H. Jaffer 19.Mushtaq Ahmad 20.Habib Ahmad Rizvi

Sitting L to R: 1. Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar 2. I. I. Chundrigar 3. Begum Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan 4. Quaid-e- Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah 5. Nooruddin Hasan Faruqi 6. Liaquat Ali Khan 7. Fatima Jinnah 8. Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan 9. Hussain Imam 10. Wahab A. Jaffer (in Hussain Imam's lap)

Ground L to R: 1. Shafa'at Habib Rizvi 2. Nusrat Rizvi 3. Kader A. Jaffer 4. Javed Siddiqui 5. Razzak Essa Jaffer 6. Saadat Rizvi 7. Rafat Habib 8. Mazhar Rizvi

Jaffer's son, Haroon, also kept the family tradition alive and was well known in the Bombay Presidency. Ebrahim was a noted Muslim leader and a leading businessman. He became member of the Bombay Le(,islative Assembly in 19 1 0 and in 1915. Up to 1930 he remained a member of the Council of State, New Delhi. In 1920, he was appointed to the Imperial Council of India which acted as Advisory Committee to the Viceroy of India. In 1914 he was awarded the title of 'Khan Bahadur' and in 1926, knighthood was conferred on him. Sir Ebrahim took active part in spreading education amongst the Muslims and he presided over the Bombay Muslim Education Conference which was attended by Sir Akbar Hydery, Sir Ghulam Husain Hidayatullah, Dr. Ziauddin Ahmed. His educational activities got the patronage of the British Governor of Bombay.

He established a big Hall ( Jaffer Hall) in Pune in the name of his grandfather. He was instrumental in getting two hours' break for the Muslims working in the Government departments to enable them to offer Juma prayers. He also managed to remove illegal possession by the Government of the Shahi Mosque of Ahmednaaar. He took up the cause of renovating the Mazar of the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar in Rangoon. Though he was successful in getting the Mazar included in the list of historical monuments, the renovation work could not be completed during his life time. He died at an early age of 50.

Ahmed E. H. Jaffer was born in 1909. After matriculation, he joined Deccan College, Pune, for further education. He was a very ardent sport lover. He wanted to join Indian Civil Service but his father was against it or any other service so he joined the family business.

He was the chairman of the Reception Committee of All India Muslim Educational Conference held in 1940. This conference was presided over by the Chief Minister of Bengal Mouivi Faziul Haq and the inauguration ceremony was performed by the then Governor of Bombay.

Ahmed Jaffer was elected to the Indian Legislative Assembly while he was 24 years old. The defeated candidate, Hussain Bhai Laijee, filed a petition that under the Constitution of India, a person below the age of 25 could not be elected as a member of the Assembly. But very soon, in 1946, he again defeated the same opponent from the same constituency to become the youngest legislator.

The Quaid-e-Azam appointed him Deputy Whip of the Muslim League party in the Assembly. Coming over to Pakistan, he naturally remained a member of the Constituent Assembly and Parliament and remained as such till 1954 when Governor-General Ghulam Muhammad dissolved the parliament.

Ahmed Jaffer is well-known as a member for putting the highest number of questions in the Parliament on various aspects, particularly about the problems faced by the Mohajirs.

For the rehabilitation of the refugees he became the Chairman of the Board of Refugees Rehabilitation, Sindh, and was instrumental in establishing the First Mohajir Colony in the Gizri area of Karachi.

Ahmed became a well-known industrialist having assumed the chairmanship of several public and private limited companies, including some of his own. He was designated Chief-de-Mission of the Pakistan Squad for the Rome Olympic Games. He remained associated with a number of foreign organisations such as Gulf Chamber, Pak-German Cultural Association, Pak-Kuwait Friendship Association, Foreign Affairs Council of Pakistan, Pakistan-Arab Cultural Society, Old and New Parliamentarians Association, National Playing Fields Association of Pakistan, English Speaking Union of Pakistan and many other such organisations.

He went as Pakistan's delegate to many countries. He was a well-known collector of stamps and was a keen sportsman playing squash, tennis, golf. He was good at horse riding, and swimming. He was also a member of the Karachi Aero Club, Karachi Boat Club, Karachi Gymkhana, Karachi Race Course, Rawalpindi Gymkhana and Lahore Gymkhana. He was also a member of prestigious clubs of England.

He received many awards such as Sitara-e-Pakistan and foreign awards from Spain, Brazil, Jordan and the Government of U. K. At the age of 8 1, he was invited to Islamabad to attend a meeting which was convened by the Government to discuss celebrating the Pakistan Golden Jubilee in a befitting manner. But he died there of a massive heart attack.

Beacon Of Light-Abdul Razak Dawood by Jamil Goheer

Humans are the greatest source of inspirations; at times ordinary, at times extra-ordinary. They are all around us, only if we can pick up or learn from them. Inspirations, ideally, are like chain reactions. You get inspired and you inspire others and the reaction goes on. But then again, inspirations start from somewhere. As noted by someone, “There never was a great soul that did not have some divine inspiration”. Surely, those are the few who actually kick start the chain reaction.

Observing people have remained a great way of learning that I have thoroughly enjoyed. One of those learning aid is the Founder and Chairman of Descon Engineering Group, Mr. Abdul Razak Dawood. In case you are one of those who never heard about Descon Group, it’s the largest construction and engineering company from Pakistan positioning itself rapidly in the global markets.

Descon Quick Recap: In less than 3 decades, Abdul Razak Dawood transformed DESCON from a 1977 startup with 4 engineers to more than 1600 engineers and professionals (employee strength reaching 40,000) globally competitive engineering company based out of Pakistan. Today, Descon has 15 businesses in engineering, chemicals and power under their portfolio with 0.9 million man hours/year of engineering capacity and 72 million man hours/year of construction capacity. Some call this a vision, but there is someone definitely more than a visionary over here.

Portfolio in brief: Abdul Razak Dawood served as the former Federal Minister for Commerce, Industries and Production, Government of Pakistan for four years. He is the Chairman Pakistan Business Council and Managing Director of Descon Engineering Limited and six other private companies. His former corporate positions included, CEO Dawood Hercules Chemicals and Managing Director Lawrencepur Woolen & Textile. He has been on the board of various corporate giants such as ICI Pakistan, KSB Pumps, United Refrigeration Ltd, PIA, & State Bank of Pakistan. He taught at Department of Business Administration, University of Punjab and is the Member Syndicate, the University of Punjab as well as member Senate, University of Punjab. Mr. Abdul Razak Dawood has been an active philanthropist and at present he is the Rector, Lahore University of Management Sciences to which his family has donated generously; Vice Chairman, Board of Governors National Management Foundation; Member, Board of Directors Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Trustee CARE Foundation and Member, Board of Directors NUML College. Mr. Dawood is a BSc. Mining Engineering from England and MBA from Columbia University, USA.

I heard about him for the first time when I applied to LUMS and met him for the first time at my convocation while he handed me over my degree. Little did I know that in the years to come I will be lucky enough to be directly mentored by him and have him on our board of advisors for Kualitatem. Though I have got a chance multiple times to hear random briefs from his valuable experiences but never got a chance to hear his life story, until recently at a TIE gathering. Abdul Razak Dawood has no doubt transformed his thought leadership into action leadership and has institutionalized it to a greater extent producing stream of future leaders. There is a lot one can learn from him and his experiences.  Here are some important notes I managed to jot down during his talk and thought to share and contribute in that chain reaction.

Abdul Razak Dawood [1]: “Ladies and gentle men, assalam-o-alykum. Today I have been asked to give my story about my experiences in business, of being involved in education and basically being an entrepreneur. But I must say that usually I feel a little uncomfortable talking about myself and what I have done. In today’s talk I will spend some time talking about my career, but a little bit more time on strategic decisions, visions, values and qualities required for being an entrepreneur.”

[2] “I graduated from Columbia University and landed back in Pakistan in October 1968 after 18 years. Got married within 3 weeks and then issue came within the family; where should they park this young lad who just came back from America. Lawrencepur, district Attock was decided for me and I gathered my dreams, passion and commitment and went to Lawrencepur where I simply fell in love with the place. I loved the community life, loved the people, I loved the opportunities. It was magnificent. Not because it was easy, but it was challenging and here I was ready to face them while being in the trenches. I was welcomed by a strike letter on my first day on my desk. As I struggled to set things straight over the months, I introduced a new brand for ladies called “Layla”. While it was rejected by big brands like HKB, Bombay Cloth House etc. we ran a TV commercial and bang; it was a hit. Next, we advertised Layla for PKR 80,000/- budget over 4 months despite the strong resistance from my father. The results changed the world and the next time around it was my father who urged to raise the budget for advertisement.

Friday Special-Naat Madeene me ...By Muhammad Iqbal A khanani

Friday Special...Cute Kids reciting Naat on Haq tv

Paan Badhe Wade pe ja yun

Gol Gol Ghumota

CLICK HERE

MEMON BIRADRI NE LEADERSHIP

Panji Biradri jee hee badkismati aae ke pan wate koe akro Leader naae. Hin jo kuro karan aae ? Hee sawal jo jawab bahoo mushkil aae. Shayad panji biradri jee hee fitrat aae ke pan koi akre fard ke Leader banan lae tayyar nee yhoon. Panji biradri jo har sakhs hee samjhey to ke paan badhe barabar yun ne koi bhee biae sakhs si bartar naae. Iqbal Motlani Saheb jee Kitab “Panjee Boli Mein” main akri bahooj dilchasp hikayat aae. Jara hin hikayat mathe socho ne wichar karo.

Akre Raja  jee riyasat mey akro ahro gaam wo jin-mein Memon biradari jee aksariyat vee. Raja faislo kari ke uun gaam jo patel kok Memon ke banainu khapay, ta key uu pooray gaam jee theek theek aagiwani kari sigey. Raja Wazir key hukum dini – ke hin gaam jey wadey wadey Memon vepari, ne khas khas marwain key daawat di ne Mehal mein barkayan mein acche ne akri raat Mahal mein rakhi ne beeye dheen Raja thee mulakat karain mein ache. Mehmaanan ke Mehal mey raat guzaran laey akro wado kamro deen mey aviyo. Memon Bha kamrey mey pugya, tao hi nari ney hairan thi wiya ke kamrey je wich mey khali akro manjo (Charpai) aae, ne baqi pathariyu zameen te vichan me aviyu aeen. Ee to ghamgheer samsiya thee vee … Ghaffar Bha mathey suman to Shakoor Bha neeche keen suman ? Sattar Bha key manjo deen mey achey, to Qasoo Bha key Kharab lagno …..; Paan mey to badhey Haji ne Moazez aeen …  harean panjo theeno kuro … ?

Adh raat sudhi soch vichar kari ne Memon bha akrey faisly tey pugya key hin manjhey mathey koi akrey jo haq naey – aitry paan badhai zameen tey ahrey tareeqey sey sumi vinjey ke badhey jaa pug manjhey mathey hoon ta key badhey jo maan rai viney.

Sawaar jo Wazir achi ney nari to chakrai viyo ke hee kuro …? Manjhey mathey koi  nae sutto balkey Manjhey mathey pag rakhan ji koshish mey badhai bey araami ji nindhar sutta aaen.

Mehmanan  ke jagaan je badley , Wazir Rja  wattey vini ney haqiqat batari – etrey Raja panji biradari ke mulaqat kare vigar pacho mokli dini.

 Pachee hin gaam jey Hindu banye ke barkan mey aviyo. Wazir unan jey saath bhi heej sulook kari, ne sawar mey vini ne nari to badhai araam se zameen tey sutta va, ne akro, waddi umer jo maru manjhey je mathey araam kari reo vo.

Wazir samjhi viyo ke Manjhey mathey jo maro sutto aae hin key baqi badhai Leader tariqey kabool kari ginya aaen. Wazir Raja ke khabar kari dini, ne Badhsha mehmanan si mulaqat kari ne unye jey Leader ke gaam jo Patel banai dini – jadhey ke hun gaam mey aksariyat Memon biradari ji vee.

(Iqbal Motlani jee kitab Panji Boli ne Abdur Razzaq Thaplawala jay shukaria jay saath)