Remembering Anwar Saleem Ahmad

Wednesday, April 18, 2012 As we grow older we think we know the world -- and the goodness and atrocities that lie therein. We think reading and learning and understanding will have prepared us for whatever mines life has surreptitiously planted in the field. We think we're indestructible. Until the day it all falls apart and realisation dawns that we knew nothing after all. For us that day came on 18 April 2005 when our father, Anwar Saleem Ahmed, passed away. Our father was our encyclopaedia -- a man who could converse intelligently about the grimmest of current affairs one minute, and tell you about Angelina Jolie's newest film the next. He never failed to amaze, to awe and to amuse us. Wonderful as he was, he somehow engineered it so that we grew up protected from the world and at the same time prepared for it. We lived in a glass bubble when he was around, perfectly aware of everything happening outside, but never having to worry about it reaching us. And when the glass broke seven years ago, we were better prepared than most to handle it because of him. Known to those closest to him as 'Badar', Anwar Saleem Ahmad lost his mother at the age of two, and then his father to an uncomfortable second marriage. The role of bringing him up thus fell to his two elder sisters, themselves very young. What he was, what he became, was in large part a result of the loving care and best of everything they strove to provide for him. He cleared both his Masters in International Relations from Quaid-e-Azam University, as well as the Civil Services Examination with top marks -- going on to develop an exemplary career in the DMG. In 1992, a fateful road accident left him paralysed waist down and confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. An incident which would have left anyone broken, merely seemed to be a way for this brilliant man to prove his worth. After months of extensive physical therapy, he rejoined the civil service as the Additional Commissioner Revenue. He was posted in Rawalpindi by then, where he started contributing regularly to this newspaper. He remained there until the time of his death following a five-year long battle with cancer. In the seven years since his death, our father has been described to us in many different ways -courageous, brilliant, honest, inspirational. A lot of these remembrances come from those he interacted with during the course of his work. Humble to the core, he saw himself foremost as a public servant. In 1999, he concluded a set of guidelines for Additional Commissioners with these words: "We owe it to ourselves, and the poor people who seek justice from us (and whose toil funds our salaries), to be satisfied in our hearts that we have done our best in deciding each case. Beyond that, no one is infallible." On 23 March 2011, Anwar Saleem Ahmad was awarded the Presidential accolade for Pride of Performance. This award recognises his contributions to literature and public service. It recognises not only his brilliantly crafted articles -- that served as a source of information and guidance for all who read them -- but also acknowledges the grace and integrity with which he handled his official duties as a government officer

Despite the adversities in his life, our father always remained a pillar of optimism and strength for those around him. Seven years after his death, remembering him brings immense pride and unimaginable grief. We love you Aba, and will miss you always.

-- Suraya, Saman, Maheen and Mariam Saleem Farooqi