Mubashar Hassan
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| Mubshar Hassan | |
| Born | Jan 20, 1922 Panipat, India |
|---|---|
| Nationality |  Pakistan |
| Fields | Civil Engineering, Politics, Economics |
| Institutions | Ministry of Finance of the Government of Pakistan (1971 - 1974) |
| Alma mater | Iowa State University (Ph.D) Columbia University (M.Engineering) Punjab University Engineering College(B.E.) |
'Dr. Mubashir Hasan' was born on January 20, 1922 in the town of Panipat, fifty-five miles away from Delhi where Babar trounced the army of Ibrahim Lodhi, the Sultan of Delhi, in 1526. Mubashir was the son of Munnawar Hasan. He had three sisters and two brothers. Mubashir hailed from a Shia family (heavily inter-married into Sunnis) of learned people mostly Maulvis and Hakims as well as engineers and doctors. He came from the same clan as that of Altaf Hussain Hali. His family was active in imparting girls’ education since the 1930’s.
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[edit] Education and Early Days
Mubashir matriculated from Panipat Hali Muslim High School in 1937 and in 1939 he did his F.Sc. from Government College Lahore. He graduated in 1943 from Punjab University Engineering College.
Lahore, he remembers then was well known for sports, education and fashion. Mubashir stayed in a 52-room students’ hostel where he was the only subscriber to the Civil & Military Gazette. The other copy was purchased by the common room for the rest of the students. He remembered that its editor was an Englishman by the name of Bustin. The other paper, Tribune, espoused the cause of the Indian National Congress. Such was Mubashir’s intellectual curiosity that he listened daily to BBC News relayed by All Indian Radio.
[edit] Career in the British-Indian Irrigation Department
In 1943, Mubashir joined the irrigation service of Punjab and was posted in Amritsar where he could not find a house to rent because he was a Muslim. So he lived seven miles away. He was in charge of maintaining running channel canals and made his name for refusing to sign a false certificate on water flow and discharge.
[edit] Trip to the US and back
In 1945, the Government of Indian selected him to go to America for higher education. He took a ship directly from Calcutta to New York also carrying GI’s from the Burma war theatre to New York reaching it on December 31, 1945. Mubashir returned in early 1948 after doing his Masters in Civil Engineering from Columbia and joined Engineering College as a lecturer. In 1952 he was granted study leave to go to the USA to work on his PhD on hydraulics in the State University of Iowa. For two years, he stayed returning to Pakistan as its first PhD in civil engineering. He married Zeenat in 1953 who was working in a hospital in Iowa. During the journey back home, the new pair drove on a big Ford from England to Pakistan. Mubashir rejoined the Engineering University and became full professor in 1961. The same year, he resigned from his job and crossed swords with the Vice-Chancellor. He started his own practice as a consulting engineer, which was very remunerative. His work took him to both the wings of Pakistan. He discovered that his basic requirement and expenses could be met by two hours a day instead of 14 hours a day.
[edit] With Bhutto: A Plan for Pakisan
In 1966 he founded a group to see what could be done in the areas of education, economy and infrastructure to improve the lot of the people. He spotted the issue as one of political guidance and wrote a manifesto “A Declaration of Unity of People” in 1967. It coincided with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s announcement of a political party. Bhutto and J.A.Rahim invited Mubashir’s cooperation and asked him to join in the founding of People’s Party. Mubashir could find no place or hall to rent for the founding convention of PPP so the founding convention was held at Mubashir’s house in Lahore on November 30/December 1 1967.
Mubashir found Bhutto to be a ‘charmer’ and within two years helped establish 250 units of the party in Lahore. On 13 November 1968 Bhutto and Mubashir were arrested from Mubashir’s house in Lahore where Bhutto was staying. He said Bhutto had a great appeal among the downtrodden and the deprived and could mobilize people. He saw Bhutto as a great actor and mimic and as a complex personality of contradictions who was capable of great compassion and cruelty.
In April 1974, Mubashir in his capacity as Finance Minister made a landmark speech at the UN General Assembly’s Economic Session on the New International Economic Order that won plaudits from NYT noted columnist James Reston.
[edit] Career after Bhutto
From 1971-1974, Dr Hassan served as Finance Minister of Pakistan and he oversaw the PPP Government's nationalisation policy. Following differences between PM Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and the socialist wing of the PPP, Dr Hassan left the federal cabinet. He credits Bhutto with the awakening of the people but never once worked for his daughter Benazir. He warned Bhutto of overly relying on the establishment, which he thought, would nudge him away once he was weakened.
In the last 14 years, he has been involved in Indo-Pak Track II diplomacy and has met every Indian Prime Minister since Rajiv and is a well-known figure there. Currently, he is a leader of the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Shaheed faction because he believes that it is a Sindhi based party with which there is a need to liase with the Punjab. Also, Mubashir started photography in 1979 having never before held a camera. He is now a respected ornithologist and has written a book and produced a calendar on the birds of Pakistan. He has been a life-long nature lover and has been enamored of animals, insects, trees and plants.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Nawab Muzaffar Ali Khan Qizilbash |
Finance Minister of Pakistan 24 December 1971 - 22 October 1974 |
Succeeded by Rana Mohammad Hanif Khan |
NOTE: The above biography has been partially drawn from the following webpage:[1]- A Profile of Dr. Hassan on Pakistanlink.com
