Izhar Haider
Engineer Izhar Haider Urdu: اظہار حیدر (born 1944, Junagarh, India : died 23 December 2009, Abu Dhabi) An Urdu poet, social worker, broadcaster was one of few contributors to the massive transformation of Abu Dhabi from a small fishing village to one of the world’s most beautiful cities and an epicentre of global investments.
Education and Early Career
Born in Junagadh, India to Professor Zainul Abidin Naqvi in a family of High Profile Educationists and Professors from Indian Sub-Continent studied in St Patrick's High School, Karachi and graduated from NED University of Engineering and Technology in Karachi. Later, He joined as Chief Engineer (Structural Engineering) in 1971 in Abu Dhabi Municipality, just before the independence of the United Arab Emirates.
Izhar was part of the team of engineers who built Abu Dhabi. He arrived in Abu Dhabi, when the late President Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyyan was uniting the emirates into the UAE to infuse a new vision in his people and lead them to become one of the world’s most developed and rich nations.He Retired in 2004 from Abu Dhabi Municipality.
He was involved in 200 government and private building projects in Buteen, now a posh area of the capital. It was late Shaikh Zayed’s vision and enthusiasm which started reflecting in the city and was quite visible by mid-1972, when the civic infrastructure was built to make civic life comfortable, ultimately laying the foundation for a modern Abu Dhabi.
Broadcasting
His passions was broadcasting, a field he entered as a college student. He continued with his passion when Abu Dhabi Radio commenced its Urdu Service in 1979, which was the only means of entertainment and a source of information, when the world had not yet become a global village in the pre-internet age. He founded Shiekh Khalifa Bin Zayed Arab Pakistani School & Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Pakistan Cultural Centre — to which he was elected twice as president and thrice as general secretary — was the hub of socio-cultural activities and community bonding. With his brilliant career he became a notable Pakistani in Gulf.
Cricket
Eng. Haider is widely respected for his contribution to the gentleman’s game — cricket, which had a sizeable following then, without any ground to play on. It was in August 1974, when Izhar Haider organised the first cricket tournament, he convinced the authorities to allot a piece of land for the sport. He and his friends founded the Abu Dhabi Cricket Council (ADCC) and got a piece of land, on which after 22 years, the world’s most beautiful cricket stadium was built to host the Indo-Pak Cricket series recently. Haider’s major contribution to the Pakistani community was the establishment of a Pakistani Community School in Mussafah, which he founded, with the help of his friends. The school, which imparts education as a public service, charges just Dh130 per month, the lowest fee in the country.
Death
Izhar Haider was planning a UAE National Day to be celebrated in Pakistan Embassy in Abu Dhabi. On 10 December 2009 he had mild pain on his chest and walked to the hospital by himself and was immediately admitted. He was still writing plan for the UAE National day celebration on hospital bed. Doctors finally decided that he must have bypass surgery. He died during a heart surgery in Abu Dhabi on 23 December 2009. The whole event was cancelled as he was lone script writer of the event. He is buried in Karachi, Pakistan.