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"The study of
history never existed in the true sense in the
British time", he said. "Because they were
propagating certain ideas. These divided Hindus
and Muslims. They would refer to eye witnesses
as "native historians", and imply that they
wrote unscientifically and subjectively to
please local rulers. They denigrated Akbar and
Aurangzeb and chose not to compliment the
Mughals. It was the Muslims who coined the word
Hindu and Hindustan. They created India. True the
Muslims broke idols because they believed in the
one God, but they integrated Hindus into the
system. They even married Hindu wives. The
Muslims studied Sanskrit, the Hindus studied
Islam and Islamic languages.
"This was
destroyed by the colonial historians. The Muslim
contribution to the subcontinent was downgraded.
This tradition has continued in India today,
where Indo-Muslim history is being studied and
turned topsy Turvy. No one in Pakistan is doing
anything. That is why Pakistanis are demoralised.
They don't know anything about themselves."
"The study of
history", he continued" gives a sense of
identity and culture to nation. This has been
entirely neglected in Pakistan. The problem is
that the source books are in Persian and Arabic
so students have to rely on secondary sources
written by British or Hindu historians. I am the
only person who has done some work on the early
Muslim period. I have come to the conclusion
that there was no written history in India until
the Muslims came and published the "Chachnama"
One of Pakistan's
foremost authorities of Sindh, Dr. Baloch has
edited the "Chachnama" with introduction in
English. He took advantage of a 13 month period
of unemployment to wander across the interior
collecting and compiling Sindh folklore which
has become a milestone in Sindhi Studies.
A lively and
entertaining conversationalist, Dr. Baloch was
still in Aligarh, when Pir Elahi Bakhsh
persuaded him to come and teach at Karachi's new
Islamia College. Shortly afterwards, Dr. Baloch
won a competitive government scholarship to
Columbia University for higher studies in
education. He did his Masters and his Doctorate
there and was selected for a UN internship
programme. While he was in New York,
Pakistan came into being. On his
return, Dr. Baloch was selected by the Public
Services Commission.
Here he fell foul
of provincial wrangling in the Ministry of
Education and after a time in the wilderness,
joined External Publicity in the ministry of
Information. He has many lively anecdotes to
tell about the aggressive broadcasts that he
developed to counter Indian and Afghan
propaganda. He joined the faculty of Sindh University when the campus moved
from Karachi to Hyderabad in the 1950's. He
worked here for 25 years. He still lives in
Hyderabad.
"In Pakistan", he
said "we say funds are not available for
education but almost 80% could be corrected
without funds. It's a question of management. We
must correct the apparatus of education. We must
see that teaching is done."
"Students attend,
exams are taken, and all other functions are
performed as they should be. Appoint a principal
and hold him/her responsible. At present no one
cares because there is no reward and no
accountability. Discipline has been thrown to
the winds."
"The British were
not interested in educating the masses and we
have followed that legacy. They set up
universities and colleges to recruit colonial
administrators and we still think those are more
important than primary education. The fact is
that a normal child, with six years of planned
primary education, can be better prepared to
participate in nation building activities, than
the distracted youth, who graduates through a
disorganized effort of years of misdirection."
(Daily Dawn,
Karachi)
Professor
Nazir Ahmed
DR. NABI
BAKHSH KHAN BALOCH AS I HAVE KNOWN HIM.
I first read
about Dr. Nabi Bakhsh Khan Baloch (Dr. N. A.
Baloch) in a letter of Faiz Ahmed Faiz written
on 8 June 1953 to Mrs. Faiz from Hyderabad Jail, and included in the collection
’صليبين ميرﻵ دريچـﻶ مين‘ published
from Karachi in 1971. Faiz describes him as a
pleasant visitor, a professor in the local
University who brought for him translations of
Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Sindh's great mystic
poet. He recalls with affection the kind words
of Dr. Baloch and the useful discussion with him
on poetry and educational, matters. A few years
later when I was at the Ministry of Education,
Islamabad and we were preparing lists of
scholars from within the country and from abroad
who could speak or write on Quaid-i-Azam
Mohammad Ali Jinnah in connection with his
centenary celebrations, Dr. Baloch's name came
up and he complied a booklet on quotes from the
Quaid-i-Azim in Urdu for students.
( طُلبه اور تعليم: قائداعظم نـﻶ کيا سوچا اور کيا کها‘ مؤلف:
اور مرتب: ڊاکڻر نبي بخش بلوچ، اسلام آباد 1976ع،
ص: 74)
It continues to
be a useful reference book despite the fact that
Dr. S.M. Zaman has more recently published a
comprehensive reference book on the subject. In
1975 in connection with Sindh Through Centuries
Seminar, I heard Dr. Baloch speak on folklore
and music with authority and aplomb, and it left
on my mind an indelible impression of his
multifaceted personality,- as a scholar with
multi-disciplinary approach, a scholar in the
traditional mould having to do something or the
other with the entire corpus of knowledge. Two
of the major article in the introductory
brochure brought out on the occasion by Pyar ali
allana, Minister for Education and Cultural
Affairs, Government of Sindh, and Chairman,
Central Committee, Sindh Through Centuries
Seminar, were by Dr. Nabi Bakhsh Khan Baloch,
Vice Chancellor, University of Sindh, Jamshoro,
namely (1) 'Sindh, a Historical Perspective' and
(2) 'Sindhi Folk Arts and Crafts'
I came in contact
with him in 1976 when after having been
Vice-chancellor, University of
Sindh, Dr. Nabi Bakhsh Khan
Baloch was posted as O.S.D (Secretary) in the
Ministry of Education, Islamabad. The work
assigned to him for supervision included
programmes of century celebrations of the
founding fathers of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam
Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Mohammad Iqbal,
the programmes in the preparation of which I had
played a pivotal role as secretary to the two
Executive Committees concerned but I had in the
middle of 1976 been posted abroad as Education
Attache at the Pakistan Embassy London. My
predecessor there, Dr. S.M. Zamann (presently,
Chairman, Council of Islamic Ideology) had
returned home. I was fully prepared to leave as
Mumtaz Daultana, ambassador of Pakistan in the
United Kingdom had urged that the new Education
Attache' should join immediately now to his
assignment. Dr. Baloch probably felt that in my
absence he might experience difficulties in
implementing the centenary programmes. He
therefore in a meeting convened by the Education
Minister, Mr. Abdul Hafeez Pirzado brought up
the subject and the Minister remarked that if
the officer was so indispensable for the job, he
should be stopped from proceeding abroad. A
friend of mine who met me in Aabpara in the
afternoon informed me about the development and
sympathized with me. However, in an interview
the following morning, the Education Minister
Okayed my going abroad and decided to host a
reception bidding me farewell.
Thus my contact
with Dr. Baloch started on a discordant note
which was, without loss of time, smoothed away
for us, me as a junior and him as a senior, to
resume a friendly relationship which continues
to flourish.
I returned from
England in March 1981 and was
posted in the Cabinet Division where
circumstances again put me in touch with him but
before I reminisce about those times, a word
about activities of Dr. Baloch in the interval.
Dr. Baloch
consolidated his position and emerged as a
figure of considerable consequence beginning
from 1977. Late Mr. A.K. Brohi's association
with the government of General Zia-ul-Haq as
Minister turned out to be a helpful factor for
him. Among other things Mr. Brohi headed the
National Hijra Committee setup in April 1978 to
mark the occasion of commencement of the 15th
century of Hijra in a befitting manner in line
with decisions taken in the meeting of Foreign
Ministers of the Organization of Islamic
Countries. One of the proposals of the committee
led to the establishment of the Islamic
University, Islamabad, Dr. Baloch was appointed
the first Vice-chancellor of this University. He
also came to head the Institute of
Islamic History, Culture and
Civilization, a research organization which had
earlier been established as Commission for
Historical and Cultural Research with Professor
K.K. Aziz the well known historian as its
chairman. Dr. Baloch as director of the
institute continued with its programme of
publication and research but reoriented it to
suit new requirements and his own experience as
a scholar. Recalled here are two books of the
period:
1) Dr. N.A. Baloch, ed,
Pakistan: A comprehensive Bibliography of Books
and Government Publications with Annotations
1947-80, Islamabad, Institute of Islamic
History, Culture and Civilization, 1981, pp 515,
2) Dr. N.A. Baloch. Ed, Fatahnamah-i-Sind.
Islamabad, Institute of Islamic History Culture
and Civilization, 1982, pp A-English 158.
B-Persian 279
The comprehensive
bibliography is the joint compilation of the
research scholars of the Institute who worked
under the direction of Dr. Baloch. It is based
on different bibliographical sources, and,
besides English, lists books in Urdu, Punjabi,
Sindhi and Pashto, It also draws on government
publications, documents and reports. Primarily
relating to the post Independence Period
(1947-80), the bibliography contains 8,385
entries which cover a wide range of subjects
such as: (1) Reference Works. (2) Land and the
people. (3) History.(4) Geography (5) Politics
(6) Government (7) Economics (8) Foreign Affairs
(9) Defence (10) Culture and Civilization (11)
Art Architecture and Archaeology (12) Language
and Literature (13) Education (14) Religion and
Philosophy (15) Sciences and Technology (16)
Health and Medicine (17) Migration and (18) Mass
Media and Information.
In its general
outline, the bibliography brings to one's mind
the series titled Books From Pakistan published
by the Pakistan Book Council under the
supervision of late Ibne Insha.
Fatahnamah-i-Sindh is a scholarly edition of a
manuscript, work of Dr. N.A. Baloch in its
entirety. He visualized for implementation by
the Institute of
Islamic History, Culture and
Civilization a 25- Volume Project dedicated to
the original sources of the Indo-Muslim History,
and issued Fatahnamah-i-Sindh as volume- I
Part-I of the project. It has two sections, A-
English (notes and commentary) and B- Persian
(text).
The manuscript
contains the original record of the Arab
conquest of Sindh by Mohammad b. Qasim
(712-15-A.D). Besides detailed reports of the
campaign in general and eyewitness accounts of
different battles in particular, Fatahnamah also
contains information on ethnological
dissemination and Buddhism in Sindh, and on
relations between the kingdom of
Sindh and other contemporary
kingdom.
An eminent
literary scholar named Ali b. Hamid b. Abu Bakr
Kufi found an Arabic work on the early history
of the Arab conquest of Sindh in the form of a
manuscript preserved by an illustrious family of
Aror and Bakhar in Sindh. For wider
dissemination of its contents Ali Kufi
translated the Arabic manuscript into Persian in
1216. A.D.
By drawing on
Arabic sources of the 8th and 9th
centuries A.D., Dr. N.A. Baloch has illuminated
the scholarly background of the manuscript
translated by Ali Kufi. He has also assessed the
translation for its faithfulness (or otherwise)
to the original. In doing so his objective has
been to establish the correct Persian text of
Fatahnamah-i-Sindh, important as it is as the
first truly historical work about historical
events which took place during a known
historical period, ever compiled in the South
Asian Subcontinent.
In his research
on Fatahnamah, Dr. Baloch has followed
incremental approach, building the quantum of
research gradually over a long period of time as
the sources became available, and by taking into
account English translation of the work in
modern times. He has commented on and
acknowledged the value of late Dr. U.M.
Daudpota's research who first edited the Persian
text based on five manuscripts and published in
1939. Dr. Baloch started his journey from where
Dr. Daudpota left it and sustained it from 1943
onwards till the present edition with a tenacity
and farsightedness of a genuine research scholar
looking up major repositories of manuscripts in
the subcontinent and the U.K. for materials
relevant to his purpose, reading those materials
with an incisive intellect and using them
objectively to establish what is historically
authentic in Fathnamah and explaining what needs
to be replaced in the text. The end result
should be described as a major academic
achievement. The work as published is Volume-I
part of an unfulfilled dream, 25 volume projects
on the original sources of Indo-Muslim History
starting with the years 712 and ending in 1947
when Pakistan emerged as a sovereign state.
After Dr.
Baloch's is tenure as the Vice chancellor of the
Islamic University and as Director Institute of
Islamic History, Culture ad Civilization came to
an end, the question of further utilization of
his services was examined in the mid eighties by
the Establishment and Cabinet Division in the
light of a directive issued by the late
President General Zia-ul-Hq. As a consequence of
this exercise, I was asked to draft and issue,
after due process, a government resolution
setting up National Hijra Council, raising its
status from a committee to an autonomous body
under the administrative control of the Cabinet
Division located at
20 Masjid Road F 6-4, Islamabad.
Late Mr. A.K. Brohi remained its chairman and
Dr. N.A. Baloch became advisor to the Council.
He continued his scholarly work with unabated
devotion. Three publications of the National
Hijra Council during this period stand out
vividly in my recollection. Those are:
1. S-Amjad Ali, ed., the Muslim World Today,
Islamabad, National Hijra Council, 1985, pp 627.
2. Lois Lamya al-Faruqi,
Islam and Art, Islamabad, National Hijra
Council, 1985, pp 236.
3. Dr. N.A Baloch,
ed, Muslim Luminaries, Leaders of Religious,
Intellectual and Political Revival in South
Asia, Islamabad, National Hijra Council 1988, pp
402.
The Muslim World
Today is profusely illustrated survey of forty
six independent Muslim countries plus Palestine.
A part of the book is devoted to the resurgence
of Islam in Europe and America, The text was
written and designed by S. Amjad Ali, Preface
contributed by Dr. N.A. Baloch and foreword by
late Mr. A.K. Brohi. It was printed by the Elite
Publishers, Karachi in an extremely attractive
manner.
The book contains
information on various aspects of the countries
concerned some of which has become outdated but
the major theme of the book namely, release of
the Muslim world from imperialist domination to
an era of freedom is of enduring historical
value.
Collection of the
information that went into the making of the
book required coordination of truly gigantic
proportions, informed by vision and
administrative efficiency. This was provided by
Dr. N.A. Baloch with his characteristic sobriety
in the publication of this unique book.
The Muslim World Today was launched with late Prime
Minister Mohammad Khan Junejo as the chief
guest. He made a generous grant on this occasion
to help the Hijra Council continue with its
publications programme devoted to promoting
consciousness of the historical role of Islam.
Islam and Art are
authored by Dr. Lois Lamy al Faruqi, Professor
of Religion and the Arts at the Temple
University,
Philadelphia, U.S.A. with a
preface by Dr. N.A. Baloch. The book attempts to
state the aesthetic principles of art and their
uses with the principles of Islam in general,
and to survey the artistic expression of Muslim
sensibility in various forms and lands in the
historical perspective. Calligraphy which is
central to art in Islam has been discussed as
arabesque with copious illustrations of
contemporary scripts, and the various functions
it has performed in the Islamic Culture. From
calligraphy discussion moves to architecture.
Common components in Islamic buildings such as
enclosed courtyard, dome, aisled sanctuary,
mihrab, etc, have been identified. Arabesque
decoration and its motif vocabulary as used in
architecture, ceramics, carpets, textiles, and
metal work have been high lighted. The last
chapter deals with music.
All in all, Islam
and Art is a compact and concise volume
sensitively conceived and aesthetically
presented.
The Muslim
Luminaries is the first volume in the 3 volume
project prepared by Dr. N.A. Baloch and approved
by late Mr. A.K. Brohi who died in September
1987, a few months before the first volume was
issued. Late Mr. A.K. Brohi's essay on Allama
I.I. Kazi (1888-1963) is included in the book.
The contributors and luminaries are as follows.
1. Dr. Burhan
Ahmed Faruqi on.
Shaikh
Ahmed Sarhindi (1563-1624)
2. Prof: G.N.
Jalbani, on
Shah
Waliyullah (1704-1763)
3. Prof: M.Y.
Abbasi, on
Syed
Ahmed Khan (1817-1898) and Syed Amir Ali
(1849-1928)
4. Dr. Afzal
Iqbal, on
Maulana
Mohammed Ali (1879-1930)
5. Justice
Dr. Javed Iqbal, on
Mohammad
Iqbal (1877-1938)
6. Dr. M.
Moizuddin, on
Maulana
Obaidullah Sindhi (1872-1944)
7. Prof:
Sharif al Mujahid, on
Mohammad
Ali Jinnah (1876-1948)
8. Syed
Shabir Hussain, on
Inayat
ullah Khan El-Mashriqi (1888-1963)
9. A.K. Brohi,
on
I.I. Kazi
(1888-1963)
10. Qazi Hasan
Moizuddin, on
Syed Abul
A'la Maududi (1903-1979)
As would appear from the outline given above, selection of
thinkers and leaders is faultless and so is the
choice of scholars to write their biographies.
The luminaries came alive on the stage of
history and among themselves crystallized a
period of nearly four centuries in which life of
Muslims went through many changes but shaped up
around great ideals emanating from their faith
in Islam.
The editor of the Muslim Luminaries (Dr. Baloch) has done
a commendable job in getting quality material
and producing a fascinating volume.
One of the
projects on which late Mr. A.K. Brohi expressed
his views in quite a few meetings of the Hijra
Council was based on the proposed publication of
a hundred works in English translation
representing various aspects of Islamic culture
and civilization down the ages. Dr. N. A Baloch
took it up assiduously and prepared a conspectus
of the project by listing works of scholarship
which could mirror Islamic culture, and started
consultation meetings with scholars in the
Muslim world. Dr. Baloch implemented the project
with rig our and published four volumes
continuing further work on a dozen more. But the
project could not be completed and it remained
an unfulfilled dream of a fertile mind after Dr.
Baloch departed from the Hijra Council.
My reminiscences
of Dr. Nabi Bakhsh Khan Baloch in Islamabad have
focused on his academic pursuits. Fact of the
matter is that his dominant impression on my
mind is that of an academician par excellence
with profound interest in the Islamic world view
in various fields and the evolution of Muslim
Identity in the subcontinent.
He carries on the tradition of classical scholarship
deeply rooted in Persian and Arabic with a touch
of the spirit of the
Aligarh movement. He has been rightly
complimented for his encyclopedic knowledge of
the Sindhi culture but he rises above this level
to the status of a scholar who should figure
prominently on the national sense in Pakistan
and simultaneously find a respectable mention in
the Muslim world as a whole.
In my official
dealings with Dr. N.A. Baloch I was struck by
his sagacity. A few examples would suffice here.
For some years he
chaired the meetings of the scanning committee
of the National Documentation Centre. I was the
secretary of the committee. Our job was to
finalize in consultation with historians and
archivists selections of British Period
historical materials for acquisition from the
India Office Library and Record, London. Dr.
Baloch would listen to everyone with enormous
patience without wearing his own scholarship on
his sleeve and imposing it on others. Practical
consideration guided his course of action.
For sometimes we
were both concerned in different capabilities,
with our annual celebration of Independence Day.
Each year I would convene a meeting at the
Cabinet Division for one particular item, the
publication programme for the day. The meeting
was attended by representatives of all
ministries and divisions concerned and Dr.
Baloch chaired the meetings from the very
beginning he was clear in his mind that the set
of publications to be prepared each year for
distribution among school children should be
memorial in character, in memory of the event
being celebrated. It should not have anything to
do with the government of the day. The programme
was implemented along these lines and everybody
endorsed this approach.
When late
Mohammad Khan Junejo became the Prime Minister
and the main celebrations on 14th
August had to move out of the Presidency, a
venue was to be selected to the purpose, Final
choice of venue in front of the Parliament house
was proposed by Dr. N. A. Baloch and adopted
officially without much discussion.
Aziz Malik
Dr. Nabi
Bakhsh Khan Baloch:
Scholar and
Educationist.
I have known Dr.
Nabi Bakhsh Baloch for the last 50 years but
have always maintained a respectful distance. So
for me writing about him proved to be a
Herculean task. The problem was how to approach
the elusive professor, as he has always shunned
publicity. But like all great men he is the
embodiment of humility. I could not believe my
luck when Dr. Baloch himself called me to
comment on a report I had filed and asked me to
join him over a cup of tea.
Those who know
Dr. Baloch. 'The renaissance man of Sindh', also
know hour busy he is. He reads, sleeps, drinks,
eats and writes books. Dr. Hamida Khuhro
describes Dr. Baloch as "a man with the
curiosity of an explorer and the application of
a scholar. He is a born researcher and an
indefatigable worker devoted to the cause of
learning and knowledge. There is no corner of
Sindh's folk literature, culture, history,
geography and anthropology that has not been
researched by him. It would not be an
exaggeration to call him an encyclopedia of
Sindh."
Born in small
village of
Sanghar district, Dr. Baloch has had a brilliant academic career. He was
initially schooled at a local school and then
went on to do his matriculation from High School
Naushahro Feroze. Then came graduation with
honours from
Bahauddin
College, Junagadh, and a Masters Degree from the
Aligarh Muslim University. Yet another feather
in his cap was his degree in Law.
Based on his
academic performance, he was selected by the
Birtish Government of India for higher studies
aboard with specialization in Education.
Selection in those days was made purely on
merit: out of 600 candidates only about a dozen
candidates were selected. Dr. Baloch being one
of them. He proved his wroth by obtaining
Masters and Doctorate degrees from Columbia
University, New York. Since then Education has
remained his passion and first love. Later he
was also selected for a ten-week information
techniques course by the U.N.
The real
educationist in Dr. Baloch emerged on the scene,
when he was appointed Press Attache in the
Middle East. He called on the great Allama I.I.
Kazi, the Vice Chancellor of the Sindh University, when it was being
shifted to Hyderabad. The Allama asked Dr.
Baloch to join university and when he asked
about the tenure, Dr. Baloch weans told, "Till
you retire". Without a moment's hesitation, Dr.
Baloch tendered his resignation from the
Ministry of Interior, Information and Broad
casting Division, where he was serving, and
joined the university to become the founder of
the Department of Education in Sindh University, which till than did
not exist in any other university of the
country.
He then helped
the other universities establish their Education
Departments. His love for education is so
profound that when he became the Vice Chancellor
of Sindh University in the early 70's, he did
not give up teaching, under his leadership; this
department later became a full fledged Institute
of Education and Research. It will be not exaggeration to say that Dr. Baloch is a
pioneer in the field of higher professional
education of teachers in
Pakistan.
Dr. Baloch served
as a Vice Chancellor of Sindh University from
December 1973 to January 1976, when his services
were acquired by the federal government. In
Islamabad he held important position as
secretary (O.S.D) Ministry of Education and
Ministry of Culture: Chairman, National
Institute of Historical Research: Member of Pay
Commission: Member of Federal Review Board:
Advisor to the National Hijra Council: but
perhaps his singular distinction is that he was
the first Vice Chancellor of the Islamic
University (now International Islamic
University).
As the first
chairman of Sindhi Language Authority, Dr.
Baloch president over and participated in a
number of national and international seminars
and conferences. A recognized scholar of
international repute, he is the author of a
large number of research papers, and the author
and editor of more than 80 books in five
different languages English, Sindhi, Urdu,
Persian and Arabic.
He developed and
directed the monumental "Great Books Project" of
the Hijra Council, Islamabad aimed at
translating and editing into English one hundred
great books of Islamic civilization. Earlier, he
had directed another important project of the
Sindhi Adabi Board, the 'Folklore Project'. He
has published forty volumes on Sindhi folklore,
ten volume of the poetry of Shah Abdul Latif
Bhittai and five volumes of dictionary of
Sindhi, which according to Dr. Hamida Khuhro
"must be regarded as a seminal work on the
Sindhi language".
Dr. Baloch has
received Tamgha-e-Pakistan and Pride of
Performance Awards, and the "Twentieth Century
Scholar Award" from "Kalhora Seminar" organizing
committee held in Karachi in 1996. At present he
is Professor Emeritus (Education) University of
Sindh, Jamshoro. Only a scholar
can assess the man who is a peerless
educationist, historian, linguist, researcher
and a literary giant.
(Daily "DAWN"
Karachi)
Dr. Habibulla
Siddiqul
Dr. Nabi
Bakhsh Khan Baloch:
An Insight
into a Living Legend of Sindh
”تو جو ڏيئو ڀانئيو، سا سورج سهائي،
انڌن اونداهي، جي رات وهامي ڏينهن ٿيو“
(شاهه لطيف، رامڪلي)
What you thought
was a lamp,
Was indeed the
sun shine,
It is dark for
the blind,
Though the day
has dawned.
A chilly morning
of January 1957, a heavy down pour and gushing
northern wind, we were waiting for Dr. Baloch to
come and preside the debate scheduled for the
day. We thought and wished that a word would
come from him that the debate is postponed: but
at the exact time he appeared plodding his way
through the rain. He gave us a quick smile and
said, "It's a wonderful morning! Let us get to
work."
A cast steel
disciplinarian, who would never allow a letup in
work, has himself passed 84 years working
incessantly and indefatigually. One can peep
into his profile.
The Profile
Dr. Nabi bakhsh
Khan S/o Ali Muhammad Khan s/o Arz Muhammad Khan
Baloch, his ancestors migrated from Dera Ghazi
Khan and settled in Saghar area, during Kalhora
rule- was born on 16th December, 1917
A.D. Father died after four months and the uncle
Wali Mohammad Khan took over the guardianship of
the orphan nephew. There was no primary school
in village Jafar Khan Laghari where he was born,
so when he became of school going age, he was
admitted in a primary school at village Palio
Khan Laghari at a distance. Four standards of
primary education he passed successfully, after
playing truant and being punished for his
weakness in arithmetic. For secondary education,
he got admitted in the historic Naushahro Feroz
Madresah & High School in 1929. An indigent
bright student, he passed seven standards in
seven years and matriculated from Bombay University in 1936. Bahauddin
College Jhungarh, run by the philanthropist
Nawab, offered a venue and he went there for
four years more and in 1941 got the degree of
B.A (Hons) with first class third position in
the Bombay University. Then he had to move
out of Jhungarh due to his Khaksar activities,
which the State did not aprove of. He went to
Aligarh Muslim University and did his M.A, L.L.B
there with first class first position in M.A,
and first class ranking in L.L.B. When the
Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah visited the
University, he led the Khaksar contingent to
present guard-of-honour. On return from Aligarh,
he served as lecturer at the Sindh Muslim
College Karachi in 1945-1946.
Due to his first
class first position in M.A, he got scholarship
from the British Government of India to
prosecute further studies at the University of
Columbia in New York City. He did M.Ed.
and B.Ed. during 1946-1949, which were hot years
of burning debate over the "two-nation-theory"
in the sub-continent, discussed abroad with
interest. An Indian scholar, Taraknath Das, was
at the rostrum in New York outrightly condemning
the two nation theory. Youthful Baloch, a
student from the Columbia University took his
turn during the question answer time and raised
such finding points that the speaker Taraknath
Das could not refute and walked out. "Khan
Baloch" won the day and became a popular
debater. He had already organized a Muslim
Students Association in the Columbia University.
As its secretary, now he participated in the
debates in important cities of the United States
and Canada. At the first independence-day-celebratation
held in New York City in 1947, scholarly Baloch
presided and presented a map of Pakistan to
illestrate his presidential address. Then he
went round the States and Canada to collect
contributions in cash and kind for the
rehabilitation of Muslim refugees uprorted from
India.
Nabi Bakhsh Khan
became Doctor of Education, from the Columbia
University, in 1949. He had an offer for
employment in the UNO, but he preferred to get
back home and engage in its development. Back
home in May 1949, he found that the promised job
had already been filled and he had to go
unemployed for at least a year. Undaunted by
adverse circumstances, he drew his own
action-plan. During the year 1949-50, he visited
many places in Sindh its villages, hamlets and
towns, organized kutchehris with the folk and
educated himself about the culture and
traditions of Sindh, and visited schools to
address young students. He visited Dadu High School in 1950, when I was
a student of IV Standard. His speech infused the
spirit or organization amongst us. Soon we
formed an English Debating Society and a Sindhi
Bazm-i-Adab.
In 1950, Dr.
Baloch got a job in the Pakistan Information
Division, and then in the foreign service, but
he left good jobs to become a teacher in the
university. The University of
Sindh had been established in
Karachi on 3rd, April
1947, replacing the Bombay University as an examining
authority for the colleges and high schools then
existing in Sindh. After four years, the nascent
University of
Sindh got its god-father Allama
I.I. Kazi as its second Vice-chancellor, who
looked for talented young professors, who could
help him turn the University of
Sindh into a teaching
University. Dr. N.A.Baloch was identified and
picked up, along with a few more. A Department
of Education was the first teaching institution
which was made functional in September 1951 with
Dr. N.A.Baloch as its founder Director. During
the academic year 1952-53, the Department of
Sindhi started working. It became the additional
assiganment of Dr. Baloch. Allama Kazi loved,
appreciated and trusted him and he was also
getting popular with the students community all
over Sindh. The Sindh University was shifted to
Hyderabad on 4th May 1951, and housed
in what is now called the Old Campus, since
named Elsa Kazi Campus, and Dr. N. A. Baloch
took his residence there and is living and
working there continuously eversince.
Allama I.I.Kazi
resigned from the Vice-chancellor's post on 25th
May 1959, and passed away on 13th
April 1969. Dr. N.A.Baloch continued to develop
the Department of Education, raised it to the
status of Institute of Education & Research and
produced pristine research works on the history
and culture of Sindh, since unprecedented. He
was inspired by Allama I.I. Kazi and had turned
a visionary for educational advancement of Sindh.
He keeps the memory of his ideal alive by
managing Allama I.I. Kazi Memorial Society, on
behalf of which he has published a number of
books on the teachings of the great sage of
modern Sindh.
Dr. N.A. Baloch
was made the Vice-chancellor of the University
of Sindh in 1973 and remained as
such up to 1976, when he was called to
Islamabad. He was appointed as OSD (Jan 1976-Aug
1977) in the MOE, then posted as secretary
Ministry of Culture, Archaelogy, Sports and
Tourism (as a right man for the right job),
where he worked from September 1977 to March
1979, and simultaneously during 1978-79 he
remained a member of the Federal Review Board.
on first July 1979, he joined the National
Institute for Research in History and Culture,
at first as Chairman. Within three months he
institutionalized it as "National Institute of
Historical and Cultural Research" and became its
founder Director (1979-1982). In the meantime
the International Islamic University was
established in Islamabad in 1980 and he was
chosen as the founder vice-chancellor. He laid
its foundation and raised its organs for two
year (1980-1982): When the 15th
century celebrations were launched in 1983, he
was taken up as Advisor of the Hijra council. He
joined on 22nd November 1983, and
worked for 7 years (1983-1990) on his 100 Great
Islamic Books Project in right earnest. A number
of useful books were translated and published
with his scholarly editing and annotations.
The Sindhi
Language Authority was established on 4th
December 1990 and Dr. N.A. Baloch was called up
to become its founder –Chairman. He laid the
foundations of the Sindhi Language Authority and
developed it till 1994. In the mean while he was
assigned additional job of Minister for
Education in the care-taker Government of Sindh
Province. He returned to the University of
Sindh as professor emeritus,
managed the Allama I.I. Kazi Chair and ran
Allama I.I. Kazi Memorial Society. He a founder
of institutions is ever busy at work, gets ready
for the office/field work every morning. He has
proved that a true teacher never retires. He has
been decorated by the Government of Pakistan
with four awards so far. Tamgha-i-Pakistan,
Sitara-i-Quaid-i-Azam, President's Award for
Pride of Performance, and this year's
Sitara-i-Imtiaz, (announced on 14th
August 2001) |
