Sen Syed Mazhar Ali was a man who was ahead of his time. He was a visionary who could appreciate the role of IT in creating wonderful opportunities for Pakistan in 1980s. His apartment complexes set the standard for high quality during 1970s and early 1980s. His Gulshan-e-Maymar town was conceived and constructed decades ahead of the Bahria Town and DHA City. It was established when there was nothing beyond Sohrab Goth. He knew the importance of public-private partnership in developing the revenue resource base back in the 1980s. As part of Resource Mobilization Commission he developed a blue print of how to diversify Pakistan's resource base. As Chairman of the IT Commission, he laid the foundation of the National IT Policy that was developed through public-private partnership in early phase of computerization of the country. He was an important player in the National IT Policy 1997-98 during the Nawaz Sharif's 2nd tenure and Ahsan Iqbal's vision 2020. He was also part of the National IT Policy 2000 formulation during the several working groups formed during the early years of Gen Musharraf rule. His investment in the state of the art institution KIIT at Gulshan e Maymar during late 1990s was the harbinger of how higher education would grow. It boasted during late 1990s the highest number of PhDs after LUMS in private institutions.
I will be further adding my own personal reminiscences of Sen Mazhar Ali here. Inshallah. It is important that we remember some of the great people in education and IT. Below is a biography of Sen Mazhar Ali followed by a Case Study report from a student of KIET that is appended below. The report and the biography both seem to be relying on the same source document.
He was just not only a kind and successful person but also a symbol of sincerity and loyalty to the nation. He represented a chapter in the history of Pakistan’s Information Technology. Therefore Pakistan significantly suffered from his loss. He died on 2nd May 2004 as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident near his home in Karachi.
Senator Syed Mazhar Ali maintained contacts with the political world and was respected by the MQM leadership and the Minister of Interior, Gen (Retd.) Moin Haider (1999 – 2003), thus occasionally serving as a trusted broker.
IT development in Pakistan was overseen by the Information Technology Commission (ITC) of the ministry of Science and Technology (MST), and Senator Syed Mazhar Ali was also Chairman for some time in 1990s and early 2000s.
During his chairmanship, there were many IT departments and agencies created by the government without an apex body having coordinating and controlling powers. After the approval of the creation of the IT and Telecom Division, the Government ordered that this division would be the only Governmental Agency to guide the IT industry and perform regulatory functions. The Division will have Civil servants as well as IT professional that will be hired at market salaries to head different wings dealing with subject such as Human Resources Development, IT Development, Telecommunications, E-Commerce and Legislation.
A four year (1999 – 2003) policy initiatives for IT development, envisaging a total investment of Rs. 22 billion, was unveiled by the military regime on August 22, 2000. Its projects, inter alias, the following targets.
Increase of the total values of software exports from US $ 20 million in 1999 to US $ 400 million in 2003 as indicated below:
Development of E-Commerce infrastructure and capability. The Asia Council for the Facilitation of Procedures and Practices for Administration, Commerce and Transport (AFACT) rates Pakistan as “Low” in respect of infrastructure and IT awareness and education and awards it 1.75 points out of total 12. As against this, India is graded as “medium” with 5 points. The policy initiative sought to bring Pakistan into the medium category by the year 2003. Assuming that the Pakistan authorities were able to have the policy implemented without any major slippage, the IT industry was projected to still lag for behind that of India. Its projected software exports of US $ 400 million by 2003 would have been less than one fourth of India’s, but it would equal, if not replace, cotton-based textiles as the largest foreign exchange earner and could help in achieving the long elusive goal of diversifying its economy. It also projected to have at its disposal a large reservoir of IT professionals.
Around 2000, Senator Syed Mazhar Ali's views for Technology in Pakistan were as follow:
“In India, They produce more than 50,000 such experts every year, and if we produce them at the present rate, Pakistan would be tragically deficient in the field of database development, education and marketing etc.”
“These Pakistanis abroad need to be offered better salaries to attract them homeward, and the government is already working on a program to acquire means and resources to allocate the required funds for this purpose.”
For this purpose, he wanted the technology institutions involved in systems analysis and other software development, to be upgraded to the required level. He wanted to do this with the help of Pakistani software engineers working abroad, whose expertise can enable the organization to become capable of producing better and more exportable software producers.
Maymar’s History:
In 1964, Two Engineers, Hafiz Sadiq Hussain (Late) and Syed Mazhar Ali (Late) founded an organization Maymar Consulting Engineers and Architects (MCEA). But due the unfortunate death of Hafiz Sadiq Hussain, ultimately, shifted all the responsibilities of the organization on the shoulders of Syed Mazhar Ali (Late).
In the beginning company only concentrated on providing consultancy regarding Architecture and Structure, under the banner of MCEA. The first place chosen, as office of MCEA, was 16 Qazi Court Bahadurabad Karachi, which was then moved to 124D Block 2 Tariq Road and now finally it is at (current office).
MCEA provided consultancy to organizations like:
Sandoz Pakistan Jamshoro, Agriculture University Faisalabad, Johnson & Johnson Pakistan, Iqbal Silk Mills, Agha Khan Hospital etc.
He launched Maymar housing project with fully automation with introducing GIS (Geographical Information System) and implemented for his project. He purchased very expensive images from SUPARCO to designed drip elevation in Maymar project with the help of his civil engineering expertise. He used total fiber optic connectivity and ISDN technology for whole project.
Beside those, he also remain involved in consulting bungalows, flat sites and got the credit to provide consultancy in development of Model and Agriculture Villages in accordance with the government in all over Sindh Pakistan. Maymar Housing Service Pvt. Ltd
In 1972 company moved towards the construction business, and Maymar Housing Service (Pvt.) Ltd was founded. The first project was Maymar Square FL7 Gulshan-e-Iqbal. It was consisted on around 200 flats; it was a major landmark for MCEA.
In a short span Maymar gave another project viz. Maymarabad consisting 3500 houses at Surjani Town Karachi. It was in accordance with “World Bank” and “Karachi Development Authority”. Maymarabad was small finance project for low-income class. In 1980 MHSL started its mega project with name of Gulshan-e-Maymar which is situated near Gulshan-e-Iqbal on 1,000 acres and have the capacity of 10,000 plots.
In the mean time till 1981 around 18 flat sites have been completed and launched by MHSL.
Now where Maymar is standing is a long way journey, which is based on quality and devotion of Maymar Directors and staff.
He collected national and international strength of Pakistan at this conference and about 5000 audience. Through this conference he showed the overall strength of Pakistan. After the 9/11, international media spread very negative image of Islamic countries and Pakistan was one of the effective country. He drew positive image of Pakistan with the help of these strength located all over the world by his mega teleconference in which everyone seen each other and conveyed their message about eliminate terrorism from Pakistan.
References:
Syed Mazhar Ali was born in Delhi in 1935. His grandfather, Moulvi Saeed Ahmed belonged to a distinguished line of Islamic scholars that include Shah Waliullah (1703-1761) amongst their forebears. His grandmother Maseethi Begum was a grand matriarch of a bygone age, who presided over an impressive household in Old Delhi. His father, Major Syed Asghar Ali, served in the education department of the British Army who migrated to Pakistan. His paternal uncle, Syed Safdar Ali, belonged to the early corps of Pakistan's fledgling counter-espionage service. Syed Mazhar Ali's early years were spent in army camps, including Malir, where he distinguished himself in hockey, subsequently representing his province and university in the sport. He obtained a First Class in Civil Engineering from the University of Karachi (1958). He was awarded a Scholarship to Lehigh University, USA, where he completed an MSc in Civil and Structural engineering (1959-61).
Syed Mazhar was the Chairman of Computer Training & Testing Centre Karachi since 1997. He was the founder of the "Pakistan Zindabad Tehreek" and the former Chairman of Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD). He remained associated with the formation of the Sindh Building Control Ordinance, 1979. Construction of 3000 low cost housing units in Surjani Town also goes to his professional credit.
After a few years of employment in architectural practices, he established his own civil engineering company, Maymar. Amongst its projects was the construction of the InterContinental Hotel in Dacca. His astute business sense also led to the acquisition of real estate in the outskirts of Karachi that subsequently became a show-piece town planning venture, 'Gulshan-e-Maymar'. Maymar won awards for the construction of low-cost housing in different parts of Karachi. His professional competence was recognized in his appointment as Chair of the Association of Builders and Developers, and Vice-Chair of the National Housing Authority, Government of Pakistan.
Mazhar Ali found his political sympathies more closely aligned with the Muslim League, and in 1985 he successfully contested a Senate seat in Karachi on the Party's ticket. He was one of the competent technocrats advising the first Nawaz Sharif government (1990 - 1993). His most notable contribution was as dynamic chairman of the Senate 'Resource Mobilisation & Tax Reforms Commission' (1991-1994), championing the introduction of IT to improve tax collection. Mazhar Ali served in the Senate till 1994, and was disappointed for not being given responsibilities commensurate with his experience in the second Nawaz Sharif government (1997-99). He would remark that the Prime Minister was most comfortable with 'yes men' but he was not of that mould.
His reduced political commitments prompted Syed Mazhar Ali to devote more time to another abiding passion: in 1998 he embarked on an ambitious vision to create an IT university in Karachi that could compete with the best in the world. He believed passionately in providing educational opportunities to young Pakistanis and improving the quality of education. Over the next few years, he was to channel a considerable proportion of his own savings to establish the Karachi Institute of Information Technology (KIIT) located in Gulshan-e-Maymar and now offering IT degrees under franchise from the University of Huddersfield. To ensure that the KIIT curriculum was in step with the latest advancements in the field of IT and also that it was in accordance with the requirements of the industry at global level, KIIT entered into an agreement with the School of Computing and Mathematics, University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom, to offer B. Sc. (Hon.) Program. KIIT entered into another agreement with the University of Huddersfield to offer a one year M.Sc/ Postgraduate Diploma in Software Development. As a part of the agreement, the courseware developed by the University of Huddersfield for these programs were made available to the KIIT.
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| Sen Mazhar Ali (1935-2004) |
Case Study on Senator Mazhar Ali by my Students:
By Muhammad Imran, student of MBA at IBA during 1999-2000
Dr Muhammad Imran who is currently the Group Head of Islamic Banking of Bank Alfalah and was previously at Bank Islami did a case study on Senator Mazhar Ali when he was at IBA during 1999-2000 and I was also in IBA as Asst Professor and Deputy Director CCS. I think I requested him, and he pulled out and sent that report to me several years ago. I will try to search for it and will try to put it here.
By Ahsan Maqsood, student of MBA MIS at KIET in 2009
Here is the report of Maqsood, student of mine who had submitted a case study on Sen Mazhar Ali over a decade ago. I wanted to incorporate my own personal experiences had not yet gotten time. I am now publishing it here on as is basis. I will ow be doing minor editing for now. This report appears to have borrowed some material from the online biography of Senator Mazhar Ali at Maymar website, which I am copying and also appending after the report for completeness sake.
A Case Study on Senator Syed Mazhar Ali
By Ahsan Maqsood
(Submitted as Final Year Project of MBA-MIS to supervisor Dr Syed Irfan Hyder in 2009 at KIET, Karachi)
Introduction:
Senator Syed Mazhar Ali was born in Delhi on June 12, 1939. Mazhar Ali’s early years were spent in army camps, including Malir, where he distinguished himself in hockey, subsequently representing his province and university in the sport. Senator Syed Mazhar Ali was a charismatic personality and will be long remembered by all those who had the privilege of working with him for his warmth, honesty and sincerity. It was only after his death, when closing his financial affairs that his family came to realize the extent of his quiet acts of charity and support to the needy. His wife Azra brought him life-long comfort and companionship. He also left behind a son, Syed Amir Ali and two daughters, Mona and Seher.He was just not only a kind and successful person but also a symbol of sincerity and loyalty to the nation. He represented a chapter in the history of Pakistan’s Information Technology. Therefore Pakistan significantly suffered from his loss. He died on 2nd May 2004 as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident near his home in Karachi.
Educational Background:
He obtained a first class in civil engineering from the University of Karachi in 1958. He was awarded a scholarship to Lehigh University, USA, where he completed an MSc in Civil and Structural Engineering from 1959 to 1961 and awarded with gold medal.Family Background:
Senator Syed Mazhar Ali’s grandfather, Maulvi Saeed Ahmed belonged to a distinguished line of Islamic scholars that included Shah Waliullah (1703-1761). His grandmother Maseethi Begum was a grand matriarch of a bygone age, who presided over an impressive household in Old Delhi. His Father, Major Syed Asghar Ali, served in the education department of the British Army who migrated to Pakistan. His paternal uncle, Syed Safdar Ali, belonged to the early corps of Pakistan’s fledgling counter-espionage service. His brother Dr Zahir Ali Syed is in his own right an entrepreneur and a prominent IT professional who headed Computer Society of Pakistan and headed KIIT and later UIT.Political Involvement:
Senator Syed Mazhar Ali found his political sympathies more closely aligned with the Muslim League and in 1985 he successfully contested a senate seat in Karachi on party’s tickets. He was one of the competent technocrats advising the first Nawaz Sharif government from 1990 to 1993. His most notable contribution was dynamic chairman of the senate “resource mobilization & Tax Reform Commission’ (1991 – 1994), campaigning the introduction of IT to improve tax collection. Syed Mazhar Ali served in the senate till 1994, and was disappointed for not being given responsibilities commensurate with his experience in the second Nawaz Sharif government (1997 – 1999). He would remark that the Prime Minister was most comfortable with ‘yes man’ but he was not of that nature.Senator Syed Mazhar Ali maintained contacts with the political world and was respected by the MQM leadership and the Minister of Interior, Gen (Retd.) Moin Haider (1999 – 2003), thus occasionally serving as a trusted broker.
Innovations towards Education:
Senator Syed Mazhar Ali was the man who knew that Information Technology would eventually bring revolution in Pakistan. He was the father of bringing concept and awareness of Information Technology in Pakistan. His passion for providing best and quality educational opportunities to young Pakistanis led to the planning and then establishment of a state of the art institute for implementing his vision and to meet the global requirement of Information Technology for upcoming youth. Therefore the Karachi Institute of Information and Technology was established in 1996.Innovations towards Civil Engineering:
After a few years of employment in architectural practices, Senator Syed Mazhar Ali established his own civil engineering company, Maymar. Amongst its projects was the construction of the intercontinental Hotel in Dacca. His astute business sense also led to the acquisition of real estate in the outskirts of Karachi that subsequently became a showpiece town planning venture, ‘Gulshan-e-Maymar’. Maymar won awards for the construction of low cost housing in different parts of Karachi. His professional competence was recognized in his appointment as chair of the Association of Builders and Developer, and Vice-Chair of the National Housing Authority, Government of Pakistan.Innovations towards Technology:
In 1997, there were about 700 companies dealing in information technology products and services in Pakistan. While the quality of the software expertise available in some of these companies was rated above average, the export performance of the industry as a whole was poor rising from annual exports of US $ 10 Million in 1995 and US $ 20 Million in 1999, as against export worth US $ 400 million by the textile industry.IT development in Pakistan was overseen by the Information Technology Commission (ITC) of the ministry of Science and Technology (MST), and Senator Syed Mazhar Ali was also Chairman for some time in 1990s and early 2000s.
During his chairmanship, there were many IT departments and agencies created by the government without an apex body having coordinating and controlling powers. After the approval of the creation of the IT and Telecom Division, the Government ordered that this division would be the only Governmental Agency to guide the IT industry and perform regulatory functions. The Division will have Civil servants as well as IT professional that will be hired at market salaries to head different wings dealing with subject such as Human Resources Development, IT Development, Telecommunications, E-Commerce and Legislation.
A four year (1999 – 2003) policy initiatives for IT development, envisaging a total investment of Rs. 22 billion, was unveiled by the military regime on August 22, 2000. Its projects, inter alias, the following targets.
Increase of the total values of software exports from US $ 20 million in 1999 to US $ 400 million in 2003 as indicated below:
Development of E-Commerce infrastructure and capability. The Asia Council for the Facilitation of Procedures and Practices for Administration, Commerce and Transport (AFACT) rates Pakistan as “Low” in respect of infrastructure and IT awareness and education and awards it 1.75 points out of total 12. As against this, India is graded as “medium” with 5 points. The policy initiative sought to bring Pakistan into the medium category by the year 2003. Assuming that the Pakistan authorities were able to have the policy implemented without any major slippage, the IT industry was projected to still lag for behind that of India. Its projected software exports of US $ 400 million by 2003 would have been less than one fourth of India’s, but it would equal, if not replace, cotton-based textiles as the largest foreign exchange earner and could help in achieving the long elusive goal of diversifying its economy. It also projected to have at its disposal a large reservoir of IT professionals.
Around 2000, Senator Syed Mazhar Ali's views for Technology in Pakistan were as follow:
“In India, They produce more than 50,000 such experts every year, and if we produce them at the present rate, Pakistan would be tragically deficient in the field of database development, education and marketing etc.”
“These Pakistanis abroad need to be offered better salaries to attract them homeward, and the government is already working on a program to acquire means and resources to allocate the required funds for this purpose.”
For this purpose, he wanted the technology institutions involved in systems analysis and other software development, to be upgraded to the required level. He wanted to do this with the help of Pakistani software engineers working abroad, whose expertise can enable the organization to become capable of producing better and more exportable software producers.
Problems Faced by the Technology Sector:
Senator Syed Mazhar Ali faced many problems related to technology during his chairmanship of Information Technology Commission the major reasons for the poor performance in Information Technology sector of Pakistan were inadequate (Quantity & Quality wise) trained personnel, lack of networking between computer educational institution and the IT industry, a large number of mediocre or below mediocre institutions with very few new institutes of excellence during the 1990s. At that time prominent institutions included Hamdard Institute of Information Technology, the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Technology and the Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Technology's Institute of Computer Science (FAST-ICS). There was non-availability of international technical standards, models and printed information, lack of foreign exchange to import books, scarcity of components and development tools, poor telephone infrastructure in which the Pakistan Telecommunications Corporation (PTC) had monopoly rights, poor management in IT companies, the languishing state of the economy as a whole with strategies for sheer survival rather than growth influencing policies and practices, the resulting lack of financial and technical stability, the uncritical fascination of the political leadership, the bureaucracy, including the armed forces, and the public for Western, Japanese and South Korean products and services resulting in lack of encouragement for domestic entrepreneurs, lack of support from financial institutions for IT companies, lack of a governmental IT policy framework and unstable market conditions, widespread software piracy with little enforcement of intellectual property rights.Karachi Institute of Information Technology:
In 1996, he embarked on an ambitious vision to create an IT university in Karachi that could compete with the best in the world. He believed passionately in providing educational opportunities to young Pakistanis and improving the quality of education. He was to initiate channel a considerable proportion of his own savings to establish the Karachi Institute of Information Technology (KIIT) located in Gulshan-e-Maymar and offered IT degrees under franchise from the University of Huddersfield. Hence, he sincerely hoped that its staff would rise to his vision and work for the development of the nation’s human resources. Senator Syed Mazhar Ali’s inspiration was the work of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, who through the establishment of the Aligarh Muslim University, offered new opportunities to the Muslims of the subcontinent.Infrastructure:
Senator Syed Mazhar Ali donated his own piece of land in Gulshan-e-Maymar to establish institute in near city suburb. In order to develop highly sophisticated infrastructure, he acquired latest technological equipment such as IT server, routers, 2MB ISDN line for networking. For providing the quality literature to students, an erudite library was established, which contained the original version of literature and there were no such pirated books. Transportation facilities were also provided to staff, students and human resources who were connected to the institution. For achieving the maximum utilization of human resource, a town ship was established for faculty. The town ship was containing the well furnished apartment including the generator facility. The internet facility was also provided to them which enable to supply the latest and quality information to students. In order to make enable to student for achieving their educational assignment pertaining to research, a research lab was also established for 24 hours.Policies & Procedures:
Senator Syed Mazhar Ali designed the particular policies for his Institute with the help of intellectual and faculty member in line with University of Huddersfield. All faculty members finalized their course outlines and examination papers after the detail review and approval of their leading professors at University of Huddersfield. Experienced external examiner invited for checking the examination papers in which Dr. Syed Irfan Hyder also invited. Result review policy was also very strict in which board observed the history of student’s result which was graded highest and lowest ranks.Faculty:
The Faculty of Karachi Institute of Information Technology were comprises of teachers with high academic achievements as well as successful and practical experience. More than 10 Phd. Professors were the part of institute faculty. Most have advanced degrees in their fields of specialization from foreign institutions of repute. The faculty members were well regarded for their insight and command over current issues facing industry.Coordination with Institute:
Senator Syed Mazhar Ali was used to visit the Karachi Institute of Economics and technology once a week for meeting with all faculties and other staff. Rest of the days he connected through email and other communication channels. At weekly meeting he had no special agenda he tried to get staff identifying the problem and find the better solutions, and design of rules and procedure. He extracted ideas from their staff and converted them into projects for implementing.Growing opportunities for students
Passed to students on enough IT knowledge and make enable to them develop their own IT entrepreneurship. Research associate facility also provided to develop the confidence in students and decrease the workload from professors. Further those research associates considered for the assistant professor.Key Success Factor:
The key factors for the success of institute during 2000 to 2002 were the highly qualified faculty with practical approach and PhD holder faculty. Facilities for the faculty as well as students also attracted people to be a part of the Institute. Vast research experience for the faculty to enhance the quality of education and fulfill the requirement of technology according to global conditions also include in the factor for success.Key Declining Factor:
Whole institute depended only on one man that was Senator Syed Mazhar Ali. He could not get a person who could make his dream come true for continuing his efforts for providing quality and updated education to youth of our country and running his Institute. His emotional actions such as construction of building for management faculty before the finalizing of feasibility and plans for running the programs. Due to his political engagements, he could not give more time to towards their institute.Maymar’s History:
In 1964, Two Engineers, Hafiz Sadiq Hussain (Late) and Syed Mazhar Ali (Late) founded an organization Maymar Consulting Engineers and Architects (MCEA). But due the unfortunate death of Hafiz Sadiq Hussain, ultimately, shifted all the responsibilities of the organization on the shoulders of Syed Mazhar Ali (Late).
In the beginning company only concentrated on providing consultancy regarding Architecture and Structure, under the banner of MCEA. The first place chosen, as office of MCEA, was 16 Qazi Court Bahadurabad Karachi, which was then moved to 124D Block 2 Tariq Road and now finally it is at (current office).
MCEA provided consultancy to organizations like:
Sandoz Pakistan Jamshoro, Agriculture University Faisalabad, Johnson & Johnson Pakistan, Iqbal Silk Mills, Agha Khan Hospital etc.
He launched Maymar housing project with fully automation with introducing GIS (Geographical Information System) and implemented for his project. He purchased very expensive images from SUPARCO to designed drip elevation in Maymar project with the help of his civil engineering expertise. He used total fiber optic connectivity and ISDN technology for whole project.
Beside those, he also remain involved in consulting bungalows, flat sites and got the credit to provide consultancy in development of Model and Agriculture Villages in accordance with the government in all over Sindh Pakistan. Maymar Housing Service Pvt. Ltd
In 1972 company moved towards the construction business, and Maymar Housing Service (Pvt.) Ltd was founded. The first project was Maymar Square FL7 Gulshan-e-Iqbal. It was consisted on around 200 flats; it was a major landmark for MCEA.
In a short span Maymar gave another project viz. Maymarabad consisting 3500 houses at Surjani Town Karachi. It was in accordance with “World Bank” and “Karachi Development Authority”. Maymarabad was small finance project for low-income class. In 1980 MHSL started its mega project with name of Gulshan-e-Maymar which is situated near Gulshan-e-Iqbal on 1,000 acres and have the capacity of 10,000 plots.
In the mean time till 1981 around 18 flat sites have been completed and launched by MHSL.
Now where Maymar is standing is a long way journey, which is based on quality and devotion of Maymar Directors and staff.
Response against the situation created at 9/11 terrorism:
At the time of 9/11 terrorist attack he was in New York and he observed the entire situation by himself. He took very strong action to stand against US blame to Pakistan relating to 9/11 terrorism attempt. With bravery he arranged mega teleconference to spread his voice. He approached the ministers and federal minister for that conference. Among those Lt. General Moin-ud-Din Haider, Dr. Hafeez Sheikh, Dr. Atta-ur-Rehman, and many other ministers in Karachi & Islamabad. He approached Singapore’s minister of intelligence and various intellectuals, he approached other Pakistani intellectual at New York, England and Germany. The teleconference arranged, was among the largest conference to protect Pakistan against terrorism in the history.He collected national and international strength of Pakistan at this conference and about 5000 audience. Through this conference he showed the overall strength of Pakistan. After the 9/11, international media spread very negative image of Islamic countries and Pakistan was one of the effective country. He drew positive image of Pakistan with the help of these strength located all over the world by his mega teleconference in which everyone seen each other and conveyed their message about eliminate terrorism from Pakistan.
References:
[Links last accessed in 2009]
[1] http://www.salaam.co.uk/knowledge/biography/viewentry.php
[6] http://www.pakistanlink.com/headlines.html
[7] Interview with Dr. Zubair Sheikh Head of Computer Department at FAST institute.
[8] Interview with Dr. Syed Zaheer Ali, Brother of Senator Syed Mazhar Ali.
[9] Interview with Dr. Imdad Ismaili, Head of Communication & Technology in Sindh University
[10] Interview with Professor Parkash Lohana, Head of Computer Department at Usman Institute of Technology.
[copied from http://syedmazharalilatebiography.blogspot.com/]
Former Pakistani Senator Mazhar Ali packed many careers and interests into a single life-time: civil engineer, entrepreneur, politician, educationalist and above all philanthropist. He died on 2nd May 2004 as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident near his home in Karachi.Syed Mazhar Ali was born in Delhi in 1935. His grandfather, Moulvi Saeed Ahmed belonged to a distinguished line of Islamic scholars that include Shah Waliullah (1703-1761) amongst their forebears. His grandmother Maseethi Begum was a grand matriarch of a bygone age, who presided over an impressive household in Old Delhi. His father, Major Syed Asghar Ali, served in the education department of the British Army who migrated to Pakistan. His paternal uncle, Syed Safdar Ali, belonged to the early corps of Pakistan's fledgling counter-espionage service. Syed Mazhar Ali's early years were spent in army camps, including Malir, where he distinguished himself in hockey, subsequently representing his province and university in the sport. He obtained a First Class in Civil Engineering from the University of Karachi (1958). He was awarded a Scholarship to Lehigh University, USA, where he completed an MSc in Civil and Structural engineering (1959-61).
Syed Mazhar was the Chairman of Computer Training & Testing Centre Karachi since 1997. He was the founder of the "Pakistan Zindabad Tehreek" and the former Chairman of Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD). He remained associated with the formation of the Sindh Building Control Ordinance, 1979. Construction of 3000 low cost housing units in Surjani Town also goes to his professional credit.
After a few years of employment in architectural practices, he established his own civil engineering company, Maymar. Amongst its projects was the construction of the InterContinental Hotel in Dacca. His astute business sense also led to the acquisition of real estate in the outskirts of Karachi that subsequently became a show-piece town planning venture, 'Gulshan-e-Maymar'. Maymar won awards for the construction of low-cost housing in different parts of Karachi. His professional competence was recognized in his appointment as Chair of the Association of Builders and Developers, and Vice-Chair of the National Housing Authority, Government of Pakistan.
Mazhar Ali found his political sympathies more closely aligned with the Muslim League, and in 1985 he successfully contested a Senate seat in Karachi on the Party's ticket. He was one of the competent technocrats advising the first Nawaz Sharif government (1990 - 1993). His most notable contribution was as dynamic chairman of the Senate 'Resource Mobilisation & Tax Reforms Commission' (1991-1994), championing the introduction of IT to improve tax collection. Mazhar Ali served in the Senate till 1994, and was disappointed for not being given responsibilities commensurate with his experience in the second Nawaz Sharif government (1997-99). He would remark that the Prime Minister was most comfortable with 'yes men' but he was not of that mould.
His reduced political commitments prompted Syed Mazhar Ali to devote more time to another abiding passion: in 1998 he embarked on an ambitious vision to create an IT university in Karachi that could compete with the best in the world. He believed passionately in providing educational opportunities to young Pakistanis and improving the quality of education. Over the next few years, he was to channel a considerable proportion of his own savings to establish the Karachi Institute of Information Technology (KIIT) located in Gulshan-e-Maymar and now offering IT degrees under franchise from the University of Huddersfield. To ensure that the KIIT curriculum was in step with the latest advancements in the field of IT and also that it was in accordance with the requirements of the industry at global level, KIIT entered into an agreement with the School of Computing and Mathematics, University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom, to offer B. Sc. (Hon.) Program. KIIT entered into another agreement with the University of Huddersfield to offer a one year M.Sc/ Postgraduate Diploma in Software Development. As a part of the agreement, the courseware developed by the University of Huddersfield for these programs were made available to the KIIT.
Also the University of Huddersfield provided consulting services to the KIIT in the selection of hardware and software, setting up local area network and the selection of faculty members. To make sure that the level of education being provided at KIIT is at the same level as that of the University of Huddersfield, it helps the KIIT in developing Quality Assurance Procedures. He sincerely hoped that its staff would rise to his vision and work for the development of the nation's human resources. Syed Mazhar Ali's inspiration was the work of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, who through the establishment of the Aligarh Muslim University offered new opportunities to the Muslims of the subcontinent. Established in 1998, Mazhar Ali wanted KIIT to assume the role of a world class IT University to be named as "Jama Al-Asr". Syed Mazhar Ali's mantle at KIIT was taken up by his younger brother, Dr Syed Zahir Ali, who served as its Director.
Syed Mazhar Ali maintained contacts with the political world and was respected by the MQM leadership and the Minister of Interior, Gen. (retd.) Moin Haider (1999-2003), thus occasionally serving as a trusted broker.
He was also the Member, Privatization Committee for PTCL and the Vice-chairman, National Housing Authority, GOP. He held many responsibilities for e-governance project of the Federal Government, member Board of Directors PTCL, Chairman Think Tank of PTCL, member Sindh IT Board, Member governing Body, Karachi Development Authority (KDA) and holding senior position in various government and private sector organizations and forum. Syed Mazhar Ali was a charismatic personality and will be long-remembered by all those who had the privilege of working with him for his warmth, honesty and sincerity. It was only after his death, when closing his financial affairs that his family came to realize the extent of his quiet acts of charity and support to the needy. His wife Azra brought him life-long comfort and companionship. He also leaves a son, Syed Amir Ali and two daughters, Mona and Seher.
"Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un. From Allah we come and unto Him we shall return."
PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTCS
SELF- CONFIDENCE
Syed Mazhar Ali maintained contacts with the political world and was respected by the MQM leadership and the Minister of Interior, Gen. (retd.) Moin Haider (1999-2003), thus occasionally serving as a trusted broker.
He was also the Member, Privatization Committee for PTCL and the Vice-chairman, National Housing Authority, GOP. He held many responsibilities for e-governance project of the Federal Government, member Board of Directors PTCL, Chairman Think Tank of PTCL, member Sindh IT Board, Member governing Body, Karachi Development Authority (KDA) and holding senior position in various government and private sector organizations and forum. Syed Mazhar Ali was a charismatic personality and will be long-remembered by all those who had the privilege of working with him for his warmth, honesty and sincerity. It was only after his death, when closing his financial affairs that his family came to realize the extent of his quiet acts of charity and support to the needy. His wife Azra brought him life-long comfort and companionship. He also leaves a son, Syed Amir Ali and two daughters, Mona and Seher.
"Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un. From Allah we come and unto Him we shall return."
PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTCS
SELF- CONFIDENCE
Dr. Abdul Wahab, former Director of IBA and Vice Chancellor of University of Karachi, Paid tributes to the efforts of Syed Mazhar Ali as the Chairman KIIT for the promotion of IT education in Pakistan, Dr. Abdul Wahab said that Syed Mazhar Ali enjoys the reputation of getting things done and he has the confidence that the Jama Al-Asr which is in its formative stage would be one of the leading university not only in Pakistan but on the map of the world education.
HUMILITY
He was very fond of eating good foods and at each Wednesday in KIIT all employees of KIIT get-together for a lunch with him. Lunches were always of different variety of many delicious dishes. He weekly met all his employees personally in lunches in a humble way and having a down-to-earth attitude to each one.
HONESTY & TRUSTWORTHINESS
Referring to the expertise Pakistan has gained in the field of Information Technology; he said that this facility is not being implemented to bring e-government and automation in the public sector organizations. He said that automation could reduce the nuisance of manual handling in public dealing organizations like KDA, LDA or CDA. However the application of automation would hit the vested interests and that is the reason the corrupt are not willing to facilitate the people. Citing the example, he said, that approval of different requirement from development authorities or building control authorities take more than two years which on one hand hampers the economic growth of urban areas and on the other hand forces people to go for illegal options. He said that there is tremendous scope for employment of existing and forthcoming IT graduates if the government allows speedy automation of the public sector organizations.
PASSIONATE
HUMILITY
He was very fond of eating good foods and at each Wednesday in KIIT all employees of KIIT get-together for a lunch with him. Lunches were always of different variety of many delicious dishes. He weekly met all his employees personally in lunches in a humble way and having a down-to-earth attitude to each one.
HONESTY & TRUSTWORTHINESS
Referring to the expertise Pakistan has gained in the field of Information Technology; he said that this facility is not being implemented to bring e-government and automation in the public sector organizations. He said that automation could reduce the nuisance of manual handling in public dealing organizations like KDA, LDA or CDA. However the application of automation would hit the vested interests and that is the reason the corrupt are not willing to facilitate the people. Citing the example, he said, that approval of different requirement from development authorities or building control authorities take more than two years which on one hand hampers the economic growth of urban areas and on the other hand forces people to go for illegal options. He said that there is tremendous scope for employment of existing and forthcoming IT graduates if the government allows speedy automation of the public sector organizations.
PASSIONATE
Syed Mazhar Ali while talking to media said to see Pakistan as a leader on the world IT map and to serve to soil of this country has always been his obsession. We don't compromise on the quality of education irrespective to the cost we have to pay for that. He said that he has spent his life time earnings and sacrificed his living style just for the love of this land. He further said that KIIT aims to produce IT trained professionals who will contribute towards the national image building and the nation's prosperity. His vision for KIIT that it will act as a beacon for professional education for others to follow.
TOLERANCE FOR FRUSTRATION
TOLERANCE FOR FRUSTRATION
He regretted that vitally needed automation in the public sector organizations was moving at snail's pace which indicates the lack of interest in the lethargic crop of the bureaucrats in Pakistan.
FARSIGHTEDNESS
FARSIGHTEDNESS
The need for setting up a centre for quality education was felt in the backdrop of the demand and supply of IT graduates in Pakistan. The past studies in Pakistan showed that against the need of some 3000 IT graduates per year only 900 graduates were being produced from the existing institutions during 1998. In addition to 900 IT graduates, from the State and Private institutions, through one year Diploma programs and Vendor Certification institutes e.g., Microsoft, Novell, Oracle etc. about 2000 IT professionals were also being produced in Pakistan. Despite the fact that supply position of IT graduates from IT institutes has improved considerably during last three years yet the demand has increased at a much faster pace. The current local demand of IT graduates is estimated to be around 8000 annually while annul output is about 5000 only. Due to this gap in demand and supply of the IT professionals, country was in need of more education centers to meet the deficit. The arrival of KIIT is certainly a significant move to fill in the gap.
LEADERSHIP SKILLS
CHARISMATIC
Syed Mazhar Ali was a charismatic personality and will be long-remembered by all those who had the privilege of working with him for his warmth, honesty and sincerity. His humbleness always touched the hearts of many people of all walks of life whoever met him once. Each employee was very much attached to his generosity and worked passionately as a family member.
TRANSFORMATIONAL
At the time of inception of KIIT in 1998 there were only 8 universities/institutes providing IT undergraduate programs in Karachi. Whereas due to growing popularity of IT education the number of IT institutes providing undergraduates and graduate IT programs has exploded to about 33 such institutes. Many of these have links with some dubious, so called foreign universities, whereas despite having links with British universities many other such institutes are deceiving the students by admitting them with O levels into the three year degree programs instead of the prescribed A levels which is in contravention of the normal UK university admission requirements.
In the face of these conditions, due to the quality of its faculty, the IT infrastructure, internet and library resources and above all state-of-the-art curriculum and the strict quality assurance procedures, in a short span of three years KIIT has gained the reputation of a quality IT institute in the country.
Syed Mazhar Ali said that currently, KIIT has the strongest faculty with 8 Ph.Ds. in computer science and 8 more doctors are due to join shortly to give a unique status to this forthcoming university in Pakistan.
CREATING PEOPLE’s AWARENESS
LEADERSHIP SKILLS
CHARISMATIC
Syed Mazhar Ali was a charismatic personality and will be long-remembered by all those who had the privilege of working with him for his warmth, honesty and sincerity. His humbleness always touched the hearts of many people of all walks of life whoever met him once. Each employee was very much attached to his generosity and worked passionately as a family member.
TRANSFORMATIONAL
At the time of inception of KIIT in 1998 there were only 8 universities/institutes providing IT undergraduate programs in Karachi. Whereas due to growing popularity of IT education the number of IT institutes providing undergraduates and graduate IT programs has exploded to about 33 such institutes. Many of these have links with some dubious, so called foreign universities, whereas despite having links with British universities many other such institutes are deceiving the students by admitting them with O levels into the three year degree programs instead of the prescribed A levels which is in contravention of the normal UK university admission requirements.
In the face of these conditions, due to the quality of its faculty, the IT infrastructure, internet and library resources and above all state-of-the-art curriculum and the strict quality assurance procedures, in a short span of three years KIIT has gained the reputation of a quality IT institute in the country.
Syed Mazhar Ali said that currently, KIIT has the strongest faculty with 8 Ph.Ds. in computer science and 8 more doctors are due to join shortly to give a unique status to this forthcoming university in Pakistan.
CREATING PEOPLE’s AWARENESS
Through holding regular seminars on current IT topics and inviting industry leaders and government functionaries the elite of the country whose opinion counts, have come to know about the quality education being provided at KIIT. In addition, KIIT is also providing IT awareness courses to the high government officials of the province of Sindh.
CREATIVITY
Syed Mazhar Ali having a country-wide reputation for giving quality projects in the field of construction industry has maintained the legacy in the field of education also.
He believed that nature is kind to Pakistan and has gifted plenty of resources in different forms but we failed to make best use of these resources.
Having a picturesque surrounding, Jama Al-Asr, presently KIIT, is located at "Gulshan-e-Maymar", an island of peace within the city of Karachi which is now known for its polluted environment, due to traffic noise, smoke emitting vehicles and law and order hazards. When grown to its full bloom, days are not far away when Pakistanis could mention the name of this world class university to compete with any foreign university.
Giving the background of the selection of title of Jama Al-Asr for the University, Dr. Abdul Wahab said that a meeting of the senior educationists, citizens and other opinion leaders was invited to suggest the name of the forthcoming university. The meeting was proceeded with the recitation of Soorah "Al-Asr" from the Holy Quran. On pointation of Mr. Hamid Ahmed, Executive Director of KIIT, the participants unanimously agreed to take
Al-Asr as the name of the University. He made it clear that it was not inspired from Jama Al-Azhar of Cairo.
Syed Mazhar Ali said that KIIT believes in continuous grooming of faculty. In this regard KIIT offers excellent opportunity of research and development to its faculty. Due to an active and interactive environment at KIIT the faculty at KIIT has been very actively involved in national and international seminars, workshops and conferences. There is a long list of consulting and development projects that are being carried out by the faculty successfully. Also the students under the supervision of faculty are carrying out a number of industrial software development projects.
When asked about the difference between KIIT and other IT institutes, he said one of the glaring example is our emphasis on research to keep our faculty abreast with the latest global changes taking place in the IT sector. We at KIIT spending heavily on research work and on acquiring quality IT experts from foreign universities, so that the graduates we produce could meet the market requirements. He said that some of our graduates have become head of the organizations and playing leading role in the IT sector. That is the difference between KIIT and other IT institutions.
From 1997 to 2000, despite the formation of IT Commission, because lack of commitment of the government not much development took place in the promotion of IT in the country. However, with the appointment of Professor Dr. Attaur Rehman in October 1999, as the Minister of Information Technology/ Telecommunication and Science, required steps for promotion of IT were taken expeditiously and also a large sum of money was allocated for the development of IT in Pakistan.
In April 2000, the IT Commission of Pakistan was assigned the prestigious job of preparation of an IT Policy of Pakistan. The blueprint of IT policy of Pakistan was completed in June 2000 and from July 2000 the government started taking the required steps for promotion of IT in the country. The most important decision of the government was that the government should be a facilitator and concentrate on the provision of infrastructure. The main vehicle of growth shall be the private sector. And in this regard, a number of incentives were provided to the IT sector including the IT institutes in the private sector.
Due to these measures, in the coming years, the software industry in Pakistan is going to be extremely busy in undertaking massive e-government projects. Due to this policy along with the creation of additional jobs for the IT industry the government itself will require large number of IT graduates for the maintenance and running of the e-governance systems. Despite the large number of IT institutes, which have sprouted in the last three years that demand for quality IT education that continues to grow, says Mazhar.
He regretted that vitally needed automation in the public sector organizations was moving at snail's pace which indicates the lack of interest in the lethargic crop of the bureaucrats in Pakistan.
The main problem of the institutions owned by the State is their very low level of funding and the rigid fee structures. For instance, in some universities the tuition fee is only about 5 pounds per year. Due to the inadequate resources at the disposal of the State institutions, the quality of their faculty has rapidly gone down, the availability of technical books and journals is minimal and their hardware and software is antiquated. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that most of their curricula have remained unchanged for the last 8 to 10 years.
In addition as a result of the increase in the requirement of trained computer science graduates, a growing number of dubious private institutions have sprung up which claim to have links with foreign universities. These institutions, some of which are even called Universities, are located in residential houses, which are unsuitable for education environment. Because of the desire of the students to acquire foreign degrees, these institutions, with false promises and deceit, were able to attract a large number of students. However, the facilities provided by them including the caliber of the faculty, availability of suitable computer Labs and library facilities etc are not up to the required standards. The caliber of graduates from these institutions is therefore so poor that it does not come up to the requirement of the industry. Consequently, a large number of these institutions are no longer considered suitable for providing quality IT education. Hence the students are getting wiser and trying to avoid these institutions and instead select the IT institutions which providing quality IT education. In view of the problems of the state institutions and the low caliber of IT institutions being set up in the private sector, there is therefore an urgent demand of quality IT institutes in the private sector with links to establish foreign IT institutes.
CREATIVITY
Syed Mazhar Ali having a country-wide reputation for giving quality projects in the field of construction industry has maintained the legacy in the field of education also.
He believed that nature is kind to Pakistan and has gifted plenty of resources in different forms but we failed to make best use of these resources.
Having a picturesque surrounding, Jama Al-Asr, presently KIIT, is located at "Gulshan-e-Maymar", an island of peace within the city of Karachi which is now known for its polluted environment, due to traffic noise, smoke emitting vehicles and law and order hazards. When grown to its full bloom, days are not far away when Pakistanis could mention the name of this world class university to compete with any foreign university.
Giving the background of the selection of title of Jama Al-Asr for the University, Dr. Abdul Wahab said that a meeting of the senior educationists, citizens and other opinion leaders was invited to suggest the name of the forthcoming university. The meeting was proceeded with the recitation of Soorah "Al-Asr" from the Holy Quran. On pointation of Mr. Hamid Ahmed, Executive Director of KIIT, the participants unanimously agreed to take
Al-Asr as the name of the University. He made it clear that it was not inspired from Jama Al-Azhar of Cairo.
Syed Mazhar Ali said that KIIT believes in continuous grooming of faculty. In this regard KIIT offers excellent opportunity of research and development to its faculty. Due to an active and interactive environment at KIIT the faculty at KIIT has been very actively involved in national and international seminars, workshops and conferences. There is a long list of consulting and development projects that are being carried out by the faculty successfully. Also the students under the supervision of faculty are carrying out a number of industrial software development projects.
When asked about the difference between KIIT and other IT institutes, he said one of the glaring example is our emphasis on research to keep our faculty abreast with the latest global changes taking place in the IT sector. We at KIIT spending heavily on research work and on acquiring quality IT experts from foreign universities, so that the graduates we produce could meet the market requirements. He said that some of our graduates have become head of the organizations and playing leading role in the IT sector. That is the difference between KIIT and other IT institutions.
From 1997 to 2000, despite the formation of IT Commission, because lack of commitment of the government not much development took place in the promotion of IT in the country. However, with the appointment of Professor Dr. Attaur Rehman in October 1999, as the Minister of Information Technology/ Telecommunication and Science, required steps for promotion of IT were taken expeditiously and also a large sum of money was allocated for the development of IT in Pakistan.
In April 2000, the IT Commission of Pakistan was assigned the prestigious job of preparation of an IT Policy of Pakistan. The blueprint of IT policy of Pakistan was completed in June 2000 and from July 2000 the government started taking the required steps for promotion of IT in the country. The most important decision of the government was that the government should be a facilitator and concentrate on the provision of infrastructure. The main vehicle of growth shall be the private sector. And in this regard, a number of incentives were provided to the IT sector including the IT institutes in the private sector.
Due to these measures, in the coming years, the software industry in Pakistan is going to be extremely busy in undertaking massive e-government projects. Due to this policy along with the creation of additional jobs for the IT industry the government itself will require large number of IT graduates for the maintenance and running of the e-governance systems. Despite the large number of IT institutes, which have sprouted in the last three years that demand for quality IT education that continues to grow, says Mazhar.
He regretted that vitally needed automation in the public sector organizations was moving at snail's pace which indicates the lack of interest in the lethargic crop of the bureaucrats in Pakistan.
The main problem of the institutions owned by the State is their very low level of funding and the rigid fee structures. For instance, in some universities the tuition fee is only about 5 pounds per year. Due to the inadequate resources at the disposal of the State institutions, the quality of their faculty has rapidly gone down, the availability of technical books and journals is minimal and their hardware and software is antiquated. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that most of their curricula have remained unchanged for the last 8 to 10 years.
In addition as a result of the increase in the requirement of trained computer science graduates, a growing number of dubious private institutions have sprung up which claim to have links with foreign universities. These institutions, some of which are even called Universities, are located in residential houses, which are unsuitable for education environment. Because of the desire of the students to acquire foreign degrees, these institutions, with false promises and deceit, were able to attract a large number of students. However, the facilities provided by them including the caliber of the faculty, availability of suitable computer Labs and library facilities etc are not up to the required standards. The caliber of graduates from these institutions is therefore so poor that it does not come up to the requirement of the industry. Consequently, a large number of these institutions are no longer considered suitable for providing quality IT education. Hence the students are getting wiser and trying to avoid these institutions and instead select the IT institutions which providing quality IT education. In view of the problems of the state institutions and the low caliber of IT institutions being set up in the private sector, there is therefore an urgent demand of quality IT institutes in the private sector with links to establish foreign IT institutes.
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