Aqeel Memon lived and died peacefully

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Aqeel Memon, the energetic wicketkeeper-batsman of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), may have played just a handful of first-class matches in a long career but he remained extremely popular in the cricket circles due to his gentle mannerism and apolitical nature. Sadly, the gentleman-cricketer is no more. 

He had gone to sleep at his usual hours, even though it was a weekend, but couldn’t wake up the following morning on January 15. A cardiac patient, having suffered a couple of massive heart-attacks earlier, there were hardly any symptoms lately but, as a few of his close friends had realized, he was living on borrowed time. He was 63. 

My last meeting with him had taken place barely a few weeks ago. In fact, he had reconfirmed my cell number as he planned to organize a meetup of cricket friends in the presence of one of his former colleagues at PIA Sports department, Faiz-ul-Hasan, who was coming from USA. 

Aqeel stayed very close to Aziz Memon, the famed entrepreneur and social figure, who’s his cousin. He used to visit the Kings Group head office in Clifton, Karachi, regularly and it was always pleasure to talk to him on matters relating to cricket, which was very dear to his heart. 

Talking about heart, this particular organ of the body was his nemesis as well as of his entire family. His father had perished at the age of 48 due to heart failure while his elder brother breathed his last at the age of 52, also because of cardiac arrest. Despite this family history, Aqeel survived little longer probably due to his athleticism. 

Aziz Memon recalled the moments in the late 1970s when he had introduced Aqeel to the PIA officials who were conducting trials for selecting their Colts outfit, a brainchild of the legendary commentator and writer, Omer Kureishi, who worked there as Director. The PIA selectors were impressed with Aqeel’s skillset behind the stumps and he was chosen in the squad, alongwith Anil Dalpat.

“Aqeel had passion for cricket since childhood and after coming to know about the trials for PIA Colts team he sought my assistance and guidance. The great Omer Kureishi had confided to me that this lad indeed had the talent which itself was quite a compliment in my estimation,” Aziz Memon shared in a brief chat with PNFS.

Another labour of love of Aqeel was the formation of Tapal Cricket Club, which he founded in collaboration with a few like-minded of his like Amin Merchrant, who was later elected at Secretary of the Karachi Club more than one time. Tapal CC, whose primary focus was grooming talented youngsters, has remained one of the leading cricket clubs of Karachi for quite a few decades. 

A large number of Aqeel’s colleagues and contemporaries, including Shoaib Mohammad, Faisal Iqbal and Sajid Khan, have condoled his death on various social media platforms. He has been hailed as a gem of a person who was helpful and trustworthy all along. 

The compliments are so richly deserved because he lived a simple life and was never found engaged in any kind of politicking on or off the field, a rare attribute when confronted by challenges of all kinds. He didn’t believe in harming anyone and neither did he like to become a party to intrigues.

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Aziz Memon pledges Polio-free Pakistan

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

“What greater gift we can give to our community on Independence Day than a polio-free Pakistan? Let’s continue mobilizing all our resources in wiping out this disease as soon as possible.”

This was the message given by Aziz Memon, National Chair for Rotary Polio Plus Committee, on the eve of the 65th Independence Day of Pakistan falling on August 14. 

“Our efforts are yielding results. There were 77 cases of polio on August 14, 2011 which has now been brought down to 28. We have been working with missionary zeal and will work even harder to accomplish our cherished goal of completely wiping out polio from Pakistan,” Aziz Memon, who has been the Governor of Rotary International’s District 3270 covering Pakistan and Afghanistan, stated. 

“Out of the 28 polio cases at present, as many as 20 relate to the regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) while three each are in Sindh and Balochistan and two in Punjab. No case has been reported from Karachi for the last year and a half,” he disclosed.

“Pakistan is making real progress towards eradication of polio. And we have been supported by the celebrities of the highest stature in order to boost interest in the campaigns aimed at ensuring that every child in Pakistan is vaccinated,” Aziz Memon believed. 

He hailed the appointment of Shahid Afridi as Goodwill Ambassador of Rotary, saying that the immense popularity of the celebrated cricketer already worked wonders in the Polio Eradication Campaign. 

“The popularity of enterprising all-round cricketer Shahid Afridi, our Goodwill Ambassador, has proved greatly helpful in raising awareness about the disease of polio in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA in particular,” the Rotary leader remarked. 

“Shahid Afridi has proved helpful in two ways. On the international front he has received more tweets and likes on the social media than any other celebrity associated with Rotary during the past one month while his massive appeal in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA, where polio cases are the highest in the number, has enabled us to raise awareness about polio in these particular areas,” Aziz Memon revealed.

Shahid Afridi, hailing from the Khyber Agency of FATA, had formally joined hands the Rotary International’s National Polio Plus Committee last month, proved instrumental in influencing high-risk groups in the regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA in the July polio vaccination rounds. 

“By joining hands in a noble cause Shahid Afridi has once again proved that he cares for the community. He brings smiles on their faces with his aggressive intent in the cricket field. Now he is proving a real hero by saving the lives of the children,” Aziz Memon reckoned. 

“Shahid Afridi, famous with his nickname of Boom Boom among cricket fans, has given his message in Urdu as well as Pushto, urging the people to cooperate with the vaccination teams so that every child could be administered polio drops without hassles,” the Rotary functionary added. 

“His appearance in the polio ads has earned huge mileage because of immense popularity, particularly in the Pushto-speaking areas. Last year 79% of the polio cases came from Pushtoon families. We are confident that his cricketing credentials will continue coming handy in eradicating polio from this region,” Aziz Memon concluded.

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Shahid Afridi to boost Rotary International’s Polio Eradication Campaign

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Rotary International, one of the leading voluntary service organizations of the world, has been joined by Shahid Khan Afridi, Pakistan’s former captain and one of the most popular cricketers, in the Polio Eradication Campaign.  

The FATA-born Shahid Afridi, who is also famous with his nickname of Boom Boom, has agreed to become a brand ambassador for the Rotary International’s National Polio Plus Committee.

Aziz Memon, Chairman, Rotary International’s National Polio Plus Committee, was excited to have Shahid Afridi, who is the heartthrob of millions of people, on board.

Shahid Afridi, an enterprising all-round cricketer who has remained a crowd-puller all along, has agreed to be a brand ambassador of Rotary International and the formal agreement in this regard will be inked shortly.

“Being ethnic Pashtun, he will be especially instrumental in influencing high-risk groups in the regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) He is a sporting icon who enjoys massive popularity. We are looking forward to roll-out communications campaign prior to the July polio rounds,” Aziz Memon, who has also been the Governor of Rotary International’s District 3270 covering Pakistan and Afghanistan, reckoned.

“By joining hands in a noble cause Shahid Afridi has once again proved that he cares for the community. He brings smiles on their faces with his aggressive intent in the cricket field. He will be featuring in our polio ads free of cost,” Aziz Memon, who himself played the lead role in roping in the dashing cricketer, disclosed.

“We already have had photo-shoots and video recording at a cricket ground in Karachi. Shahid Afridi has given his message in Urdu as well as Pushto, urging the people to cooperate with the vaccination teams so that every child could be administered polio drops without hassles,” the Rotary leader added.

“His appearance in the polio ad will surely get huge mileage because of immense popularity, particularly in the Pushto-speaking areas. Last year 79% of the polio cases came from Pushtoon families. We are confident that Shahid Afridi’s cricketing credentials will come handy in eradicating polio from this region,” Aziz Memon hoped.

“We are trying our level best to eradicate this deadly disease from Pakistan and we are mobilizing all our resources to do it as soon as possible. The Rotarians alongwith all other stake-holders are on board to kick polio out of Pakistan,” he emphasized.

Meanwhile according to the latest Pakistan Polio Eradication Bulletin; published on May 15, no new polio case was reported in the past one week. “As of May 14, 2012, Pakistan has reported a total of 16 polio cases (13 type-1, 2 type-3 & 1 mixture type-1 & 3) from 10 districts/tribal agencies,” it said.

The NIDs have been completed in Killa Abdullah, Pishin and Quetta districts in Balochistan and the second phase of the staggered NIDs was carried out in Peshawar district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where a Vaccination passage, as per short interval additional dose strategy, has also commenced in Nowshera and Lakki Marwat districts.  

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Rotary recognition brings smiles

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

It was quite a big day for me on August 21 as I was presented a Certificate of Excellence by two of the leading Rotary personalities of the country, Aziz Memon and Syed Shahab Balkhi. It was deemed as a great honour for our Rotary Club of Karachi Airport as well.

Obviously every award as a significance of its own but the Rotary recognition is something that’s dearer to the heart because of the noble causes being pursued by this leading international voluntary organization of which I have been a member for the past six years now.

There was even greater pleasure to have received the award from a man called Aziz Memon, who has been one of my role models for the last many years. He was not only responsible for motivating me to join Rotary in 2004 but he has remained an inspiration all along with his deeds and words.

Different people have different reasons to know Aziz Memon because he has been blessed with such a versatile personality and for whom the sun never sets. He starts his day at office before 9 each morning and trust me he has the same energy level when we meet him late at night in various ceremonies.

His time management, besides quite a few other outstanding qualities, is truly incredible and I am sure we need to learn from him. He has set very high standards for himself but most importantly he meets the challenge with a smile.

Aziz Memon had rewritten the Rotary history when he was District Governor in 2007-2008. Now Shahab Balkhi has also taken over the reigns at a historic time, having become the first Governor of the newly founded District 3271, covering Sindh and Balochistan.

The visit of Aziz Memon and Shahab Balkhi to Rangoonwala Community Centre, where Rotary Club of Airports convenes its weekly meetings on Saturdays, on August 21 was a Red Letter Day in the history of our club.

The Club President, Anwar Jabeen Qureshi, was both happy and relieved. So was the Club Secretary, Shah Mohammad Anwar. Both these gentlemen had worked extremely hard to put the acts together in making the necessary arrangements for the visit of the two dignitaries at a rather short notice.

The other members of the club present on the occasion were Abdul Hamid, Mohammad Nazakat Ali, Shamim Khan, Wasim Yousuf, Sameer Baig and Mahmood Nawaz.

Besides the award presentation by Aziz Memon, there was a full board meeting chaired by Shahab Balkhi as it was also the Governor’s Official Visit to the club.

The Governor, who was generous enough to recognize our project of Mobile Library & Resource Centre in his speech in the installation ceremony on July 10, had a lively interactive session and he was thoroughly impressed by the efforts being made by the club.

He agreed that once the pilot project of Mobile Library & Resource Centre became ready our club will be in much better position to seek partner corporate organizations to spread it further.

He was informed that our club will be actively participating in community service by providing equipments to needy schools and colleges, donating books to educational institutions and public libraries, donating sewing machines to needy women, donating equipments to charity hospitals, holding free eye camps and medical clinic and holding career development seminars for youth.

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Aziz Memon: From a Table Tennis Champion to Legendary Rotary Leader

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Aziz Memon, rewrote the history of Rotary during his tenure as the District Governor in 2007-08, is acclaimed as a man with the Midas touch. His accomplishments in the field of business and social sector are truly inspirational. He has proved his mettle in the Rotary arena by setting new records. 

Records are nothing new for Aziz Memon who derives great inspiration by following the sporting events and reading about the success stories of the top athletes of the world. 

Aziz Memon, District Governor, Rotary International, District 3270 (Pakistan and Afghanistan) for 2007-08 has had a great passion for sports from his childhood. In fact he played quite a few games himself and excelled in some of them. 

He was the school champion in table tennis. “Sports is an important part of just about every society, every country, every part of our planet. In one way or another, everyone is involved in sports or some sort, whether they are playing or watching or just knowing someone who does either,” he said in a recent interview. 

“Sports may come in many sizes. And every game has its own charm. Golf is an individual sport. Even though golfers play on the same course, they are really competing against one another only with their scores. Unlike tennis, in which one player must beat the other to finish a match, golf features each player against every other player, with the one who takes the fewest strokes to sink the ball into 18 holes declared the winner,”Aziz Memon pointed out.

“Football, cricket and hockey are team sports. Teams of eleven are off against each other, with team members helping each other to win as a team,” he added.

“Sports bring people together and also set people apart. They bring together in that a team can inspire many fans to cheer for that team. And each team has its own set of fans. So, when two teams compete against each other or two individual athletes go at each other, the fan base is divided in two. Such classic rivalries as Pakistan-India in hockey and Australia-England in cricket can last for decades with fan traditions being passed on from generation to generation,” Aziz Memon emphasized.

Among the famous sports quotes that came readily to his mind were that of Roger Bannister and Mohammad Ali. “Doctors and scientists said that breaking the four-minute mile was impossible, that one would die in the attempt. Thus, when I got up from the track after collapsing at the finish line, I figured I was dead,” Roger Bannister had said after becoming the first person to break the four-minute mile in 1952.

“Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-a desire, a dream, a vision,” were the words of US heavyweight boxer Mohammad Ali.  Aziz Memon also agreed with the observation of sprinter Carl Lewis who once said: “My thoughts before a big race are usually pretty simple. I tell myself: Get out of the blocks, run your race, stay relaxed. If you run your race, you'll win... channel your energy. Focus.”

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