Omar Asghar Khan

The son of Amina Shamsi and Air Marshal (retd) Mohammad Asghar Khan. Omar started his education from Peshawar Middle School, continuing in Habib Public School, Karachi, when his father retired from the PAF (Pakistan Air Force) and became Chairperson of PIA (Pakistan International Airlines). He completed his schooling in APS (Abbottabad Public School) where he did his FSC. Omar excelled in sports in these institutions; "In his school days he was well-known for his exceptional sporting talents. He captained the school's swimming & hockey."[1] Omar had a lively sense of humour and kind, gentle temperament.

Omar joined the Pakistan Army in 1971 and left it at the rank of a captain in 1973 because of the military action in Baluchistan by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.After leaving the Army, he privately passed his BA from the Peshawar Board and then gained a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Essex, and a M.Phil. in Economics from the University of Cambridge, before returning to Pakistan in 1979. From 1980 to 1983 he taught economics at the University of the Punjab in Lahore. According to Sungi, Omar's popular efforts to promote progressive political thought among students instigated a physical attack on him by the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan student wing, Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba. In 1983, General Zia-ul-Haq's repressive regime ordered Omar's dismissal from the Punjab University.

After his dismissal from the university, Omar joined his father, retired Air Marshal Asghar Khan's political party, the Tehreek-I-Istiqlal. In 1988 and 1990 he lost the national elections. Omar established/conceptualised many social organisations in the country:

• In 1982 he established the Pakistan Institute of Labor Education and Research.
• In 1987 he established SEBCON: Socio-Economic and Business Consultants.
• In 1989 he established the NGO: Sungi Development Foundation.
• In 1998 he conceptualised and initiated the People's Assemblies Process.

According to Professor Pervez Hoodbhoy:

He, (Omar) and the organization he founded, Sungi, stood up resolutely to hostile maulvis opposed to education of girls and against the timber mafia in Hazara. As a member of Pervez Musharraf's cabinet, he was a voice for the poor and disenfranchised. Omar's achievements were extraordinary in a society so hostile to change and forward movement. He succeeded far better than most, with his unique mix of idealism and pragmatism. Many of us have our own reasons for being grateful to Omar. He was an open, caring, and courteous person who I had never seen being rude to anyone. I am deeply grateful to Omar that he encouraged me to speak and write about General Zia's fraudulent Islamic science at the peak of that repressive dictatorship.[2]

Among the major tasks he carried out as the head of Sungi was the fight for the settlement of the affected people of Tarbela Dam. He did a commendable job to stop deforestation in the Hazara division, (hence making an enemy of the timber mafia), and prepared different studies for the most deprived sections of the society, especially women, labourers and farmers.

The target areas of Sungi in the Hazara division were Haripur, Balakot, Kaghan and other far-flung areas, where, on a partnership basis, it developed a chain of small NGOs working in different villages of Hazara. Sungi was awarded the 1996 United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia-Pacific Award for its exemplary work in the field of human resource development.

His works benefited him when Omar joined General Pervaz Musharraf's cabinet as Federal Minister for Environment, Local Government & Rural Development, Labor, Manpower, and Overseas Pakistanis after a bloodless coup in October 1999. According to some circles, the local body's plan was the brainchild of Omar Asghar Khan, who as minister, did the spadework. In his earlier days, he was very close to labour leaders and organisations. His policies in the environmental field went a long way in protecting the environment.

In December 2001, he resigned from the cabinet and launched a new political party, the Qaumi Jamhoori Party, to contest the general elections, but he died on 25 June 2002, before the elections.[3]

Omar's death at the age of 48, (just a week before his 49th birthday), caused severe shock and devastation amongst his supporters. He was found hanging from a ceiling fan at his in-laws' residence in Karachi.[4] Khan's family continues to insist he was murdered, though the authorities still label his death as "not determined".[5][6] His body was flown from Karachi to Islamabad, and then taken to Abbottabad, where he was buried at his family graveyard. His funeral in Abbottabad witnessed an unprecedented number of attendees for that town. He is survived by a widow and three children.

Omar often recited the touching poem of Faiz Ahmad Faiz's "Hum Dekhain Gay", and this became a regular feature of his political "jalsas" and meetings.

• Sungi Home Page
• Battling Against the Power Elite – Omar Asghar Khan, Green Pioneers, un.org.pk
• Profile, Omar Asghar Khan Development Foundation, www.oakdf.org.pk
• Memoriam, Newsline, July 2002, www.newsline.com.pk
• Omar Asghar Khan, the man with a vision, Dawn.com, 26 June 2002
• Kashmir in conflict: India, Pakistan and the unending war, Victoria Schofield, books.google.com
• A twist to the Gilgit Rebellion, 16 February 2006, osmaniac.blogspot.com