The twenty-first session of IPS program ‘The Living Scripts’ was held with Shakil Durrani, former chief secretary, NWFP (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Sindh and AJ&K, and Former Federal Secretary and Chairman WAPDA on March 31, 2021.
Narrating his life story, Durrani apprised that he was born in Peshawar soon after the independence and his father was an Army officer who took part in the Kashmir War of 1948.
Speaking of his early life, the speaker said that he got his early education from Edwards College, Peshawar and Lawrence College, Murree, and later on moved to Lahore to pursue his Master’s degree from the University of the Punjab. He said he owed a lot to the missionary schools who helped him a lot not only in academics but also taught him how to lead a good life.
Opening up about his career as a civil servant, the speaker said that he served his first twelve years in former FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) as a political agent. During that time, he shared, the most challenging task was to establish schools, particularly schools for girls, which the local people were resisting. His continuous efforts however resulted in establishing more than 100 schools in different areas of FATA.
Talking about the Tribal areas, Durrani regrated that no Pakistani leader after Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, in his views, was interested in development of FATA, which is why the area has remained so backward and later the whole country had to bear the cost of this neglect in terms of terrorism.
The speaker, who also served as Chief Commissioner of Gilgit-Baltistan, shed light on his contributions in that role as well revealing that it was during his tenure in Gilgit when he started trophy hunting of Markhor and Marco Polo sheep, which were then enlisted as endangered species, but now the population of both the animals was thriving.
Durrani also shared that he started endowment-based community schools under which more than 700 schools were built and they are still functioning in the area.
Talking about his experiences as a chairman of WAPDA, Durrani said that he worked for the up-gradation of Tarbela Dam and also made a feasibility report of Muhamand Dam.
Responding to a question, he said that to become a good officer, one needs to have a good character and courage.
