Prominent Pakistani bankers and economists
Zahid Hussain
Zahid Hussain was the founder and the first governor of the State Bank of Pakistan from June 1948 to July 1953, and
he ranked first on the list of “Prominent Pakistani bankers and
economists.”
From June 1948 to July 1953, Zahid Hussain was the founder and first governor of the State Bank of Pakistan. On
Eid ul Azha in 1893, he was born in Karnal (modern-day Haryana). His parents
were from the Muzaffarnagar District villages of Umarpur and Husainpur (UP). In
his ancestral village of Umarpur, he was taught the Quran. Because of the
family’s frequent relocation, early education was disrupted. Islamia College
Lahore provides an intermediate-level education. Aligarh Muslim University
awarded him a BA and an MA in Economics.
He joined the Indian Audit &
Accounts Service after finishing his education and was posted to Allahabad in
1918. He made a name for himself in the railway industry. Ascended to the
position of Finance Commissioner of Indian Railways. Appointed to various
high-level positions in Army Audit, Finance, and the Chief Commissioner’s
Office in Delhi. He was one of the highest-ranking Muslim officers in the
Indian government. In Hyderabad State, he was also a Finance Member of the
Nizam’s Cabinet. He was appointed Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh University prior
to India’s partition.
In 1947, he was appointed Pakistan’s
first High Commissioner to India. Charged with the tasks of relocating refugees
and transferring assets to Pakistan. He was a close aide to Quaid-e-Azam
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who entrusted him with the task of establishing the State
Bank of Pakistan and appointing him as its first Governor. He drafted
Pakistan’s first Five-Year Plan as the first Chairman of the Planning Board.
Throughout his professional career, he was appointed to various government and
non-profit institutions in various capacities. He was the father of Pakistan’s
Supreme Court Justice (R) Nasir Aslam Zahid.
During
General Ayyub Khan’s regime, Muhammad Shoaib served as Pakistan’s Finance
Minister for eight years (15 November 1958 – 8 June 1962 and 15 December 1962 –
23 March 1965). He was born in Amilo, Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, British India,
in 1907. He had a wife named Iffat Ara. He has a daughter, Nafis Sadik, who has
a long career with the United Nations in the field of ‘Family Planning and
World Population Control.’
He
recalls two reasons. First, the Pakistani economy accelerated from an average
of 3.1 percent growth per year to 5.82 percent growth per year. Despite the
fact that he inherits both political and macroeconomic instability, as well as
a scarcity of resources to meet the needs of the country. Following the
establishment of the State Bank of Pakistan in 1948, a currency dispute between
India and Pakistan erupted in 1949. Until the issue was resolved in mid-1950,
trade relations were strained. Monsoon floods in 1951–52 and 1952–53
exacerbated economic problems, as did disparities in development between East
and West Pakistan.
Under Muhammad Shoaib,
Pakistan’s economy was quickly revitalized, with economic growth averaging 5.82
percent during. Manufacturing growth in Pakistan was 8.51 percent during this
period, far outpacing any other period in Pakistani history. Pakistan
established its first automobile and cement industries, and the government
built several dams (including the Tarbela and Mangla Dams), canals, and power
plants, as well as launching Pakistan’s space program.
Another significant achievement during his tenure was the signing of the Indus Waters
Treaty (IWT) in Karachi on September 19, 1960, by Indian Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistani President Ayyub Khan. The Indus, with its five
major tributary rivers, forms one of the world’s great river systems, as stated
in the treaty. Its annual flow is twice that of the Nile and three times that
of the Tigris and Euphrates combined; it amounts to nearly 170 million
acre-feet, or enough water to submerge the entire state of Texas, or the entire
country of France, to a depth of one foot.
The system’s six major
rivers all originate in the high Himalayas. They flow through the mountains and
hills, fed primarily by melting snow and ice, and into the gently sloping
plains of West Pakistan and northwestern India.
The World Bank Proposal included the following elements:
- The waters of the three Eastern Rivers (Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej)
should be used exclusively by India. - Pakistan should have access to the waters of the three Western
Rivers (Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab). - There should be a transition period during which Pakistan would
build a network of link canals to transfer water from the Western Rivers to
replace irrigation needs in Pakistan that had previously been met by the
Eastern Rivers; and - India should pay the cost of building these replacements.
Muhammad Shoaib has received
widespread criticism for opposing the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission’s
agreement with General Electric of Canada to construct a 137 MW nuclear power
plant in Pakistan. Munir Ahmad Khan (then an IAEA scientist) pleaded with him
for assistance, but his diplomatic decisions caused a significant delay in the
country’s nuclear technology development.
Finance Minister to work as an advisor for the World Bank. He worked for the
World Bank for 20 years, retiring in 1975, and died on May 13, 1976, age of 70.
Nice Article