Aftab Ghulam Nabi Kazi

Aftab Ghulam Nabi Kazi
File:AGN Kazi.jpg Mr. Aftab Ghulam Nabi Kazi in Washington D.C., United States, circa 1960.
Chairman of Pakistan Board of Investment
In office 19 October 1993 – 15 November 1994
President	Farooq Leghari
Prime Minister	Benazir Bhutto
12th Deputy chairman of the Planning Commission (Pakistan)
In office 7 October 1986 – 23 August 1993
President	General Zia-ul-Haq Ghulam Ishaq Khan
Prime Minister	Muhammad Khan Junejo Benazir Bhutto Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi Nawaz Sharif
Preceded by	V.A. Jafary
Succeeded by	Saeed Ahmed Quresh
8h Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan
In office 15 July 1978 – 9 July 1986
President	General Zia-ul-Haq
Chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue (Pakistan)
In office 8 September 1970 – 20 August 1973
President	Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Prime Minister	Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
9th Finance Secretary of Pakistan
In office 8 September 1970 – 20 August 1973
President	Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Prime Minister	Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Personal details
Born	Aftab Ahmad Ghulam Nabi Kazi (1919-11-06) 6 November 1919 Sindh, British Indian Empire
Citizenship	Pakistan
Nationality	Sindhi
Spouse(s)	Zakia Nabi Kazi
Alma mater	University of Bombay
Occupation	Teacher, civil servant

Aftab Ghulam Nabi Kazi (Urdu: آ فتاب غلام نبى كاضى; 6 November 1919 – ) SPk, SK, was a Pakistani statesman during the Cold war and during the post cold war. Kazi was born in Sindh, Bombay Presidency in 1919 to an educationist family of academic class. Kazi started his career in Indian Civil Service in 1944 and served as the Deputy Commissioner of Bihar and Orissa. After independence, Kazi migrated to Pakistan and joined Provincial Government of Sindh, and held vital positions such as Secretary of Finance and Secretary to Governor.

During the early sixties, he was Economic Minister in the Pakistan Embassy to the USA. After a brief stint as Additional Chief Secretary of West Pakistan, he was appointed Chairman of Water and Power Development Authority. In the latter assignment, he was responsible for the completion of the Mangla Dam Project. In March 1969, Kazi was appointed Secretary for Industries and Natural Resources and a year later, he went on to serve as the Finance Secretary, a post he held for over three years until his elevation as Secretary General.

After the power struggle triggered by General Yahya Khan's general election, Zulfikar Bhutto became the new leader of Pakistan. In 1973, Kazi next became Secretary General Finance and Economic Coordination. When Ghulam Ishaq Khan became Finance Minister, Kazi was appointed Economic Advisor to the President in July 1977. In 1978, Kazi was appointed as Governor of State Bank of Pakistan until 1986. The Pakistan State Bank, under Kazi, was characterised by excellent financial discipline in the banking sector coupled with good relations with the Federal Government. Kazi started a career that would last for half a century making him the longest serving civil servant in the history of Pakistan. As a leading civil servant, Kazi passed through several major events in the history of Pakistan, including the removal of Bhutto and the mysterious death of General Zia-ul-Haq. In 1993, he was appointed as the chairman Privatization Commission and was again given the status of a Federal Minister as Chief Executive of the Pakistan Investment Board. In 1994, Kazi retired from office, at the age of 75, and currently leads a quiet retired life in Islamabad.

Early life

Kazi was born into a Sindhi, working-class family consisting of his father KBGN Kazi, an educationist, and his sibling BGN Kazi would later go on to become a senior Jurist at the Federal Islamic Court. The family originated from Sindh, Bombay Presidency, British Indian Empire. His father was a veteran educationist of Sindh who had been bestowed with the honour of MBE by the British Government due to his services to humanity and social development. On the separation of Sindh] from Bombay, Khan Bahadur Ghulam Nabi Kazi was appointed the first Director of Public Instructions Sindh in 1936. Kazi received his education from Jamshoro, Sindh and went on to attend the Cathedral and John Connon School in 1930.

British era:education and academia

After graduating from Cathedral and John Connon School, Kazi went on to attend the University of Bombay in 1937. In 1941, Kazi graduated and gained BS in Statistics, and later went on to gain MSc in Physics and MA in Mathematics from the University of Bombay, and also competed in the Indian Civil Service examination from there in 1944. However, before joining the civil service, Kazi joined the Department of Mathematics of the D. J. Science College, teaching courses in Mathematics and Statistics. In 1944, he was one of the three Muslims selected to the Indian Civil Service along with Agha Shahi and Mian Riazuddin Ahmed. Thus, Kazi started a career that would last for half a century making him the longest serving civil servant in the history of Pakistan.

Civil Service in India

The British Government appointed Kazi as Deputy Commissioner in Bihar and Orissa where he served there until 1947. Kazi was asked by the British Government to stay in India, but he opted for Pakistan after independence in 1947. He arrived in his hometown where he joined the Government of Sindh and held pivotal positions such as Secretary to Governor and Secretary Finance. Keeping with the traditions of all Commonwealth countries the most brilliant and efficient civil servants are assigned to the Ministry of Finance and Mr Kazi proved no exception to this rule.

Senior offices held

After the amalgamation of all provinces in the western wing of the country in 1955, he was appointed Finance Secretary of West Pakistan. In the early sixties he was posted as Economic Minister in the Pakistan Embassy in Washington DC USA where he served until 1965. On his return to Pakistan, he was appointed for a brief period as Additional Chief Secretary (Planning nd Development) West Pakistan and thereafter as Chairman of Pakistan's Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA). It was during his tenure as chairman WAPDA that the Mangla Dam was inaugurated and on this occasion he was awarded the high civil award of Sitara-e-Pakistan. Previously he had also been awarded the Sitara-e-Khidmat. In 1969, he was appointed Secretary for Industries and Natural Resources and a year later as Finance Secretary of the Government of Pakistan. As Secretary Finance he succeeded eminent personalities such as Sir Victor Turner, Abdul Qadir, Mumtaz Hasan, Hafiz Abdul Majid, Mirza Muzaffar Ahmad and Ghulam Ishaq Khan who was subsequently President of Pakistan. He held this pivotal assignment of Finance Secretary of Pakistan during the unfortunate crisis of 1971. In this capacity, he was also Chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue. In 1973, A G N Kazi was assigned the highest grade in the civil service and made Secretary General, Finance and Economic Coordination in which capacity he had to supervise the working of all the economic and planning ministries of the Government of Pakistan. He was appointed Advisor to the President on Economic Affairs in 1977 with the rank of a full Cabinet Minister on the imposition of martial law in July 1977. Thereafter he was appointed Governor of State Bank of Pakistan in 1978. He served in the latter capacity for eight years and this period was characterised by excellent financial discipline in the banking sector coupled with good relations with the federal government. During his tenure as Secretary General Finance, Kazi became involved in securing Pakistan's nuclear capability, along with Agha Shahi and Ghulam Ishaq Khan; the three constituting the co-ordination board to monitor the nuclear program. In 1986, he was appointed Deputy chairman Planning Commission., in which position he remained until 1993 until his induction as the chairman Privatization Commission. In 1993 he was again given the status of a Federal Minister as chairman/Chief Executive of the Pakistan Investment Board.

Retirement

In 1994, A G N Kazi finally retired after fifty long years of service and never took up any regular government assignment. He is a well-respected figure in Pakistan's economic sector having remained at its helm for around three decades, and is well known for his efficiency, integrity and commitment. He currently resides in Islamabad. His wife Zakia died in 2009. He has two children Shahnaz Kazi and Sohail Kazi.

Offices held

Political offices
Preceded by Ghulam Ishaq Khan	Finance Secretary of Pakistan 1970–1973	Succeeded by Abdur Rauf Shaikh
Preceded by S. Osman Ali	Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan 1978–1986	Succeeded by V.A. Jafarey
Preceded by V. A. Jafarey	Deputy Chairman Planning Commission 1986–1993	Succeeded by Saeed Ahmed Qureshi

See also

• Khan Bahadur Ghulam Nabi Kazi
• Allama I. I. Kazi
• Elsa Kazi
• Dr Ali Ahmed S Kazi
• Ahmed Hussain A. Kazi
• Bashir Ghulam Nabi Kazi
• Shaikh Nazrul Bakar
• Mushtak Ali Kazi
• Mutawakkil Kazi
• Ghulam Nabi Kazi
• Sindh