The Kurram Agency of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is in the news primarily on account of a spike in the TTP’s wanton attacks against law enforcement cadres. In this atmosphere of sadness, it is heartwarming to come across the life story of a son of the soil who grew up in that enchanting valley just after Pakistan emerged as a new country on the world’s map.
The toddler born into a traditional Pashtun family had to leave the village with his parents, Mohammad Ayub and Feroza, as the former was appointed as Pakistan’s consul general in Mashad, Iran. Young Mahmood Ali Ayub was thus exposed to the outside world that would later become his natural abode. He would comfortably grow in cosmopolitan surroundings as a student and later as a professional. There was something else rather special about Mahmood as he grew from adolescence to adulthood. He always wanted to excel, a trait that left his peers envious and his mentors in awe during his college and university days.
Mahmood’s academic journey took him to Burn Hall School in Abbottabad, Aitchison College in Lahore and finally to Edwardes College in Peshawar, where he graduated. No surprise that he moved on to the historical St Andrews University in Scotland. The author recalls that he joined St Andrews on the recommendation of Lt-Gen Wajid Ali Burki, a renowned ophthalmologist, an alumnus of the university, who happened to be his father’s friend.
Mahmood Ayub recounts that he was fascinated by Marxism in his university days, diametrically opposed to his economics professor, James Nisbet. Mahmood and a group of like-minded students formed a left-wing student group which was “something of a rebellious thorn” in a predominantly right-wing institution. While at St Andrews, Mahmood joined a protest march in Aberdeen against a South Africa vs Scotland rugby game. "The South African team was composed entirely of white players, a clear reflection of the racial segregation under the apartheid regime".
The demonstrators, numbering two hundred, were arrested only to realise that none of them could afford bail money. However, one of the students managed to reach out to John Lennon, the iconic singer and a vocal supporter of civil rights. Lennon paid bail money for all of them, earning their life-long respect and admiration.
Young Mahmood’s activism was not confined to Scotland. “On a couple of occasions, I travelled to Paris to participate in anti-Vietnam War demonstrations. Paris, at the time, was a hotbed of student activism, and I relished the opportunity to engage with leaders from various movements”. Mahmood’s leftist activism did not detract him from the life goals he had set for himself. As often happens in our society, he sat in the CSS examination out of respect for his family and stood second in the highly competitive concourse. What he observed in two months of training for a lifelong career helped him make up his mind to return to Yale to pursue higher studies in economics.
As luck would have it, that short period in Lahore was enough to make up his mind to marry Mansoora Hasan, an upcoming artist known for her appearance in PTV comedy serial ‘Such Gup’ under the supervision of Shoaib and Salima Hashmi. Mansoora would later grow into an accomplished painter with exclusive exhibitions of her works in several countries.
Once back in the US, Mahmood would join the World Bank’s Young Professionals Programme, leading to a long career at the global development institution. Looking back, I can say that his departure from the Pakistan Foreign Service deprived the country of a potentially outstanding diplomat who would have done us proud. In a pleasant coincidence, we met 25 years later while I was posted as ambassador to Senegal and neighbouring countries, and Mahmood Ayub was heading the World Bank’s operations for the area.
Writing has been another passion of Mahmood Ayub. His work in the Caribbean and Bolivia in his early years at the World Bank led to a publication, ‘Determinants of Performance of Public Industrial Enterprises’, coauthored with Sven Hegstad. The book examined the factors that influence the performance of public industrial enterprises and was well received within the World Bank and in academic circles. Mahmood’s next assignment was as chief of the Information and Technology Division to bridge the gap between the operational divisions and the technical teams, facilitating the adoption of technological solutions to improve their efficiency.
Recounting his experience in the Maghreb, Mahmood writes, “I travelled frequently to Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, and apart from learning about each country’s economic and social challenges, I also imbibed their rich cultural heritage”. Mahmood Ayub’s exposure to the Maghreb countries served as a stepping stone to his subsequent assignment as director for Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti, with a base in Cairo, from 2000 to 2005. Following his return from Cairo to Washington, Mahmood Ayub took early retirement from the World Bank to join the UNDP where his former boss Kemal Dervis had taken over as the new administrator. This transition “marked a new chapter in my career, offering fresh challenges and opportunities to contribute to international development efforts in a different capacity".
Mahmood Ayub describes his assignment as UNDP representative to Turkey (now Turkiye) as nothing less than a dream posting. Apart from a professionally fulfilling assignment, he and Mansoora also immersed themselves in the rich cultural heritage of the country, with the added bonus of the proverbial affection of the Turkish people for Pakistan. “One of the true highlights of our time in Turkey was our frequent pilgrimages to Konya, the city that is the resting place of the great Sufi luminary and poet, Maulana Rumi. “Every visit to Rumi’s shrine felt like an invitation to step into another realm, where the poetic verses of mysticism and divine love echoed through the streets and the very air we breathed”.
The writer also admires Hafez Shirazi, the 14th-century Persian Sufi poet whose work is regarded as the pinnacle of Farsi literature. Mahmood found his poetry an inspirational “treasure trove of wisdom and beauty filled with insights that resonate deeply with the human experience". The author was deeply drawn to the work of Hafez during the most challenging phase of his life marked first with the loss of his son at a young age and a few years later by the death of his cherished life partner, Mansoora Hasan.
Full credit to Mahmood Ayub for dedicating his life after tragedy to sharing his knowledge with society by writing a masterpiece on three 20th-century women poets. The book, titled ‘Tragedy and Defiance’, explores the lives and poetry of Sylvia Plath from America, Forugh Farrokhzad from Iran and Perveen Shakir from Pakistan. He writes that “each of these poets faced their own challenges and misfortunes, yet their voices resonate powerfully through their art".
Mahmood Ayub did not stop there and went on to pen his own life story, published this year, which has enabled me to share some remarkable high points of his personal and professional life with the readers.
The writer can be reached at: saeed.saeedk@gmail.com
