Well-wishers fete Akhtar Ali Shah on retirement

PESHAWAR: A group of friends feted one of their chums at a farewell dinner in his honour and also committed themselves to his post-retirement plans.

The Favourite Friends, a group of highly educated professionals, on Friday night gathered at the Services Club to host senior cop, Syed Akhtar Ali Shah, on his retirement after serving for 30 years. The hosts were his friends since long and they had kept their friendship all these years.

Most of his friends who spoke on the occasion praised his qualities of heart and mind and said he strived to retain their friendship despite his busy life.

They all were unanimous in their view that Akhtar Ali Shah would be even more productive in his post-retirement life. They expressed happiness over his commitment to play an active role in their civil society organisations such as the Good Governance Team, Pakhtun Think Tank (PTT) and Favourite Friends Forum. The dinner was attended by a cross-section of professionals, mostly Akhtar Ali Shah’s friends, from the sectors of health, education, media, etc.

Akhtar Ali Shah, who retired from the Police Service of Pakistan in grade-21, has a multi-faceted personality. He served as acting IGP and secretary Home and Tribal Affairs Department and left his mark as a straightforward officer and strategist.

Before joining the police service, Akhtar Ali Shah remained a political activist imbued with the philosophy of Marxism and Pakhtun nationalism.

He used to arrange study circles and remained correspondent of weekly Mahnatkar, Lahore, and wrote for weekly Naqeeb. He also worked on the editorial pages of daily Shahbaz and remained behind bars in 1977 on the allegations of provoking revolution. He has been awarded an honorary doctorate in Peace and Conflict Resolution.

Senior politician, lawyer and former member of the National Assembly, Abdul Lateef Afridi, while sharing his views of the early days of Akhtar Ali Shah, said that he joined his chamber in 1981 after attaining bachelor degree in law (LLB).

He said that Akhtar Ali Shah was a very good junior and even the chief justice at the time valued his legal acumen.

“However, to his bad or good luck, he qualified the competitive examination and joined the police service,” Lateef Afridi recalled. He offered his chamber to the retired cop to resume his legal practice.

Dr Shaukat Amirzada, Dr Abdul Ghafoor, Prof Dr Noor Jehan, and DIG Police Dr Faseehuddin also spoke on the occasion and praised the services of Akhtar Ali Shah both at the operational and policy level.

Paying their tributes, they said that he not only exhibited valour and leadership in the most difficult times during anti-terrorism operations in Swat and Mardan, but also authored documents and brought reforms to the criminal administration justice system.

Speaking on the occasion, Akhtar Ali Shah remarked that looking back to his balance sheet of life he found his friends and his ideology as the greatest of assets to guide him to the right path.

He said that retirement was not an end of life. “For me, it’s only the end to one chapter of life and beginning another one where the ideology for the public good will be my driving force,” he opined.

He also announced launching a society for good governance, which would sensitise the citizens on the issues pertaining to governance and also assessing the benchmarks of good governance.