An
Unsung Hero Passes away
By Dr Muhammad Jameel
Karachi, Pakistan
Mohammad Hafeez
Qureshi, HI, SI, passed away in the evening of
Saturday 11 August 2007. He was the Unsung Hero
of Pakistan’s attainment of nuclear capability.
May Allah Grant him Eternal Peace, Ameen.
I knew Hafeez Qureshi since the mid-fifties when
we were both students at the Physics Department
of Karachi University. He partly supported his
studies by working as a motor mechanic. This practicality
distinguished both his personality and his profession
throughout his life. After obtaining his MSc degree,
he joined the Karachi laboratories of the fledgling
Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, which remained
his lifelong career and passion.
When the Lahore Center of the Commission was established
in 1962, he was given the charge to install the
first experimental facility for nuclear physics
research -- a neutron generator. Again at PINSTECH,
he led the establishment of the country’s
first research reactor in the mid-sixties.
In the early seventies, Hafeez Qureshi was entrusted
with spearheading Pakistan’s quest for nuclear
capability. He toiled tirelessly until that dream
turned into reality. His hands-on leadership encompassed
every aspect of the work dealing with technical
design and development.
Always one to share credit for his towering achievements,
his modest self-effacing personality endeared
him to his colleagues and friends. His memory
will long linger with all those who had the good
fortune to know him.
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