Professor Najma Zaheer Baquer Is No More
By Dr Zafar Iqbal
Washington, DC: I have just received the sad news of the passing away of Professor Najma Zaheer Ali Baquer in Delhi on Monday, April 27 th 2020.
She was my senior at the Lucknow University and my first scientific research paper was published with her in an international scientific journal, the Journal of Neurochemistry when she joined the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi where I was a PhD student with Professor G. P. Talwar.
Najma was the daughter of the famous Urdu literary personalities, Razia Sajjad Zaheer and Sajjad Zaheer. My father, Professor Shujaat Ali Sandilvi and Razia Sajjad Zaheer were literary colleagues when the latter was teaching Urdu at the Karamat Husain Girls Degree College, Lucknow. In Delhi, I used to be a regular visitor to Najma’s house where she was living with her parents in Haus Khaas.
Nuzaira and I organized a literary evening in Virginia for her husband, Ali Baquer, when they visited the US in 1996-97. This literary sitting was arranged at Mrs Shahida Kazmi and Izhar Kazmi’s residence and almost all literary personalities in the Washington area attended it. Late Ali Baquer was a well-known Urdu writer and a social worker who ran Concerned Action Now (CAN), an NGO in the field of Disability. Their daughter, Seema Ali Baquer, is carrying on this laudable work.
My last meeting with Najma was in 2014 at her home in Delhi. I am deeply grieved to lose my friend. Inna Lillah-e-wa-inna ilahe rajaoon.
Najma received her BSc from Aligarh Muslim University, MSc, PhD, and DSc from Lucknow University. She did her doctorate receiving a Junior Research Fellowship from the CSIR and later worked as a Senior Research Fellow at Lucknow University and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, with Professors Krishnan and G. P. Talwar, respectively.
After doing research at the Courtauld Institute of Biochemistry, The Middlesex Hospital Medical School, London, the Courtauld Institute of Biochemistry, London, she joined the School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi as an Associate Professor. She retired as the Dean, School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. During her tenure at JNU, she guided over 40 students in getting their PhD degrees. She was awarded numerous scholarships, fellowships, and research grants from the CSIR, ICMR, UGC, DBT, NIH, and various other national and international organizations.
May her soul rest in peace. (Ameen)
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