KARACHI, May 4: ‘Friends of Abdullah’, a group of childhood friends, relatives, bureaucrats, scholars, close associates and admirers of Abdullah J. Memon, paid rich tributes to the services of the late civil servant of high repute at a memorial meeting here on Sunday.

The Vice Chancellor of Sindh University, Prof Mazharul Haque, announced establishment of a chair in the name of Abdullah J. Memon at the Public Administration Department.

Speaking on the occasion, several scholars urged the government to establish an institution of higher education in his name and naming at least one road after him. They said that Mr Memon never bowed to the political or other pressure from any quarter and always followed his conscious while performing duty.

The speakers quoted various occasions where the late bureaucrat, despite working within the corruption-infested system, proved himself an honest person.

Mr Memon held many important positions, including provincial home secretary and commissioner of Hyderabad, and emerged beloved among the people especially the downtrodden, they said, besides rendering selfless services to the state as well as masses.

A former chief justice of Pakistan, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, who had an association with Mr Memon at the Sindh High Court, said that Mr Memon had to retire prematurely as he had refused to compromise on principles. He always worked for the rule of law, he added.

He suggested that Mr Memon’s biography should be written with an aim of making it a guide for young civil servants to work honestly and achieve success in their career.

A Ishrat Hussain, Governor of the State Bank, said that he had had 38 years of association with the late civil servant and found him ‘a man of integrity and principles’.

He said Mr Memon never took short-cuts to climb to a higher position.

A cousin of the late Memon, Senator Nisar A. Memon, said that Abdullah was a self-made man. In his childhood, he used to visit public libraries regularly read books under a street light in the neighbourhood.

Citing an example of Abdullah’s honesty, he said that when he went to Washington to procure wheat, he refused to accept commission as paid by the sellers as a matter of routine. Instead, he insisted on adding more wheat to consume the commission.

Prominent among others who paid homage to the late bureaucrat were Rasool Bakhsh Palijo, Maj-Gen (r) Ozair M. Khan, Ibrahim Joyo, M. H. Panhwar and Agha Shahabuddin.

The memorial meeting was conducted by Mahtab A. Rashdi.