ISLAMABAD: Quietly he bowed out. It was an end befitting the quiet and unassuming bureaucrat-turned-writer, Jamil Ahmed, who found literary success just a few years ago.

Author of the ‘The Wandering Falcon’, a collection of short stories, he passed away at the age of 81; his funeral was held on Monday, after which he was buried at the H-8 graveyard.

The retired bureaucrat took the small but flourishing literary world in Pakistan by storm when his collection of short stories, ‘The Wandering Falcon’, was published.

A collection of short stories, the book focuses on a boy, Tor Baz – the black falcon – who wanders between tribes in the remote tribal areas of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan.

The book was published because at the very last moment, Ahmed decided to take part in a short story writing contest.

Author and owner of a bookstore, The Last Word, Aysha Raja, told Dawn that she and others organised a competition for short stories in 2010.

“I still remember that when the script reached us, the last date for the entries had already passed. But the script was so interesting that my colleague, Faiza S. Khan, and I still considered it. Later the book was published from India, United Kingdom and United States,” she said.

Literary figure Asif Farrukhi called the ‘The Wandering Falcon’ an extraordinary piece of research.

“Though I didn’t know him personally, it was easy to see that the writer had a grip on the issues and he knew how to use the words,” he said.

“I wish that he had the time to write more.”

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The tribal areas were well known to Ahmed, who had served there during his career as a bureaucrat.

Javed Masud, his brother, told Dawn that Ahmed visited all of Pakistan and was well versed in the tribes of the area.

“Jamil was chief secretary Balochistan in 1981, when during the local bodies elections, Ziaul Haq and then governor Balochistan instructed him (Jamil) to help their selected candidates win the elections,” he said.

“However, my brother refused to do their bidding due to which he was forced to retire early. I can proudly claim that my brother never got a plot from the government; after his retirement he lived in a rented house,” he said.

“The second phase of his began in 2011, when his work was published and became known the world over,” the brother told Dawn.

The book was short-listed for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature and it won the Shakti Bhatt Award in India.

Ahmed was born in Jalandhar, India (subcontinent) in 1933.

With a judge for a father he lived and studied in many cities though at the time of Partition he was studying in Saint Columba School, Delhi.

“Two years ago he was awarded the Shakti Bhatt Award, which is worth 100,000 Indian rupees. He gave the award money to Saint Columba School Delhi where he had studied,” the brother said.

Within days of independence, the entire family migrated to Pakistan and settled in Lahore, where a young Ahmed studied at the Forman Christian (FC) College.

He then completed a Masters in History from the University of Punjab before joining the civil service in 1954.

He was married to the well-known environmentalist, Helga Ahmed, who has also won an award from the government of Pakistan for her services to the environment. Ahmed also leaves behind two sons and a daughter.

“He spent most of his service years in NWFP (currently Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) as well as working as a political agent in parts of Fata. After retirement, he settled in Islamabad,” the brother told Dawn.

“Jamil used to speak Urdu, English, Punjabi and Pashto,” he added.

Poet Harris Khalique reminisced about the launch of Ahmed’s book in 2011 at Kuch Khas Gallery.

“I had the honour to speak about the book then.

‘The Wandering Falcon’ is a book that stands apart in contemporary Pakistan English fiction. It is an absorbing narration of lives spent along the Durand Line, the Pak-Afghan border,” he said.“His prose is compelling and lucid. His treatment of characters is compassionate and the understanding of cultures sensitive.”

Fauzia Minallah, Ahmed’s daughter-in-law, said that her father-in-law fell down after which his leg was operated upon. “He was bed-ridden for the last six months.”

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2014