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CHITRAL, July 22: When the sun set on the British Indian Empire in 1947, one Englishman never left.
And nearly 60 years after he first set foot on the subcontinent during World War Two, Major Geoffrey Langlands has no intention of doing so now.
After a teaching career of 67 years dating back to a prep school in south London in 1936, Major Langlands is principal of the Sayurj Public School and College in Chitral, high in the remote Hindu Kush mountains of northern Pakistan.
Now 85, but still sprightly and lucid, Langlands has survived several wars, a kidnapping by a disgruntled politician he describes as “nothing personal” and all the uncertainties of Pakistan’s wildest tribal regions.
He first came to India in 1944 as an officer in the British Indian Army, having served in a commando regiment.
After Pakistan’s independence, he was asked to stay on a year to assist development of a new army.
Instead of heading home after that, he took a teaching post at Pakistan’s most prestigious school, Lahore’s Aitcheson College, where he stayed 25 years.
Major Langlands became headmaster at what he calls Pakistan’s “Eton-Harrow-Winchester” and counts among former pupils a host of political leaders, sportsmen and generals, including Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali and cricket legend Imran Khan.
Years later, he keeps in touch with many former charges. He can always rely on them for a place to stay whenever he travels “down country” from his Himalayan valley, and is not averse to cajoling the wealthier for funds to expand his current school.
He is discreet about former pupils, taking care to stress positive attributes. When asked if Prime Minister Jamali had been a good student, he replied:
“Ah... he was a good person. Jamalis are very good people. They are like the Chitralis — very peaceful people.
“He would talk to anybody, even his biggest opponent, and not only is he prepared to talk to him but go to him to talk,” Major Langlands said of the man who made an ice-breaking phone call to Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee this year, helping ease tensions that had brought the nuclear-armed neighbours close to war.
Mr Langlands lives in North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan, considered a real danger area for Westerners, but has consistently ignored warnings about his safety.
REFUSED TO GO: When a US-led coalition overthrew the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, foreigners were ordered out of Chitral, but Langlands, not for the first time, refused to go, and was backed by the district coordination officer (DCO), the senior district official.
“The superintendent of police went to the DCO and said “Major Langlands is still here and will have to go’,” Langlands recalled. “The DCO said ‘sorry, we can’t spare him’.”
As a compromise, Langlands was given a 24-hour police guard. “But I found that I had to spend more time looking after the police than they did after me,” he joked.
A man of moderate views, Langlands has been dismayed by the upsurge of religious extremism in Pakistan.
“All this is anti-Islam — Islam means peace. They have got to emphasise peace and tolerance and no compulsion in religion.”
He is determined to carry on teaching girls at Sayurj, regardless of any pronouncements by the provincial government, which is made up of hardliners. These people are accused of trying to emulate the Taliban, which banned all female education.
“There is this tremendous desire for education for both boys and girls in Chitral,” he said.
Some provincial government pronouncements, including one banning male tailors from stitching women’s clothing, have baffled Langlands who does not believe them enforceable.
He is optimistic about Pakistan under the current government of President Pervez Musharraf, but added: “Everything in Pakistan will improve, but too slowly.”
Despite all his years in Pakistan, Langlands has never taken up Pakistani citizenship. “I still feel British,” he explained. “I am British and I will remain British.”
He keeps in touch by listening to BBC radio and was delighted recently when a former pupil bought him his first television.
Langlands intends to carry on teaching as long as he is wanted; Chitralis say they don’t know how they will replace him.
“His commitment has been incredible,” said one teaching colleague. “He’s here on his own without his family and a long way from his country — we owe him a great deal.”
Langlands, who never married, goes to England occasionally to see his twin brother who retired 25 years ago, but has no plan to move back — impossible anyway as he has always drawn a modest local salary.
“I like Chitral, everyone is very kind,” he said.
Asked if he would do the same again given the chance, he replied: “Oh yes. I have had a very happy life.”—Reuters
