APROPOS Shazia Hasan’s ‘A Splash of Red on Green’ (Oct 4). It struck me as odd that M. Shafique Ul Huque, team manager of the Bangladesh women’s cricket team, made no mention of the large number of Pakistani friends and classmates with whom he spent five unforgettable years at PAF Public School, Sargodha.

The iconic Mr Hugh Catchpole was the principal when Shafique was at school. Many outstanding military officers, as also brilliant civil servants across the subcontinent had the privilege of being his students.

Even Shafique will not deny that the formative years he spent at Sargodha as Mr Catchpole’s student laid the foundation for him to be who he is today.

Shafique and I joined school together in 1957, and in our final year we were both appointed house captains of our respective houses, Sabre and Fury. While the inter-house rivalry which had always been very intense increased a few notches, so did the bonds of our friendship.

I would like Shafique to know that he has a large number of friends in Pakistan who wish him the very best.

Fond memories of the five years we spent together as boys have not faded, and for us Shafique will forever be a dear friend and a Sargodhian.

Hasan Pervez

Karachi

Published in Dawn, October 7th , 2015

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