QUETTA: Imran Khan, who was in the eight-member scientists’ team which proved Albert Einstein’s theory of gravitational waves after a century, shocking the entire scientific world and opening new doors for research, is the son of a retired army havaldar living in a very old and dilapidated mud house.

“We are very poor and my husband told me when our son was in school that he could not afford his educational expenses with his meagre salary,” Kafal Wara, mother of Mr Khan, told Dawn at their home here on Sunday.

Mr Khan is in Italy, doing his PhD. “I am working with my fellows to carry out more research in my field,” he said while briefly talking by phone.

“We faced the options of meeting our kitchen expenses within the income of my husband or spend his salary on the education of my children,” Ms Wara recalled, adding that she had decided that her children would get education at any cost.

One room in the very small residential quarter was reserved for Imran’s study. The house of mud walls and makeshift roof in the Quetta cantonment area was built during the colonial rule. It is in a very dilapidated condition and there is fear that it may collapse but the family still lives in it because it cannot afford to buy a house.

“The Italian prime minister himself visited the scientific research centre in Italy and met Imran Khan. He said ‘Mr Khan, your achievement is very, very great,’” Ms Wara said, adding that her son made a phone call to inform her of his achievement, which made her cry.

Her husband Ajab Gul, a native of Mardan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who is in late 60s, has studied till class eight. He was recruited in the Pakistan Army as a sepoy and retired as havaldar.

He spent most of his time during his service in Quetta and, therefore, the family decided after his retirement to continue living here so that their children could continue their education. He was allowed to live in the small quarter.

“Another fear troubling me after the retirement of my husband was whether Imran Khan would continue his education,” Ms Wara said, adding that she prayed so that her dream of getting her children educated could be fulfilled.

She fluently speaks her mother tongue Pashto but faces some difficulty in speaking Urdu.

“Imran used to wake up before dawn to study his schoolbooks and I got up to make tea for him,” she said, adding that it was she who carried his schoolbag and took him to the school.

“Yes, I taught my son that he had to make Pakistan proud and see my dream has come true now,” she said with teary eyes.

“My son is also pride of Balochistan because he was born in Quetta and began his education here,” she said.

Mr Khan, who studied in a school in Quetta cantonment and the Federal Government College here, was awarded a scholarship for Bachelors in Telecommunication Engineering at a college in Peshawar in 2011.

He was then offered a scholarship by a Turkey-based institution to pursue an MS in Optoelectronics and Photonics Engineering in 2015.

The Gran Sasso Science Institute provided a chance to Mr Khan to do his PhD.

The eight scientists selected for the gravitational waves research were from different countries, including Italy, China, Pakistan and India. Nergis Mavalvala from Karachi was also in the team.

The team worked at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory and for the first time in the scientific history recorded gravitational waves, about a century after the theory had been enunciated by great scientist Einstein. It was rejected by some scientists at that time because Einstein could not prove the theory.

Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri invited Mr Khan’s family to the CM House and congratulated his parents over the historic achievement of their son.

“I am very thankful to the chief minister, the Balochistan government’s spokesman Anwarul Haq Kakar and others for giving great respect and honour by inviting us to the CM House,” Ajab Gul said.

He said the chief minister had also announced Rs1 million reward for Mr Khan.

The mother said her son was a hardworking person and would do more in his field. “Hard work and prayers never go unrewarded,” she added.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2016