LAHORE: Bank of Punjab CEO and President Zafar Masud called his book, Seat 1C: A Survivor’s Tale of Hope, Resilience of Renewal, a labour of love as it is something that he really wanted to do and if he were doing a PhD, he would have come up with similar kind of research thesis.

Masud who survived the crash of a PIA plane in Karachi in 2020 was speaking at the launch of his book at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (Lums) on Friday. The event was moderated by Nofel Daud.

The author said his book was totally focused on learning that came after his experience of the plane crash, adding that he wanted to keep the fictional part of the book to the minimum and focus more on the non-fiction. He went on to say that he bounced back from the tragic experience with the support system and ecosystem around him that helped him to take on his experience head on.

To a question, he said, “as nobody knows what happens after death as nobody comes back to tell about it, the same goes for 30 seconds before death and you really don’t know what happens in those 30 seconds. There are very few people in the world who have actually come back from those 30 seconds and told the tale of what happens before death. I was among the lucky ones who have come back to tell what happens in those 30 seconds.”

Regarding the 10 chapters of the book, Masud told the audience that he did not have any number in mind and it’s just that he was asked to write about his experience and he started writing whatever came to his mind. He said as an amateur writer he had a different structure of the book in mind but it evolved with the passage of time.

Zafar Masud said though writing was a learning experience for him but reading his book after its publication was a greater learning experience, explaining that during the process of writing he had read a lot of books but while reading it, he had to go through a lot of more books. He said he owed a lot to his people, community and society for writing this book.

He said he was going through psychotherapy sessions these days because after publication of the book he needed such sessions more though he had had these sessions after the crash.

Masud said he had a very good working relationship with the editor of his book, Syeda Amna Hasan. He revealed that along with Amna he was working on two more books, one on finance and other on literature and economy.

He said Seat 1C: A Survivor’s Tale of Hope, Resilience of Renewal was being translated into Spanish as well as Chinese language. To the question of citations and references in his book, he said he was a research-oriented person and more so about primary research. He said he had written the book for himself and wanted to come out with a project which he himself wanted to read.

Speaking on the occasion, Lums Vice Chancellor Dr Ali Cheema said Masud’s book proved that he had incredible resilience and a forward-looking approach. He said the author carried dynamism both at the OGDCL and the Bank of Punjab which showed remarkable transformation under his leadership. He called Zafar a polymath who had great insights not only into banking, economy and their deep structural problems besides he had a passion for art and writing.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2025