KARACHI: Aftab Ghulam Nabi Kazi, a bureaucrat who headed the State Bank and designed a formula for water distribution among the provinces, died in Islamabad after a long illness. He was 97.

Mr Kazi, better known as AGN Kazi, started his career during the British era and held important positions for decades after the creation of Pakistan. His career in civil service spanned almost 50 years.

Born into a family of educationists in 1919, Mr Kazi received his early education in Jamshoro, graduating from the Cathedral and John Connon School. He then went to Mumbai for higher studies, entering the Univer­sity of Bombay in 1937.

AGN Kazi then took the Indian Civil Service examination in 1944 and was among the three Muslims who came through the tough process. The other two were Agha Shahi and Mian Riazuddin Ahmed.

After joining ICS, he served in the Indian states of Bihar and Orissa. He then joined the Sindh government and went on to hold key positions.

After the formation of One Unit in 1955, he was made finance secretary for West Pakistan. Among the top positions in which he served the country during a long, illustrious career were Wapda chairman, secretary general of the Finance Division, chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue, State Bank Governor (1978-86) and deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.

He will be best remembered for thrashing out a formula for allocation of federal funds to the provinces and assessment of royalty due to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for power generated by the Tarbela Dam.

He was appointed adviser to the president on economic affairs after Gen Ziaul Haq imposed martial law in 1977.

Along with Agha Shahi and Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Mr Kazi was a member of the coordination board set up to monitor the country’s nuclear programme.

AGN Kazi was decorated with the awards of Sitara-i-Pakistan and Sitara-i-Khidmat.

He is survived by a daughter and a son.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2016