Prof. Ch. Saeed Ahmed - A few thoughts

by Kazi Zulkader Siddiqui, 671/Latif

Choudhry Saeed Ahmed Sahib was also one of the pioneers of Cadet College Petaro. He joined the college in 1960 within a year of its establishment. Thus, he is one of the pillars that built the college.

He was born on 15 April 1929 at Amritsar, and was married to the late Mrs. Fehmida on 22 November 1953. They have two daughters and a son - Nadeem Zaigham (kit no. 808), Ruby and Seemi.

I am sure that most of you will remember Ch. Saeed Ahmed Sahib as the head of the Physics Department at CCP almost all of his nearly 29 years at Petaro. He joined CCP in 1960 and retired from there in 1989.

The young Ch. Saeed Ahmed did his schooling all the way from primary education to Matric at the MAO High School, Amritsar. He completed in Matric in 1945.

Ch. Saeed Ahmed - Feb 2007

In the meantime, an MAO College was also established at Amritsar on the pattern of MAO College, Aligarh, and Ch. Saeed got admission to first year FSc program. He sat for the final FSc exam in summer of 1947. However with the creation of Pakistan in August that year, he moved to Lahore and was unable to get the results. With the chaos of the time, the Punjab University was unable to confirm his result.

Therefore he was forced to sit for the exam once again. He joined Snatham Dharam College in Lahore, which was then renamed as MAO College Lahore and is located near the Secretariat. He sat for the final FSc exam in 1948. He continued on at the same college to get his BA (Physics) degree in 1950 and MSc (Physics) in 1952. The MSc classes were held mostly at the Punjab University but he remained a student of MAO College.

Upon completion of his studies, the Principal of MAO College Lahore Dr. Dilavar Hussain inducted Saeed Sahib as a lecturer at the same college. For nearly 8 years he taught Physics to Intermediate and BSc classes there.

In November 1960, Saeed Sahib was employed as Asst. Professor of Physics at Cadet College Petaro. The rest of his professional career remained linked to Petaro until his retirement in 1989.

Due to his seniority, Saeed Sahib was appointed Head of Dept of Physics at Petaro right from the date he joined the college in 1960. He retained this position until he left in 1989. As an additional charge, he was appointed the Associate House Master of Liaquat House (with Feroz Yusuf Khan Sahib as House Master) in the same year.

In 1965, Saeed Sahib was appointed the House Master of Latif House, a position he retained until 1969. This was the same period that I was also a cadet at Latif House and he took good care of me like he did for all of us in the house. Saeed Sahib was a very successful house master during our time. Latif House had been the youngest of the houses (Iqbal and Qasim Houses were built in 1966 and 1967), and therefore it inherited a mixed bag of students from different houses. It was considered as a pappoo house, always looking only for credits for the Credit Cup.

However, it was to Saeed Sahib's key insight towards selecting students from the incoming new entries that allowed Latif House to rise up to become the Champion House. For the last 3 years of my stay at Petaro as well as the last 3 years of Saeed Sahib's tenure as house master, Latif House retained the Champions Cup consecutively. It became an all-rounder house, being the best in Academics as well as taking many of the sports trophies.  I must say that the credit for this achievement goes to Saeed Sahib.  He made sure that he selected some of the best cadets on both the academic side as well as sports.

During those years, he was also made the Director of Technical Services and later on as Head of the Science Faculty. When Dr. Fazal Mahmood left the college in 1982, Saeed Sahib took on his mantle as Senior House House Master and as Vice Principal of the college.

Upon his retirement as Vice Principal in 1989, Saeed Sahib moved back to Lahore and settled down. During the next five to six years, he worked with various institutions in Lahore but could not settle down to any specific job due to the health of his dear wife, who finally expired in 1995. Since then, he opted to lead a retired life and spend time with his children and grandchildren.

During my years at Petaro, I remember Saeed Sahib with fond memories of a father-like figure. He always depicted a sort of kindness and love that was beyond expression. And when he wrote me an autograph (see above), it struck me that indeed these words were a true reflection of what Saeed Sahib stood for - although he probably had never expressed himself in so many words to us before. Being against malice, and stressing on charity and firmness truly forms the bedrock of success. And Saeed Sahib was successful in that period relying on these very same qualities. He had an uncanny way of expressing himself so quietly, and maintaining discipline within the house.

In recent years, I have had the opportunity of meeting Saeed Sahib a few times. And each time, all I could see were the tears of love in his eyes. He still leads a simple life, and keeps to himself and prays for us.

For those of you who are not aware, he is the father of Nadeem Zaigham (kit no. 808/Latif) who was instrumental in starting Petariantalk. Saeed Sahib now lives in Model Town, Lahore.

Saeed Sb delivered a very passionate speech at the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Cadet College Petaro on 24 February 2007 at Petaro. Please click here to watch the speech.

May Allah grant a long life to Saeed Sahib with health and prosperity!