IBA

The many shades of Saad Aziz

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By Sidrah Roghay

The President of Pakistan, Mamnoon Husain once walked the corridors at the Institute of Business Administration. So did Shaukat Aziz, former Prime Minister of the country, and Asad Umer, former Chief Executive Officer for Engro Companies.

So when only big names and success stories are attached to an educational institute, a terrorism suspect like Saad Aziz strikes shockwaves. And when the act of terrorism is as gruesome as shooting dead a bus full of unarmed Ismaili passengers, or pulling a trigger at an unsuspecting social activist like Sabeen Mahmud—it makes breaking news.

On May 20, at a press conference held by Sindh Chief Minister, Qaim Ali Shah, the names of four alleged terrorists were revealed. The police said that the suspects had confessed to killing social activist Sabeen Mahmud, murdering 45 Ismaili passengers on a bus, grenade attacks on several schools, the attack on an American professor Debra Lobo and aggression against members of the Bohri community.

One of the suspects was Aziz, who graduated from the IBA in 2011. Aziz stood out from the general profile of terrorists. He was not madrassa-educated.

Aziz had done his A Levels from the Lyceum. Before this he studied at the Beaconhouse School System. Born to an affluent family, Aziz lived in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, an upper-middle class locality. His father once worked for the Unilever as a director. He was married, had a child, and owned a profitable high-end restaurant called the Cactus at the Sindh Muslim Cooperative Society.

At the IBA

The general air at the IBA is that of extreme anger at the media. Aziz is innocent until proven guilty; and IBA did not have anything to do with the alleged terrorist.

“The media is being sensationalist. Bad journalism,” said Asma Zubair, a graduate of the IBA.

People who knew Aziz from IBA remember him as a gentle, polite person.

“I met him several times,” said his university colleague. “He was never overtly religious. A very amicable young fellow.”

A teacher who taught him remembered him as someone who did not talk a lot, “But when he asked questions, they were very good sensible questions.”

Dr Huma Baqai, a teacher at the IBA said, “He was a very hardworking child and passed with good grades.”

“It is troubling to know that terrorist thoughts and ideologies have also managed to affect youngsters with good education and decent parentage,” she said.

His close friends chose to keep their lips zipped. Many are angry at the media for probing too much. They believe Aziz is innocent.

Meanwhile, ever since his arrest his friend list on Facebook is reducing every day. People who learn about his alleged crimes are deleting him for fear of being contacted by investigation agencies.

Facebook display picture of Saad Aziz

His restaurant

The Cactus looks deserted, the waiters bored. It is a medium sized restaurant with bright lights and orange walls.

On its Facebook page with 60,000 likes, hate comments are pouring in.

“14 May Ismaili Killing Day”

“Unbelievable a restaurant and terrorism”

“Qatil say gift mang rahe ho shame on you”

The Cactus situated at Sindh Muslim Cooperative Society, where many other cafes are, attracted a decent amount of customers.

It was once called the Kahva. But just before Aziz left IBA he was busy rebranding the family owned restaurant, his friends recall.

He had handed over the restaurant’s social media accounts to a digital media company. “He visited our office a few times to talk about the campaign,” said an employee at the company. “He seemed really nice. None of us can believe the news.”

The journey

The journey from a good student to an alleged terrorist is blurred. There are dots—vague gaps and lots of questions.

A newspaper report alleged that Aziz had become religiously inclined after attending various lectures at the IBA Iqra Society, a student group which organizes events where guest scholars speak about the Muslim way of life.

Many students scoffed at the allegation. “People at the Society are nice, moderately religious people,” said a student.

Another student added that the speakers never preached jihad or extremism.

But ideologies are not just preached through asking students to wage jihad. Take for example the profile of a speaker who addressed students at their Annual Islamic Conference this April.

Adnan Rashid, who calls himself a historian, has a staunch anti-West stance. Posts on his Facebook page denounces the West and blames it for all of the problems the Muslim world has faced. An avid follower of the scholar would come to the conclusion that the West and Muslims are stuck in an eternal clash.

This bifurcation between the West and Muslims, them and us, has been used by religious scholars and political parties to explain much of what is happening in the Muslim world. Simplistic views like the West being responsible for the problems of the Muslim world – these are the ideas that the Salafist thought is based upon.

When such speakers talk to impressionable minds, they are bound to develop a simplistic worldview which looks for the enemy in the West.

Aziz went to Waziristan twice for training. He was responsible for translating Urdu pamphlets into English. And he shot dead Sabeen Mahmud for her campaign against Lal Masjid, stated a report published in Dawn.

In a blog post which appeared in Express Tribune, Aziz’s friend from Lyceum said that as a teenager Aziz never had a close friend circle. “The more I think about it, the more I see how Saad was simply looking for a guiding hand throughout his A’levels, a bag hanging on his back….he remained on the periphery… The extremists may [have been] able to offer him something that our schooling system was unable to: a group of people where we felt valued, where we have purpose,” he wrote.

Amir Rana, director Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank said, “The presence of extremist tendencies in upper middle class and elite classes is not new, however in recent years their numbers have grown.”

Pointing at the growing number of ISIS militants from the West he said, “The Muslim diaspora in the West are familiar with these extremist tendencies.”

Daniel Pearl murderer Omar Saeed Sheikh, Al Qaeda IT expert Naeem Noor Khan, Al Qaeda operative Dr Arshad Waheed, Time Square bombing planner Faisal Shahzad, Danish embassy bombing culprit Hamad Adil, and the hijacker of a navy frigate at Karachi dockyard Owais Jakhrani are just few names, he said.

He added that Aziz belonged to a sleeper cell, “These groups can generate funds through criminal activity and because of their small size. They can sustain their activities on minimal resources.”

And he warned that this is not the only group active in Karachi.

– See more at: http://www.thefridaytimes.com/tft/the-many-shades-of-saad-aziz/#sthash.oBc8xGZ3.dpuf

Want to be the next big thing? Join the IBA

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99718294-mamnoon-hussain shaukat asad

 

 

Karachi

“If you get in, you may become the next president of Pakistan.” Dr Ishrat Husain, the director at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), is thinking of adding this line in the prospectus of one of the most prestigious educational institutions of Karachi. And while Hussain may have said this with a quick laugh, everyone at the IBA is proud of the latest feather in its cap. Mamnoon Hussain, the president-elect of Pakistan who will take charge of his office in about a week’s time, once sat in the same classrooms,where about 2,000 bright, young students, sit now. They might not have the same ambitions, but have all the desire and the abilities to be the leaders in their respective fields once they graduate.

Big names

The next Pakistani president is not the only famous one to have walked the corridors at the IBA. Shaukat Aziz, a former prime minister, and Asad Umar, a former CEO of the Engro Corporation who is now a National Assembly member and perhaps one of the country’s best corporate success story, are also IBA graduates. Year after year, it has churned out eminent stars in every field – from fashion to education to the corporate world. The website boasts of a list of its prominent alumni. Famous fashion designer Amir Adnan, Habib Education Trust CEO Almas Banna and Synergy CEO Ahmed Kapadia are among a few. “They make up only a fraction of our prominent alumni,” says Shahid Shafiq, the alumni’s representative in the IBA board of directors. Though Hussain may not be an IBA graduate himself, he has been the State Bank of Pakistan governor twice. He has been credited with major restructuring at the central bank as well as reforming the country’s banking sector. And despite such a glorious past, he still desires to take the IBA to further heights. “Almost 50 percent of all CEOs in Pakistan are IBA graduates,” boasts Hussain. But women are largely missing from the picture. To this Hussain pauses to ponder. “The glass ceiling [phenomena] is still prevalent in the corporate sector,” he says. “So is the old boys’ network where women feel out of place. The phenomenon is still present even in the developed world.”

High standards

And what makes IBA so successful? Its value chain and strict adherence to standards. “Only the very best make it to the IBA. And we take students only on merit. Even if a [prospective] student is my nephew, he cannot get admission to the IBA [through unfair means] because our results are computer-generated and the admission process goes through the board of directors.” This year around 3,200 students sat for the admission test for the undergraduate Bachelor’s of Business Administration (BBA) programme. Only 300 could pass the rigorous exam. “[Even after admission] if a student,” Hussain explains, “does not maintain 2.2 GPA, he is kept on probation. If he fails to meet the target, he is expelled.” The same standards apply to attendance. “More than four absences in a semester course and you cannot continue.”

IBA of the ’60s

When Aziz and Hussain graduated back in the 1960s, IBA was nothing like it is today. There was no air conditioning. The wooden desks were broken, much like the ones seen in government schools. Sometimes pigeons would make nests at the windows, which nobody cleaned, said Muhammad Ather Rana, a staff member. Today, the IBA has a state of- the-art campus, with air-conditioned classrooms equipped with multimedia, and some even with Wi-Fi connectivity for video conferences.

Self-sufficiency

While other state-run institutions are crumbling under financial burdens, the IBA has managed to stand tall. But it has not always been self-sufficient financially. When Hussain took over as the director in 2008, he had set two goals. “{The] IBA had to be ranked among the top 10 universities in the region and the top 100 in the world,” said the institution’s registrar, Captain Ahmed Zaheer. And so the renovation began. After 1965, not a single block had been added to the building. “If a curtain hung down from its hook, no one bothered to replace it,” said Zaheer. “In short it was much like any other government institution.” But perhaps the standards of education were not compromised. And even for the renovation, the help from its alumni was enormous. And as acknowledgement, their names have been put on the buildings they sponsored.

Great expectations

And what does the IBA expect from the new president? “There is a legislation pending in the assembly. If it is passed, the IBA will become a university and the director will become the vice chancellor. We expect Mamnoon sahib to do us the favour,” Zaheer says.