Abdalians Alumni Home

Friday, 26 January 2007 13:27

The Annual General Meeting of the Abdalians' Association and the annual re-union was held on Sunday, 21st January, 2007. This meeting was initially scheduled to be held in December 2006, but had to be delayed on the request of the College administration on account of cadets taking their exams then.

This time around the registration activity took place in Basketball Court No. 1, instead of the usual lawns between the education block and the staff room. The cadets of all six wings had lined up the desks and were busy writing name cards of the old boy's and pinning them on the chests with the usual common pins. Nice biscuits along with tea and coffee was being served on one side, where some old boys were found doing "doubling" in order to revive old memories.

The registration event was followed by a wreath laying ceremony at the grave of Mr. Hugh Catchpole, the founder Principal of Cadet College Hasanabdal. The surroundings were very clean and the President of Abdalians' Association laid a wreath over the grave, followed by a minutes silence as a mark of respect.

This year the attendance by the old boy's was seen to be at its lowest level compared to any previous re-union or AGM. One of the reasons for this low attendance was that many people had in December 2006 attended a farewell dinner in honour of Mr. Dilshad Hussain.

The AGM started with a slight delay in Naeem Hall and hardly the first 10 rows got filled. The younger Abdalians occupied the back rows to give a feeling that the hall was not so empty. Gen Sikander Hayat (2nd from left in the picture) apparently was the senior most old boy in the gathering.

The meeting started with the tilawat of the Holy Quran, followed by the address by the Secretary General, Brig. Noor uddin Ahmed. He read out the minutes of the last AGM which were approved by the house.

Mr. Adnan Afaq, Secretary Finance, then presented the accounts of the financial year ending 30th June, 2006 which were passed by the house unanimously. He also pointed out that the bye-laws of the Association need to be changed as certain provisions were in contravention of the Socities Act, under which the Association is registered. In order for everyone to actually see the accounts, Adnan had placed a board near the stage, and had pasted the accounts quite prominently, so that any one who wanted could read them easily. This was despite the fact, that printed copies of the accounts were available in the hall.

The President of Abdalians' Association, Lt. Gen. Masood Aslam addressed the gathering and thanked the College administration for its efforts and assistance to get the AGM conducted. He specially thanked and mentioned Mr. Shahid Hasan's contribution of making sure to attend every meeting of the Association, driving down from Muzzaffarabad all the way to Islamabad. The AGM was follwed by a sumptuous lunch in the Oval. The menu reminded some of the old boys of their days in the Mess, but this time round the food seemed awfully tasty.

The last event of the day traditionally is a basketball match between the old boy's and the cadets. This year, this event had to be specially arranged, as it was not included in the agenda. Nevertheless, the match did take place and like always, the old boy's beat the cadets by 48 to 12. The cadets also took the match in great spirits and did not mind losing to the old boy's, hoping that they would one day win such a match too.