Abdalians Alumni Home

Saturday, 12 December 2015 18:50

HOBA convened a Special General Meeting on 12-Dec-2015 at the Flashman Hotel on Mall Road, Rawalpindi. It was attended by forty one Abdalians, twenty of whom were life members. The meeting commenced with the recitation of the Holy Quran by Omer Akbar Khan (37th Entry). The President of HOBA, Syed Ashfaq Hussain (11th Entry) gave the background of the meeting saying that it was convened at the request of a number of Abdalians. He then went on to narrate the four agenda points on which voting had to take place. Tari O. Rehman rose on a point of order and told the house that the meeting was being convened by HOBA itself and not at the members request. There is a provision in the articles of association that members may convene a meeting provided 35 members sign for its requisition, but such a requisition has never been received by the Association's management. Despite the ex-Secretary Generals announcements that quorum requirements were not being met for the SGM, the meeting was legal and proper as the minimum number of members required by the bye-laws were present on the occasion. Dr. Babar Zahiruddin acted as the master of the ceremony.

Brig. Noor Uddin Ahmed (9th Entry) responded in the negative to the Presidents claim that the agenda points were placed in the meeting at the recommendation of the Working Group. He said that the Working Group had not recommended for any reduction in membership fees, nor had it suggested that waiver be given to cadets that made them ineligible to vote for one year after they passed out. It appeared that HOBA office bearers had not understood the recommendations of the Working Group Properly.

The President gave an emotional speech, urging Abdalians to get together on one platform and unite. However, he did not tell the audience how this unification could be made possible. During his speech, he kept on mentioning that it was not an easy task to manage the affairs of HOBA. On the other hand, he did not tell the members present about the achievements of HOBA either, nor did he deliberate on the fact as to what had stopped the organization to grow during the last seventeen years. Although the President thanked the ex-Secretary General for his tremendous services during the last seventeen years, there was no mention by him as how how would this position be filled after Mr Nayyar Islam's resignation.

Omer Akbar Khan, who had travelled all the way from Lahore, together with a group of some other dedicated Abdalians. spoke about the general perception about HOBA amongst the Abdalian community. This perception did not augur too well for such a prestigious alumni association and the main reason for that was the exclusion of Abdalians for whom this very organization was formed. HOBA now boasts to have 356 members, including the deceased members, out of something like 6000+ people spread around the world. He was also of the view that reduction in fees will not help to grow the organization, and that donating money was not the real issue. He expanded his opinion by saying that the CCH Endowment Trust Fund had received Rs. 105 million in donations during the last year and a half. To the contrary, the Old Boy's Association did not receive anything worthwhile due to its non-transparent policies.

When Architect Saif Saleem rose to air his views, the clock was striking 5 o'clock in the evening and the hotel management had announced to vacate the hall. Although his initial remarks were very valid and should have been listed to very carefully, an announcement that tea had been served brought the whole meeting to a sudden end. That was the end of the Special General Meeting, which was very poorly conducted. Syed Ijlal Hussain had to individually go to the members present and gave them the ballot papers to vote. The results of the ballot will hopefully be announced soon, although they could have been announced at the spot as the number of votes was only twenty! The community now has to wait further for HOBA's next announcement as to what would be the next step forward.

Senior Abdalians who attended the meeting were Col A Q Khokhar (6th Entry), Brig. Noor Uddin Ahmed (9th Entry), Col Shahid Hameed (1oth Entry), Mr. Adil Khattak (11th Entry), Gen Guftar Shah (11th Entry), Mr. Sikander Khattak (11th Entry), Engr Jameel Malik (11th Entry), Mr. Rashid Aziz (11th Entry), Dr. Babar Zahiruddin (11th Entry) and Mr. Nayyar Islam (15th Entry).