HYDERABAD, Oct 10: Glowing tribute was paid to Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah for his services to the cause of education and development of Sindhi society at a seminar held here on Monday evening.

Speakers said the late Mustafa Shah worked tirelessly for promoting the quality of leadership among students.

The seminar was held at the Institute of Sindhology.

Sindh University vice-chancellor Mazharul Haq Siddiqui presided over the seminar and prominent intellectual Ibrahim Joyo was the chief guest. Sindh Public Service Commission chairman Mohammad Hassan Bhutto was the guest of honour.

The vice-chancellor recalled his experiences as the federal education secretary when the late Mustafs Shah was the ferderal education minister.

Mr Siddiqui said he had developed a good working relationship with the minister who took bold decisions and stood by whatever he thought was right.

It was generally believed that Mustafa Shah was hot-tempered person, but he said he himself never had any unpleasant experience.

He said that Shah Saheb was never compromise for the sake of political considerations.

Mr Siddiui that it was high time we stop wasting time in expressing remorse on the state of education in Sindh and start working for improving the quality of education.

He said that Shah Saheb felt that nothing could be achieved without education and he gave full freedom to students.

In fact, he said, the late vice-chancellor wanted to see students lead in every field.

Ibrahim Joyo said that the late Ghulam Mustafa Shah considered everyone, whether a Syed or a non-Syed, a member of the Sindhi nation. He had no prejudice on the basis of caste, creed and colour.

He said that Mustafa Shah was a man of action and strong will.

Dawn’s assistant editor Zubeida Mustafa discussed Mustafa Shah’s educational eminence and said that he was qualified and proficient to hold any key position in any institution.

“He had a kind heart behind stern personality”, she said.

Ms Mustafa said that she had been a neighbour of Shah Sahib in Karachi’s KDA area and he never made her feel an outsider in this beautiful land which he loved and she loved too.

Ibrahim Joyo said Mustafa Shah was one of the top three Syeds of Sindh, Shah Lateef, G.M. Syed and he himself, who always worked for the good of Sindh and kept the interests of Sindh uppermost in their minds.

SPSC chairman Mohammad Hassan Bhutto said that Shah Saheb was a multi-dimensional personality and a visionary.

He was an extraordinary man, an excellent teacher, an accomplished scholar, a gifted writer and a tough and intelligent negotiator.

He recalled his association with him when he was appointed as students’ adviser in late 60s and said he had turned tables on his enemies on many occasions.

“I am saying this because I am a witness to the events”, said the SPSC chief, adding that the advice he received from the late Shah on various occasions still guided him.

Dr Suleman Shaikh said: “We are remembering Shah Shaib seven years after his death, at a time when the situation in Sindh is alarming”.

He said that Sindh was passing through a critical phase on its history, without democracy and rights.

He said that the national sovereignty was being subverted by constant influx of people from beyond borders and Sindhi language and literature had been relegated to an inferior status.

Quoting from documents of the Servants of Sindh Society, he said that “our endeavour was to stick to and to preserve Pakistan as a federal state in consonance with principles of the Pakistan Resolution, consisting of autonomous and sovereign states”.

He called for activating the society on the basis of the intellectual will of Sayid Ghulam Mustafa Shah. He also mentioned the great role played by the Sindh Quarterly which served Sindh for 25 years (1973-1998).

He informed the audience how he (Shah) played his role in arranging the International Sachal Congress in 1989 by the Sindh Graduates Association to see that Indian writers attended it for which he had to seek consent of then prime minister to open it.

Shah Latif University’s former vice-chancellor Hameed Sindhi said that Ghulam Mustafa Shah was his mentor and ideal.

He said that he was one of the personalities who would be remembered for centuries.

Sindh coordination secretary Mehtab Akbar Rashdi said that no one could match nationalism of late Ghulam Mustafa Shah.

She said that had the people of Sindh emulated Shah Saheb they would not have faced the present predicament.

She said that he had to leave university when he felt that now students had started dictating terms.

Ms Rashdi described Sindh Quarterly magazine as an effective voice and added that its editorials reflected that Sindh was his beloved.

She said that without education no progress and improvement could be brought about in the Sindhi society.

She said that she remembered his work for emancipation of women and how instrumental he was in the forefront for women empowerment.

She regretted that today people of Sindh did not remember their glorious past.

Dr Rafiq Mustafa Shah, the son of the late Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, announced scholarship and gold medal for the best university students on behalf of his family.

Gul Mohammad Umrani, Prof Aijaz Qureshi, Ghulam Rabbani Agro and Shaukat Shoro also spoke on the occasion.