RASHID - THE YOUNG MAN

As a young man, (see Figure 12) Rashid, after completing Islamiya school, attended Murray College in Sialkot, established as Scotch Mission College by Scottish missionaries, and belonging to the Church of Scotland.  Rashid was enthusiastic about the arts; he loved and studied poetry, he enjoyed sketching and started calligraphy, a passion that would stay with him all his life.

Figure 12   : Rashid, a young 16 year old with the world at his feet (1944)

Murray College was also the place of Study of Mohammed (Allama) Iqbal see Figure 13, the visionary behind the creation of Pakistan, of whose poetic works Rashid was a great fan. For many years after Rashid would recite Allama Iqbal with passion.

Figure 13:   Allama Mohammed Iqbal  revered by Rashid as the ideological founder of Pakistan

At Murray College, Rashid took his Matriculation examinations in 1945 at about the end of the Second World War. He had a strong passion for geography and had a keen interest in international affairs of the time, particularly relating to the British occupation. Throughout his teenage years and early 20s Rashid had collected political cartoons from the late 1800s up to the early 1950s and his collection, well-preserved, now offers a window into the unique political landscape of the time.

Figure 14: Rashid aged 18 (right) standing against the railway carriage at Sialkot station  1945.

Rashid was also an admirer of the Soviet state and had read the works of Lenin and Marx, and post 1945 was very interested in the formation of the post-war Soviet Union emboldened by its victory over Germany. At one time he thought of the Soviets as being potential liberators of British occupation in India.

The other passion Rashid started, which was to stay with him his entire life, was the movies. The young Rashid would always save his paisa (1 rupee = 100 paisa) to go to the cinema in Sialkot to watch the most recent Hollywood movie. Bogart, Cagney and Gable were his favorites, but he loved the Westerns; particularly those featuring John Wayne and Audie Murphy. The well-dressed rogue gentlemen was whom he aspired to be and Rashid formed a very polished sense of style of his own which he would follow for all his life. In addition he also loved the classic Hindi/ Urdu movies of the time, such as Amnol Ghadi, with stars such as Noor Jehan, Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar being his favorites.

Rashid a this time was growing closer to his nephew Yusuf, who despite being a few years younger than him, spent much time with him in these early days in Sialkot, and who later would meet up with him thousands of miles away in Glasgow.

Although Rashid was bright and articulate with aspirations, after completing his studies at Murray College in 1946, he was encouraged by his father to enter into tailoring to support the family business. The family were now wrapping up in Calcutta with the upcoming independence of Pakistan, and starting anew in Sialkot. Rashid entered into training to become a tailor and made many different types of suits and other fine outfits.  His real ambition was to go to university but with limited family funds for education, it was only his older brother Abdul Latif who was afforded this opportunity, and who went on to become a very successful physician and medical professor.

In 1947,  shortly after independence,  Rashid starting working in Sialkot City for Haji Mian Mohammed Din and Company. Din and Company were forestry contractors and general merchants. They were an approved Pakistani government contractor and organizational Rashid worked with them in the Accounts department learning valuable financial and skills.

After two years, in 1949, Rashid moved positions within Din and Company to become an independent agent for supply point refugees, at their Station Supply Department, Jammu & Kashmir Refugee Camp.  He stayed in this role until 1951 when he left shortly after marriage.

Figure 15: Rashid (right) with his best friend and cousin Hamid (1949).

It was shortly after this time that his father Meher Ellahi and mother Hakim Bibi were planning for his wedding. Meher Ellahi had previously arranged (in 1947) with his younger brother Mohammed Sadiq that he was to marry one of his daughters. Mohammed Sadiq had 2 daughters of marrying age; Razia Begum and Sofia Begum.  Razia Begum was chosen for him and her sister Sofia Begum was chosen for Qamar  (son of Mohammed Shifa). In 1951 the two couples were wed It was a joint wedding and the two grooms turned up together to be wed to their two brides, see Figure 16.

Figure 16: The joint marriage of Rashid (right) and Qamar (middle) in 1951. At the back behind both is Hamid (younger brother of Qamar and childhood friend of Rashid). In the foreground to the right in Ashrif (younger brother of Razia)

After marrying Razia, Rashid was offered the position of Accounts Auditor with the Pakistani Military Accounts Department in Kohat, North West Frontier Province, Pakistan. He was providing support to the newly formed Pathan Regiment Corp, of the 16^th Frontier Force on the time.  It meant he would have to leave Sialkot but with the scarcity of work around he agreed and in late 1951 he took the position and moved up to Kohat initially by himself. Shortly after Razia moved up to join him, but then returned to Sialkot to her grooms family as was the tradition of the time.  See Figure 17.

Figure 17: Rashid and Razia  shortly after their marriage (circa 1952)

On the 9^th of February 1952 Shahida was born, Rashids first daughter.  He was delighted. Initially Shahida stayed in Sialkot with Razia but shortly they joined Rashid in Kohat.  The months spent at the garrison of the newly-formed Pathan Regiment Corp in Kohat was a very interesting time for Rashid and opened his perspectives politically. He also gained independence from the family which helped him mature considerably. The financial organization at the Pathan R C was managed by Sultan Ahmed and his team of auditors, see Figure 18.

During the time in Kohat Rashid also made a trip to Karachi to visit his elder brother Latif who had recently graduated from Medical School and was employed as a physician in Karachi. It was shortly after this time that his other older brother Abdul Aziz took up employment in Saudi Arabia for Aramco and left the family for Al-Khobar.

Figure 19: A classic photograph of Rashid (3^rd from left) with older brothers Aziz (left) and Latif (right) and nephew Yusuf standing. Possibly at the beach in Karachi (circa. 1953)

Rashids son Shahbaz was born a year later in Sialkot on the 28^th December, 1953. At this time Rashid was working and spending a considerable amount of time in Kohat and travelled back to Sialkot to join Razia who spent most of her time in her husbands family home in Rangpura. Razia lived in the large family home with Rashids mother Hakim Bibi and father Meher Ellahi and her brother-in-laws and their families.

Rashid had a cousin, Mr Karam Ellahi Moghul, who had earlier made the bold step of coming to Scotland. Mr Moghul was working as a door-to-door salesmen selling what he could to rural areas of Scotland. Rashid received word from Mr Moghul in the summer of 1955 that there was an honest decent wage to be made in Scotland, and that he should make plans to join him there.

After some contemplation, Rashid did indeed make plans to join his cousin.