Syed Ahmed Shah (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Pakistani humorist, writer, broadcaster and diplomat who served as a

Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations The Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations ( ur, ) is Pakistan's diplomatic representative to the United Nations (UN). The permanent Representative ( UN ambassador) is the head of Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the Unite ...

. Born in

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

to a

Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to: * People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir * Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley * Kashmiri language, their language People with the name * Kashmiri Saikia Baruah ...

family, Shah studied at Edwardes Mission School in

and moved to

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

where he studied English literature at the Government College. Shah moved to United Kingdom where he received his

Tripos At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mathe ...

from the Emmanuel College,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

. He returned to Lahore where he taught English at Government College in 1927. He became a prominent part of the Muslim intelligentsia in South Asia. Shah moved to eventually become Director General of

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All ...

in Delhi and then Principal of Government College. He was appointed as the country's envoy to the UN in New York City from 1951 and 1954, followed by the

Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations An under-secretary-general of the United Nations (USG) is a senior official within the United Nations System, normally appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the secretary-general for a renewable term of four years. Under ...

for Information until 1958.

Life

Patras was born in

to a

family (which migrated from

Baramulla Baramulla (), also known as Varmul () in Kashmiri, is a town and a municipality in the Baramulla district in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is also the administrative headquarters of the Baramulla district. It is on the ...

in the 19th century). His mother was of Hindkowan ethnicity. Before settling in Peshawar, his ancestors had migrated to Kashmir from Bukhara. Bokhari received his early education in the city of his birth and in 1916 moved from Islamia College, Peshawar, to attend

Government College, Lahore The Government College University, Lahore (colloquially known as GCU), is a public research university located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Opened as Government College, Lahore, in 1864, it became a university in 2002. Overview In 1864, Go ...

. After completing his master's degree in English he was appointed as a lecturer at the same institution. In 1922, he took his MA in English after just one year's study and stood first, after which he was appointed lecturer. This was his creative period. His bilingual excellence is owed to his intensive translation of great books and plays from English into Urdu. He was tall and blue-eyed, had a razor-sharp mind, an equally sharp tongue, and a keenness to go forward in life. Patras' brother

Zulfiqar Ali Bukhari Zulfiqar Ali Bukhari often abbreviated as Z. A. Bukhari (Urdu:ذوالفقار علی بخاری) (July 6, 1904 – July 12, 1975) was a broadcaster of British India and later Pakistan. He is notoriously remembered for being the reason Bade G ...

was a noted broadcaster in Pakistan. Bokhari left

in 1925 to complete a

in English at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Many years later, the Bokhari English Prize was established there in his honor. In 1927, he returned to Government College, Lahore, and as a professor remained there until 1939. Before the independence of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

in 1947, he was the director general of

. Being a professor of English Literature, he also served as the principal of

from 1947 to 1950. The

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Faiz Ahmed Faiz Faiz Ahmad ''Faiz'' (13 February 1911 – 20 November 1984; Urdu, Punjabi: فیض احمد فیض) was a Pakistani poet, and author of Urdu and Punjabi literature. Faiz was one of the most celebrated Pakistani Urdu writers of his time. Out ...

Noon Meem Rashid Nazar Muhammad Rashed ( ur, ), (1 August 1910 – 9 October 1975) commonly known as Noon Meem Rashed ( ur, ) or N.M. Rashed, was a Pakistani poet of modern Urdu poetry.Kanhaiyalal Kapoor were among his students. He was a member of Prime Minister

Liaquat Ali Khan Liaquat Ali Khan ( ur, ; 1 October 1895 – 16 October 1951), also referred to in Pakistan as ''Quaid-e-Millat'' () or ''Shaheed-e-Millat'' ( ur, lit=Martyr of the Nation, label=none, ), was a Pakistani statesman, lawyer, political theoris ...

's delegation during his visit to the United States in 1950. He drafted the prime minister's speeches and public pronouncements. These have been published in a volume entitled Heart of Asia. It was his close association with Liaquat Ali Khan, which culminated in his posting as Pakistan's permanent representative at the United Nations (1951-1954). From 1954 to 1958 he served as the Undersecretary of the UN, Head of Information. In New York, Bokhari lived in a small house on a small street along the East River. He used four languages at home: the local dialect, Persian, Urdu and Pashto.

Background to Pen Name ''Patras''

Ahmed Shah Bokhari first started using a pen name ''Peter'', in respect of his teacher ''Peter Watkins'', when he wrote in English. In his Urdu writings he used the pen name ''Patras''. According to Khaled Ahmed, ''The House of Patras'' which appeared in The Friday Times, Lahore, on May 13, 1999, Patras is a Persian adaptation of an Arabic rendering of 'Peter'. An extract from Z.A. Bokhari's autobiography about the orientation of ASB's pen name is: "My brother's full name was Pir Syed Ahmed Shah Bokhari. Our headmaster (in Peshawar) Mr. Watkins addressed him by his first name ‘Pir’ but pronounced it as ‘Pierre’ as if it was a French word. Pierre in French stands for Peter, which is Patras in Greek.... As a result of this similarity, my brother took up ‘Patras’ as his pen name".

Contributions

His collection of essays, '' Patras Kay Mazameen (پطرس کے مضامین)'' published in 1927 is said to be an asset in Urdu humor writings. It is undoubtedly one of the finest works in Urdu humor and despite the fact that it was written in first half of twentieth century, it seems to be truly applicable even today. He lived in times of personalities like

Allama Iqbal Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...

and had interacted with him on several occasions and engaged him in philosophical debates. One of his debates with Iqbal led to creation of one of his poems in his book ''Zarb-e-Kaleem''. Ahmed Shah Bokhari was well read in Greek philosophy. He wrote an article ''Ancient Greek Rulers and Their Thinking'' which was published in March 1919 in the ''Kehkashan'' Lahore. He was only 21 at the time. His work at the UN was truly amazing during many years of his service to this body, which was in infancy while Patras worked there. One of his major contributions was fighting the case of UNICEF during meetings which were convened to discuss its closure because apparently it had fulfilled its designated task. Patras argued successfully that UNICEF's need in developing countries is much greater than its role in European countries after second world war. His arguments persuaded even Eleanor Roosevelt to change the stance of her country, United States. His contributions to the UN as a leading diplomat were summed up by Ralph J. Bunche (UN Secretary General and Nobel Peace Laureate) in these words: "Ahmed Bokhari was, in fact, a leader and a philosopher, a savant, indeed, even though not old in years, a sort of elder statesman. His true field of influence was the entire complex of the United Nations family.... He was acutely conscious of the aspirations of people throughout the world for peace, for better standards of life, for freedom and dignity, but no one was more soundly aware than he of the difficulties and obstacles to be overcome in bringing about a broad advance of humankind along these avenues." Bokhari's great work was done at the UN. He said that apart from being as great an internationalist as

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, he was the first advocate of liberation movements in colonized countries across Africa and the Middle East. That credit has been denied him by his countrymen, as they have denied it to Sir Zafralla Khan, though for different reasons.

Death and legacy

In 1923, he married Zubaida Wanchoo, a Punjabi-speaking Kashmiri lady, and daughter of a superintendent of police. They had three children – two sons Mansoor and Haroon, and a daughter Roshan Ara. Roshan Ara died as a child. Patras Bokhari died on December 5, 1958 still serving as a diplomat and is buried in Valhalla Cemetery, New York. A major Pakistani English language newspaper comments about him, "In addition he inspired great devotion and love in his friends, companions and students."

Awards and recognition

*He was appointed a Companion of the

Order of the Indian Empire The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes: #Knight Grand Commander (GCIE) #Knight Commander ( KCIE) #Companion ( CIE) No appoi ...

(CIE) in the 1944 Birthday Honours list. * In October 1998, to mark his birth centenary, the Pakistan Post Office issued a commemorative postage stamp in his honor under the series, "Pioneers of Pakistan". * On 14 August 2003 President of Pakistan,

General Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of th ...

, announced the conferment of Hilal-e-Imtiaz, the country's second highest civilian award, posthumously on Bokhari. This award was formally conferred on 23 March 2004.Profile of Ahmad Shah Patras Bokhari
amazingpakistanis.com website. Retrieved 28 November 2018 *Dr. Anwar Dil, a well known Pakistan writer based in the US published a book on Patras Bokhari in 1998 called "On This Earth Together" in 1998, after 20 years of painstaking research in the US and Pakistan.

Named after him

*The Government of

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

, named a road after him in

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

, in recognition for his contribution towards the freedom of Tunisia from French Colonial Rule in 1956. There is also a road named after him in

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...

, Pakistan. *Government College, Lahore named their auditorium "Bokhari Auditorium" to honour him.

References

External links

Official website

The News International (newspaper), Archived 6 April 2004

Archived Timeline of UN Diplomats from Pakistan {{DEFAULTSORT:Bokhari, Patras 1898 births 1958 deaths Permanent Representatives of Pakistan to the United Nations Pakistani educators Pakistani humorists Pakistani essayists Pakistani scholars Government College University, Lahore alumni Recipients of Hilal-i-Imtiaz Urdu-language humorists Pakistani broadcasters Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire Pakistani people of Kashmiri descent Kashmiri writers People from Peshawar Academic staff of the Government College University, Lahore 20th-century essayists Hindkowan people