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My Story
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Pakistan Will Surly Sustain & Prevail.
Engr. Khurram Dastgir Khan Federal Commerce Minister
I am not the result of
any sudden spell. It is a long journey spread over years of hard work and that carries pain staking initiatives.
Engr. Khurram Dastgir Khan is Federal
Minister of the Government of Pakistan. He is a well-educated and highly experienced minister who contested from NA-96 Gujranwala and won the general election on the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) ticket. Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan was trained as an engineer at the California Institute of Technology. He holds a degree in Economics from Bowdon College and is a life-member of the Pakistan Engineering Council.Khurram Dastgir Khan also served as Special Assistant to the Prime Minister in October 1999 and led resistance in Gujranwala to the authoritarian rule. He was elected to the National Assembly in 2008 and re-elected in 2013. During the 2008-13 Parliament, Khurram Dastgir Khan earned distinction as Chair of the Standing Committee on Commerce and as a member of the Public Accounts Committee. He also served on the Special Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir, Finance Committee of the National Assembly, Special Committee on Threats to Journalists, and the Standing committee on National Regulation and Services as well the Standing Committee on Millennium Development Goals. The prime minister had assigned an additional responsibility of Parliamentary Business of
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Engr. Khurram Dastgir. He is the only brother of five sisters. Married and blessed with a son and a daughter, the man from Gujranwala surely qualifies to be called a leader . John Milton s words help him steer through the troubled waters of life, and he shares these thoughts of Milton with utmost conviction and commitment: I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and un-breathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary but slinks out of the race, where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat. Assuredly we bring not innocence into the world, we bring impurity much rather; that which purifies us is trial, and trial is by what is contrary. That virtue therefore which is but a youngling in the contemplation of evil, and knows not the utmost that vice promises to her followers, and rejects it, is but a blank virtue, not a pure; her whiteness is but an excremental whiteness. Sharing his views as a politician and then as Pakistan s Federal Minister for Commerce Engr. Khurram Dastgir Khan said that expression will be forceful only of a person, who has been an agent of change himself, wants to share and see his forceful and powerful
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opinion takes effect and is translated too into a reality. And I think this very understanding led me to believe that mine was one of the boldest voices raised against the 1999 coup against General Pervez Musharraf and for democracy. I was appointed Central Joint Secretary and ex-officio member of the Central Working Committee of PML-N in April 2006, and Special Assistant to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at the time of the army takeover in October 1999. I was the one who prepared PML-N s 2007 manifesto. I contested from NA-96 (Gujranwala) on Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ticket. While under the military house-arrest, I raised voice for democracy and when I condemned the coup d etat, the BBC World Service Radio released my statements. After getting elected as Member of the National Assembly (MNA), it was on 24 March 2008 that I moved the first-ever bill of the 13th National Assembly, which in itself was a bold step indeed. Brought up in a learning environment throughout, I was not the result of any sudden spell. It is a long journey spread over years of hard work and that carries painstaking initiatives. My parents have always been supportive to me in all that.
Talking about success he said that integrity is much important for a man to become really successful in life. Integrity is what I actually got from my father as I was blessed with the legacy of my father, Ghulam Dastgir Khan, who won the National Assembly elections in 1977, 1990, 1993 and 1997 apart from serving twice as the Federal Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis and later as Minister for Local Government and Rural Development. It was hard to face a despotic ruler after the 1999 military takeover? Yes, I knew that. It was hard to stand against a despot throughout his tenure, but I can proudly say that I was raised and trained to live every day with courage and boldness through those very (hard) times. I would like to refer to an American humorist, who quotes from King Solomon that this too shall pass . What was the inspiration that you received and from whom? It was my father who preached and told me: Always keep your head above the water. He taught me to stand for the right thing, because nothing is permanent. What remains is the after-glow of scruples followed and self-esteem held high. I also feel greatly indebted to my mother who passed away in December 2008, but her memories form a beautiful rainbow to follow. For once, the habit of reading books is one of the many things that I relate to my mother. One of short quotes that I still live by is: Children do not listen to their parents, they copy them. I was born to a mother who read books without fail. So book-reading constituted part of my everyday life. And I vividly remember the presence of Kulyate-Iqbal in our home even I was just a little child. As I grew up with books I had developed the flair and a passion for writing also. I wrote a lot of articles for Dawn and The Nation aside from book reviews which one can find in the book review tab at the dawn website. Do you argue much with people? No, I don t much like to argue with people. I practice the idea that the best way to get the most out of an argument is to avoid it. However, I get disturbed and feel dragged into an argument when someone negates and belittles the significance of books. However, I hate people saying: Theory is nothing. It is only the practical life that teaches. Or then books have nothing useful to offer. I believe books are a means to learn from others experiences, for the authors have written their own experiences to
let the reader benefit from them. Saleemi Sahib, one of my biology instructors Talking about his academic background he at Hasanabdal, who when asked by a bunch of students to give a guess about what could possibly come in the dress rehearsal examinations, responded: Biology teachers never give hints on the paper, because tomorrow when you become a doctor you ll say to your patient that you had left his illness in choice, and did not prepare. In fact, Cadet College Hasanabdal groomed me into a thorough gentleman and I believe that my stay at Hasanabdal proved to be highly beneficial for me in my practical life. At Bowdon, learning was valued as good in itself, and it was not as a stepping-stone to get a job or anything of the sort. Starting from Gujranwala, I became an Abdalian and afterwards made it to Bowdon and later to Caltech. Before joining UET, I had spent some two months at Government College, Lahore, as well. At the UET, I did not find an environment conducive for learning. I usually draw an analogy that just as in Communism the managers pretend to pay and the workers pretend to work, at UET the teachers pretended to teach us and we pretended to study. Ê So the not-so-good environment forced me to proceed to the said, I received my schooling at Saint Joseph USA. The SAT score helped me a lot due to High School in Gujranwala. I then got selected which I was able to get admission to the to at one of the most Prestigious Institutions Bowdon College at Brunswick, Maine, USA. of Pakistan -- Cadet College Hasanabdal. I Being a private liberal arts college it helped became a part of the 29th entry there and spent me explore my love for arts and crafts. It was five years as part of the Iqbal Wing doing there that learnt French, studied English Matriculation in 1985 and, subsequently, Literature and discovered the Western classic qualifying with FSc (Pre Engineering) in 1987. music and found some exceptional professors Well, I would share a light moment about of economics
My father always preached me to keep my head above the water. He taught me to stand for the right thing.
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The Mind Power Role in Achieving Success in Life
I feel greatly indebted to my mother who passed away in December 2008, but her memories form a beautiful rainbow to follow. The habit of reading books is one of the many things that I relate to my mother.
Bowdon and then moved to California Institute of Technology (Caltech), a more nurturing place and an option worth exercised in a type of student exchange programme offered at Bowdon. Caltech was an old-fashioned place, more humane with a world-class museum, a place you could call more august. I enjoyed unique projects such as manufacturing and microprocessor from scratch. Then I returned to Pakistan and began to take active part in politics.Over the years, I have managed to build my father s business in a different way -- the Real Estate business, being commercial developers. Apart from that I also manage a couple of filling stations. Problems abound and Pakistan is calling for help. I think the real problems must be identified and addressed. For instance, the National Assembly has nothing to say when it comes to FATA because Article 247(3) of the Constitution explicitly states that the parliament cannot legislate for FATA. This contradiction in the Constitution of Pakistan is still there and we are busy in bloodshed. The need of the hour is to tackle it at the legislative front first. In fact it should have been done in the 70s. I feel the odds are daunting as all the contradictions have exploded at once. However, I am optimistic that Pakistan will sustain and prevail for sure. Terrorism is the most challenging problem for Pakistan today, which relates to illiteracy deep down. In all this, the military and theocracy joined hands and it all ended in this fiasco. Pakistani society was thus denied the option to grow on its own. As a result, it failed to evolve. Success Magazine (19)- www.successfoundationpakistan.com
The mind plays an important role in achieving every success and goal, minor, everyday goals, or major goals. To accomplish anything, and to use your mind power, you have to know exactly what it is you want to do. In order to focus your mind on a goal, you need a clear and well defined goal. How do you go about that? 1. First, you have to think and find out what is it that you really want to accomplish or gain. 2. After discovering what you really want to accomplish, you need to come up with a plan for action. All of this requires planning, which means using the power of the mind. 3. After deciding on a goal and coming up with a plan, you need to hold in your mind a clear mental image of your goal. This step requires that you use your imagination, which is another power of the mind. Not everyone can visualize clear mental images, but regular training of the imagination can do wonders. You may, for example, look at photos of what you want to achieve, and then close your eyes, and try to see it in your imagination. This will enhance your visualization ability.At this point, you have to display patience, self-discipline and persistence. 4. Affirmations are another useful mental tool for achieving success. What you affirm sinks into the subconscious mind, becomes part of the subconscious mind, and consequently, affects your behavior and actions. If your affirmations are positive, they lead you to success. 5. You need to be able to transmit your thoughts to other people, who would aid you with your plans. Often, you have to persuade others to invest in your plans or to help you in other ways. You need to be enthusiastic, persuasive, and believe what you are saying, otherwise they won't listen and won't care. To be able to do so, you need some degree ofÊconcentration, the ability to visualize, tact and patience, all being mental skills. 6. MotivationÊis another mental and emotional power that you require for achieving success. How can you achieve anything if you are not motivated enough? To increase your motivation and enthusiasm, think often of your goal, about its advantages and benefits, and how it will change your life. Doing so, will strengthen your motivation.