Faqir Muhammad
Faqir Muhammad (1929–1999) was a teacher and a scholar. He was a first Pakistani who earned his Ph.D in Public Administration from The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs (commonly known as the Maxwell School). It is the public policy school of Syracuse University, in the United States. He was also one of the founders of NIPA National Institute of Public Administration (now National Management College).[1]
Born in Jallander, Eastern Punjab, he migrated to Pakistan after partition of India in 1947. He had to lead a miserable life in newly born state but did not lose heart. He started his career in a low-level position in Board of Education, Lahore. He enhanced his qualifications and was eventually promoted to the position of Superintendent in the same office. He appeared for the examination of Masters degree in Political Science as a private candidate in Punjab University, earning a goldmedal for his high marks.
He was appointed as a lecturer in Karachi University in Karachi, the then capital of Pakistan. There he was successful in getting a scholarship to do his Ph.D from Maxwell School in Syracuse, New York. During his stay in USA, he worked as an intern in the office of Governor Averill Herriman, State of New York, USA. He also interned in the United Nations Secretariat in New York.
Upon completion of his Ph.D, he returned back to Pakistan and was appointed to a position in the Institute of Business and Public Administration (IBPA) in Karachi. The Institute subsequently split into Institute of Business Administration and National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA). After passing a few years in Pakistan, he returned to USA, where he participated in the Senior Scholar Program at the East West Center of University of Hawaii in Honolulu, Hawaii. After one year there, he joined the Office of Secretary General of UN U Thant 3rd Secretary-General of the United Nations (in office November 30, 1961 – December 31, 1971) in New York, USA.
He rose through the professional ranks to become the Director of Public Administration Department in Economic and Social Affairs Council of the UN. He was the Acting Secretary General before retirement in 1993. During his tenure at the United Nations, he also taught graduate courses at the Queens and Brooklyn Colleges of the City University of New York, as an adjunct professor. Upon retirement he moved to Albany, New York to be close to his son's family. He split his time between Albany and Lahore. In Lahore he gave his time to Civil Service Academy. He died in October 1998 in Albany, New York, and was buried there.