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Obituary
- DR. ABDUL HAFIZ - (1915-2001)
ABDUL GHAFFAR& ABDUL KAFI*
Dr. Abdul Hafiz , an eminent
agricultural scientist died of heart attack in Karachi on April 8, 2001 and was
buried at Islamabad on April 10, 2001. May God Almighty shower His choicest blessings
upon the departed soul and may his soul rest in peace in heaven. Amen. May God
Almighty also give enough strength to a host of his students, friends, colleagues
and members of his family to bear the loss.
Dr. Abdul Hafiz s/o Ch. Sher
Mohammad was born in Lyallpur on 12 November 1915. He obtained his M.Sc degree
in Agriculture from the University of the Punjab in 1939. Dr. Hafiz was awarded
the degree of Ph.D by the University of the Punjab in 1945 for his work on "Flag
smut of wheat and long smut of sorghum" which he carried out under the supervision
of Dr. Abdus Sattar. At the Imperial College of Science, University of London,
Dr. Abdul Hafiz also worked on the "Basis of resistance in gram to Mycosphaerella
blight" under the supervision of Prof. William Brown and was awarded the
degree of Ph.D. (D.I.C) by the University of London in 1948.
Dr. Abdul Hafiz
served as a Research Officer at the Agriculture College and Research Institute,
Lyallpur (1938-48), Assistant Professor at the Agriculture College and Research
Institute, Lyallpur (1948-53), Plant Pathologist, Department of Plant Protection,
Ministry of Food & Agriculture Government of Pakistan (1953-55), Director,
Food & Agriculture Council of Pakistan and Deputy Agriculture Development
Commissioner, Government of Pakistan (1955-62), Director, FAO Near East Regional
Projection Field Crops at Cairo (1962-82) and Advisor Pakistan Agricultural Research
Council, Islamabad (1982-86).
Dr. Abdul Hafiz carried out pioneering work
of introducing banana, coconut and betel leaf cultivation in Sindh and also large
scale seed treatment for the control of seed borne diseases of crop plants in
1954.
Dr. Abdul Hafiz was a prolific writer. Apart from his scientific research
articles, his books on "Researches on Plant Diseases in the Punjab"
with Dr. Abdus Sattar (1952), A Guide to Plant Disease Control (1955), Fungicides
and Weedicides (1959) and "Plant Diseases" (1986) are extensively used
by the students of plant pathology and research and extension workers related
to agriculture. Dr. Abdul Hafiz served as Editor, Pakistan Agriculture, Islamabad,
Jadid Ziraat, Lahore and continued to write articles in english and urdu dailies.
Dr. Abdul Hafiz was patron of several NGO's including AGRIS and Agricultural Foundation
of Pakistan.
Keeping in view the meritorious services in the field of agricultural
research and development, Dr. Abdul Hafiz was awarded Tamgha-e-Imtiaz by the Government
of Pakistan (1961), Monetary Prize from the Mexican Farmers through FAO for extended
use of HY Varieties of wheat (1971), B.R. Sen Award of FAO for green revolution
in the near East and North African regions (1973), besides a number of Gold Medals
and prizes. Dr. Abdul Hafiz was elected Fellow of Pakistan Academy of Sciences
(1989).
Professor (Retd.), Department
of Botany, University of Karachi, Karachi.
Plant Protection Advisor & Director (Retd.),
Department of Plant Protection, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of
Pakistan, Karachi, Pakistan.
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