My friend, Khaled

I knew Khaled Ahmed since the day I joined the Civil Service Academy in Lahore where we were both foreign service probationers more than 55 years ago. Before that, he was teaching English Literature at the Government College, Lahore. I taught Mathematics at Punjab University.

At the Civil Service Academy Khaled, Aziz Ahmed Khan and I struck up a close friendship which has lasted throughout our lives. Khaled was a unique personality in the Academy – marked by his impeccable intellectual qualities and by the characteristic shalwar kameez that he insisted on donning during those days. He was known to be an iconoclast but respected as an uncompromising intellectual, forthright in expressing his views and not concerned as to how his readership felt. That remained the hallmark of his writings.

Khaled Ahmed left the service a few years later, and I am happy that he did so as he found his niche in writing, his lifetime passion. He developed such excellence in this domain that he became one of the most well-known and respected Pakistani authors, internationally and in Pakistan.

He was a prolific writer and always expressed his views with clarity and firmness. He was forthright and never tried to bend his words to accommodate the sensitivities of any section of his readership. This was a rare and great quality that I greatly admired. I tried to read him as often as I could.

Khaled was a man of simple habits. He never cared about what he ate. His indulgence was discussion. He never minced his words and was forthright in expressing his views regardless of what others might think or thought. This was a great quality that I admired and keep coming back to. It was refreshing and rewarding to read honest, clearly and forcefully written views. Writers with this quality are always a great asset to their country.

Every country needs this kind of intellectual – forthright and internationally recognised as being honest. Khaled Ahmed was such an intellectual.

He was an utterly honest man in his views and would never compromise on that quality – but was never mean-spirited. He was a prolific writer and I tried to follow him as much as possible. I had my own views and believed in compromise as a means to move forward. We often exchanged different perspectives but he never tried to push his views on others, while expressing them with utter honesty and truthfulness. Men like Khaled Ahmed are a rarity in society and must be respected for their worthy contributions and the truthfulness of their writings.

Khaled was a great intellectual asset of international repute and recognition. He will be missed. Pakistan is intellectually poorer with his departure.

[Note: Khaled Ahmed passed away on November 18].

The writer is a former foreign secretary of Pakistan.