he first time I remember seeing Jahangir Khan Tareen, the then chairman of the Provincial Taskforce for Wheat Procurement and Marketing, was in mid-2001. He strolled into the newspaper office of the late Arif Nizami at the Charring Cross, across The Mall from the Assembly Chambers. The two were known to be close friends and in their different ways had been mentors to each other. Nizami, in particular, used to talk quite fondly about his friendship with Tareen. He was also one of his informal political advisors.

Tareen came clad in a cotton kurta-shalwar. He was to speak about his plans for transforming wheat procurement and marketing in the Punjab. As a reporter for The Nation, I was assigned to cover the forum where Tareen had been invited. He looked like a modest person, careful not to show off. He never wore a waistcoat with shalwar kamees. I learnt later that he associated it with ‘status-quo politicians’. When asked by a TV producer to wear a black waistcoat to tone down his jarring white dress, he refused to do so and instead preferred wearing his dark grey coat.

Nizami’s interest in agriculture took him to a visit to the USA in August 2014 where he witnessed modern farming practices from Illinois, Iowa and Missouri besides visiting Washington DC, where he attended presentations by high-ranking USDA officials. He also visited the Monsanto headquarters that housed many high-tech research facilities. Monsanto, a leader in genetic engineering, was later acquired by Bayer.

Tareen was fascinated by the research and development in agriculture and allied fields going on in the United States and Australia. He frequently visited the US where he had studied for an MBA from University of North Carolina.

He had taught at the Punjab University before he become a banker and worked at a multinational financial services giant. He later travelled to Australia thrice to acquaint himself with the best farm practices. This helped him evolve into a truly progressive and innovative farmer and entrepreneur.

Turning to farming, he introduced resource-efficient, high-yielding mango, vegetables, sugarcane, cotton and dairy breeds at his sprawling farms in Lodhran and Rahim Yar Khan in the Punjab and in Ghotki, Sindh. Before venturing into sugar manufacturing, he excelled at beverage company operations.

Tareen is one of the farmers commanding the largest land holdings in the country – exceeding 50,000 acres. He is also the top sugar manufacturer in the country with stakes in as many as five sugar mills. He is also one of the pioneers in power generation from bagasse.

During one of my visits to his farms and sugar mills located in Jamaldin Wali, Rahim Yar Khan, in 2007, we walked through a large compound full of agricultural implements and machinery. Tareen told me that it was perhaps the biggest collection of farm machinery anywhere in the country. Use of mechanised agriculture has helped Tareen reduce the cost of production.

During a similar visit to a sugar mill located in south Punjab in early 2008, Tareen claimed that sucrose recovery at the mill was the highest among all sugar mills in the country. This was remarkable given the fact that sugar contents in sugarcane used to be higher in Sindh. Tareen had achieved the high productivity through introduction of new high-yield sugarcane varieties and automated processes.

During the visit, I met a team of Australian experts visiting the site to suggest improvements in the crushing operation.

A hallmark of Tareen’s approach to business is his focus on changing lives of the people working for him. He is one of the very few billionaires who maintain direct contact with not only his employees but also countless people in the area. He is always mingling with people, shaking hands and hugging, sitting down with them for direct feedback about their view of different things.

In 2009 a source provided me the data compiled by the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association. Tareen’s mill was clearly the most efficient and had the lowest per kg cost of producing sugar - less than Rs 20 per kg at that time.

Importantly, he has managed to replicate his success in various fields including farming, dairy, horticulture, industrialisation, business competitiveness, vocational training, health and education reforms, small and micro enterprise development, to name a few.

He was credited with playing a pivotal role in harvesting several bumper crops including high cotton production. He was one of the pioneers in introducing high-yield imported cows at his newly established corporate dairy farm in 2007.

Public service

In the late ’90s, Tareen was engaged by the Shahbaz Sharif government in the Punjab to streamline the agriculture sector. He was later made chairman of the Taskforce for Efficient Grain Handling. In 2002 and 2004, his services were acquired for revamping public service delivery in key economic and social sectors.

Emerged soon as a technocrat, he quickly turned into an unusual entrant into politics.

I still remember meeting him at his office in Lahore, several weeks before he joined Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in 2011. During the interaction, when I posed a question about whether he was going to join Imran Khan, he expressed optimism about what Khan could achieve. I mentioned that there were reports that Asad Umar also about to join the party as well. He said he was aware of the development.

Before joining the PTI, Tareen had weighed the option of joining the PML-N. He’d later say that what prevented his joining the party was the “arrogance of the Sharifs.” He compared their political approach to that of monarchs.

When Tareen later left the PTI and there were rumors about his inclination towards the PML-N, a colleague called me over to discuss Tareen’s political ambitions. He had expected Tareen to join the PML-N ranks. I told him that this was unlikely to happen.

In 2008, Tareen and Shahbaz Sharif, then chief minister, came into close contact. The latter visited his farm in Rahim Yar Khan to see the ‘wonder world of agriculture.’ However, this failed to yield a political rapprochement.

A hallmark of Tareen’s approach to business is his focus on changing lives of the people working for him. He is one of the very few billionaires who maintain direct contact with not only his employees but also countless people in the area. He is always mingling with people, shaking hands and hugging, sitting down with them for direct feedback about their view of different things.

He has initiated education, health, farming, dairy, vocational training and other interventions to help people to be a part of development work as real stakeholders and beneficiaries.

During more than two decades of public work, he continued to do so on a large scale until he was disqualified by the apex court.

Many said then that Tareen had been penalised for being a central leader of the PTI. Others concluded that the PTI chairman had also letdown Tareen by abruptly distancing himself from him.

Last week, Tareen announced the foundation of Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party with apparent backing from the establishment. Most of his associates in the new party are former PTI members.

It can be argued that instead of choosing such a platform, Tareen
should have continued to focus on his primary strengths.

As leader of a significant political party vying for a major share in spoils, he should be contributing to a draft of a charter of economy in consultation with the academia, agriculturists, key economists, industrialists and energy, water and infrastructure experts. With the backing of major political parties, the CoE should guarantee smooth working of economy for the next two decades at least.

The writer is a senior reporter at The News