Almas and A. Qadir
The Foundation is named for our parents. It carries their disposition into one concrete corner of Rawalpindi.
Air Vice Marshal Abdul Qadir
A. Qadir joined the Royal Indian Air Force in 1944 and flew Spitfires on the Burma Front in the Second World War. After the partition of India, he became one of the pioneers of the Pakistan Air Force, eventually rising to second-in-command.
He served as Commandant of the Air War College in Karachi (formerly the PAF Staff College), and later as Director General of Civil Aviation. Those who served alongside him remember a scrupulously honest officer, an immaculate dresser, and what Pakistanis of his generation called a true gentleman.
He and our mother Almas raised their children to take other people’s dignity as a given. The Foundation in their name is our family’s sadaq-e-jaria for them: a continuing charity, an attempt to keep something they would have approved of going.
إِنَّ الإِنسَانَ لَفِي خُسرٍ · إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ
“Indeed, mankind is in loss — except those who believe and do righteous deeds.” — Surah Al-‘Asr