Former principal of PAF Public School Sargodha Abdul Rehman Qureshi passed away

Islamabad: Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt, Chief of the Air Staff, Pakistan Air Force expressed deep sorrow and grief on the sad demise of former principal of PAF Public School Sargodha Abdul Rehman Qureshi who breathed his last on Saturday night after prolonged illness. His funeral was held at PAF Public School Sargodha followed by burial at the graveyard of PAF Base, Mushaf (Sargodha).

Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt and a large number of high ranking PAF serving and retired officers along with people from all walks of life attended his funeral. The Air Chief paid glorious tributes to the services of the distinguished principal of this esteemed institution. He further said that services and contribution of late Abdul Rehman Qureshi in the field of education would never be forgotten and he would always be remembered as a beacon of light and source of inspiration for the generations to come.

Abdul Rehman Qureshi was an educationist par excellence. He got his Master’s degree in physics from Agriculture University, Faisalabad.  He started his educational career as a lecturer in Lawrence College, Murree. In 1954, he joined PAF Public School Sargodha as a physics teacher and later on became the head of department. He had the unique honour of being the first Pakistani principal of PAF Public School Sargodha, when in 1968, he was entrusted with the responsibility of mentoring the young cadets of PAF College School Sargodha. He performed his duties with missionary zeal for 17 years and retired in 1985. Later on he joined the prestigious Aitchison College, Lahore as principal where he served for five years. Thousands of his students have excelled in various fields. Four former Air Chiefs of Pakistan Air Force namely ACM (Retd) Farooq Feroz Khan, ACM (Retd) Kaleem Saadat, ACM (Retd) Tanvir Mehmood Ahmed, ACM (Retd) Rao Qamar Suleman and the current Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt are among his prominent students. Moreover General (Retd) Ahsan ul Haq, Ex-CJCSC, General (Retd) Ahsan Saleem Hayat, former Vice Chief of Army Staff, Former Interior Secretary Mr Tasneem Noorani, Current Foreign Secretary Mr Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry  and numerous high ranking civil officers were also his students. It is pertinent to mention that four Air Chiefs and one Army Chief of Bangladesh had also been his students. His students also proved their mettle in the politics and became ministers. The current Federal Minister for planning and development Mr Ahsan Iqbal and former Federal Minister Mr Malik Naeem Awan also got education under his able guidance.