Shaping of a policymaker

As promised, Dr Ashfaque had informed the security about my prior arrival at the campus and I entered his office, with a notepad and a borrowed professional camera, for the photo session that I was to have with him later. After having been an avid reader of his articles for the last many years, I had this desire to meet him in person, in order to have a more personalised interaction, and discuss the multiple facets of the economy and the success of the institution he now heads, that is presently ranked in the top 500 universities of the World, and amongst the top 100 in Asia.
He was sorting some things on his table, and welcomed me pleasantly as we sat down. He rang the bell, ordered tea for me and then we got down for business. NUST and more importantly, NUST Business School has evolved greatly over the years and talking to industry professionals and corporates I got the impression that an NBS graduate is perhaps now more valued in the corporate sector than others from leading institutions from the country. So I asked Dr Ashfaque how he managed to bring this turnaround in an institution that has often been blamed for a ‘military’ culture, and slow bureaucratic procedures.
“When I joined NBS, the institution was only 10 years old. Instantly, my priority was to bring in the best faculty. There were almost 600 students studying at our business school. I am perhaps one of the few deans who also teach, because I personally believe that it is my duty to pass on whatever I have learnt in life to my students. My aim is to ensure that they are well versed in economics, and their success in the corporate world is a testament to the success of the institution as a whole.”

Promoting commodification?

Critics have often blamed educational institutes in Pakistan of promoting commodification. While talking to a civil rights activist, Wali Shahid, he said, ‘The process of mass producing college graduates with worthless degrees is contributing greatly to undermining the value of education. By limiting the scope of their creativity, you are binding them in the confines of mediocrity.” I raised this point with Dr Ashfaque and how in his institution he is ensuring these students are allowed to evolve and develop by engaging in extra and co-curricular activities.
“We are engaging with big names and relevant government departments to provide internships to students of the business school. Our students have now been able to land internships in places like Barclays, Standard Chartered, Unilever, Ministry of Finance, amongst others. Value addition through practical experience is very important. This year thirty students went overseas for internship programmes, which not only gave them the relevant exposure but also made them interact with people from diverse cultures. Such opportunities are important to develop an understanding in these students of the outside world and prepare them for practical life,” Dr Ashfaque said.
While elaborating upon the difficulties he has had to face as Dean of the NUST Business School, he said, “Faculty makes a lot of difference. Unfortunately, after 9/11 it has become hard for students to go to the US for further studies. Previously, foreign qualified professionals would come back to impart their knowledge to our indigenous students, which was an asset that we cherished. The Higher Education Commission did a commendable job to provide scholarships to our students; however after the exit of Dr Ata ur Rehman, HEC has deteriorated greatly. We are fortunate that the devolution of the HEC was stopped by the Supreme Court. At present, the funding to HEC has almost stopped and in these constraints it is quite hard to attract good faculty especially when they are offered double the salaries by private institutions compared to what we have to offer them. Due to this, we have lost a lot of good faculty; however despite all our constraints we have worked hard to ensure that the standard of the institution is maintained and it is has now made its mark in the corporate world.”

A comprehensive institution

While speaking about NUST as a whole, he said it is a comprehensive institution. With many varied courses and schools under one roof, there is ample opportunity for cross fertilisation of research and ideas. Therefore, it is a prerequisite for us to promote research and entrepreneurship. Recently, he said the business school has successfully conducted the prime minister’s entrepreneurship award, an event where more than 1200 teams participated. Having discussed one of Asia’s leading institutions, I was more interested in discovering the man himself, and his journey in life, the highs and the lows, how fate played its bit, and how he managed to make a mark for himself in the field of economics. Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan has worked as the Special Secretary Finance/Director General, Debt Office of the Ministry of Finance. He is also the Director and Vice Chairman of Saudi Pak Industrial and Agricultural Investment Company Ltd and holds a PhD in Economics from Johns Hopkins University. He was part of the core economic team, along with Dr Ishrat Hussain and others, who were responsible for spearheading economic growth of Pakistan during the Musharaf regime. In a short span of a few years, Pakistan managed to sustain an average GDP growth rate of seven per cent. He was actively involved in preparing the reform programme which was launched almost a decade ago and provided vital policy inputs in framing the country’s macroeconomic policies. Not only does he have the distinction of facilitating international organisations like the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (UN-ESCAP), Asian Development Bank and the World Bank as a consultant, but also has the distinction of being Pakistan’s most widely published economist. With over nine published books, and more than 170 articles to his credit, his papers have appeared in the most prestigious journals of economics of Harvard University and University of Chicago. He also has the unique distinction of being supervised during his PhD by Nobel Laureate in economics, Professor Lawrence R Klein. His achievements are many, and if I delve in them I might run out of space, but to sum it up, in recognition of his services he was awarded the Sitar e Imtiaz for his contributions in the field of economics and public policy.

Remembering those years

“My father was a police officer, and like all fathers he too wanted to see me follow in his footsteps. If not the police then he wanted me to at least join the civil services. I was pursuing my bachelors degree in physics, chemistry and double math from Dhaka university. At that time, I had never in my wildest dreams imagined that I would pursue economics. Being a strict disciplinarian, my father had inculcated in me, the habit of reading and so, I would actively read national and international news. When I used to read articles on the economy, the world crisis, and other such issues, I was fascinated by economics. I realised that in order to gain a deeper understanding of the world around me, I had to study economics. And so, I decided to enroll for the economics programme at the Karachi University,” an animated Dr Ashfaque said, as he remembered those years fondly.
Were you always so studious, I asked with a smile on my face, and I was genuinely surprised with what he had in store for me. “I was a very good cricket player and played league cricket in Pakistan. I have even played cricket with Imran Khan, and during my years in Canada when I was pursuing my educational degree from McMaster University Canada, I had a batting average of 62 playing for the Canadian cricket league. I represented the Hamilton Fairfield club, and given my good batting record, I was offered to play for the Canadian National Team in the second World Cup in 1979. The Canadian government offered me citizenship, which I refused because I told them that I wanted to go back to Pakistan.” He explained that he was pleasantly surprised at how cricket was followed in Canada, a country where he least expected the sport to be played. Coming back to his career, he talked about Ahmed Faruqui, his teacher at Karachi University. “Ahmed Faruqui was a bright young man, and studying under his tutelage greatly benefited me. I was already strong in math, and the rest I found, was merely English.”
Completing his MA in Economics from Karachi University, Dr Ashfaque proceeded to McMaster University on a scholarship. After coming back from Canada he joined the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics. However, he said, that at that time, for any economist it was a dream to become part of the planning commission that was headed by Professor Khurshid Ahmed. “I met him, and he asked me to visit the Planning Commission as well.” He visited the Planning Commission and they were interested in having his expertise. They offered him the position of Assistant Chief, however, since he belonged to Sindh, he was told that he could only continue on an adhoc basis and not in a permanent capacity. “I came back very dejected, it was my lifelong desire to be part of the planning commission. However when I look back now, it was for me a blessing in disguise. I am thankful to Meekal Aziz Ahmed for changing the course of my thinking, I will never forget him since he changed the course of my career,” Dr Ashfaque said. I joined PIDE, and looking back I can say without an iota of doubt that PIDE has made me the man I am. From PIDE Dr Ashfaque proceeded to UPenn, and then eventually to Johns Hopkins for his PhD. He was under the tutelage of Nobel Laureate Professor Lawrence Klein. “After completing my PhD, I joined PIDE again and now started publishing several economic papers for the institute every year. By 1997, I was the Joint Director of PIDE.”

Look at statistics

Dr Ashfaque has been under scrutiny for supporting the Musharaf regime and the economic policy making of that era. His critics argue that the economic development during the Musharaf era was purely a façade, and real GDP growth in crucial sectors did not take place. So I brought this subject up with him and his answer was swift, “Clearly then they haven’t looked at the statistics.” While showing me IMF and World Bank reports that have recently been published, he pointed out that those reports clearly highlight the outstanding economic performance of the same era. Intriguingly, he joined the government during the Nawaz Sharif tenure in March’98, after he was asked by Sartaj Aziz to join the finance ministry. Following the coup by the Musharaf government, he asked Shaukat Aziz, to send him back to PIDE. “I was appointed by a previous government. It only made sense that I should go back to PIDE and they appoint their own people. However, Shaukat Aziz asked me to wait sometime till he made the decision.” He said certain people in the bureaucracy like Moin Afzal took a stand in front of the prime minister, and then they formed their economic team which included Dr Ishrat Hussain and others. “I used to brief Gen Musharaf six to seven hours regularly. He was briefed so often that Musharaf developed a strong command over economic matters. What appealed to me was the fact that he was accessible, he allowed the economic team to make decisions independently and he would always be ready to hear our problems”.

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