It has been a long time that we heard something good about Pakistan or Pakistanis. News provided by the Pakistani electronic media is horrible. Go to a gathering of Pakistanis and everyone would be telling appalling stories about Pakistan that would make you sick. But last week I came to know something good about Pakistan. And it makes you happier if someone other than a Pakistani is praising.
Brother Talat Rasheed very lovingly sent me an invitation to an event and insisted that I should attend. Though the event was to bid farewell to the Pakistani Consul General in Chicago, but more than half of the attendees were locals. Among other elected representatives was Roger Claar, the Mayor of Village of Boling Brook. He was sitting among the hosts. While welcoming the guests, the Mayor said something that grabbed my attention and I focused on his speech. As he was speaking about Pakistan and Pakistanis, I was overwhelmed with happiness and at one time my eyes moistened. Roger Clark said that it was a part of his responsibilities as mayor to look at the police reports of Boling Brook, which contains details of crimes committed by anyone. He said that, by looking at the names, his team can determine the original nationality of people involved in drunk driving, theft, looting, mugging, fraud, and other crimes. The mayor said that in his 27 years of service, he did not find the name of a single Pakistani in the list of criminals. On the other hand there were names of Pakistani boys and girls, who did excellent in schools and received awards and certificates of merit on the basis of their extraordinary performance.
Mayor Claar is the one who is invited to almost all Pakistani events and for the last 22 years, he has been hoisting the Pakistani national flag, at the main gate of the City Hall in Boling Brook, every year on August 14, the Pakistan Independence Day. A formal event is held every year on this occasion. A few years back I had attended a flag hoisting event at the invitation of Brother Talat Rasheed.
The Mayor said that, 22 years ago, at the initiation of Talat Rasheed, when such an event was held, only a few people attended. But this year – 2013 – around thirteen thousand people attended. The small flag hoisting event has now turned into a huge carnival.
Before proceeding, let me tell you something briefly about Mayor Roger Claar. He is serving as the Mayor of Boling Brook from a long time. He was first elected Mayor in 1987, then in 1989, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2009, and this year (2013). He earned hi BS and MS from Eastern Illinois University and got his PhD from Kansas State University. He is the recipient of numerous awards. He has lived here for the past 34 years. In these 34 years, he has been the Mayor for 27 years and that is some achievement. He is still the Mayor, but in his address, he said that he would not seek re-election next time.
How did Roger Clark come so close to Pakistanis? The credit goes to Talat Rasheed. Today, just because of Talat Rasheed, Mayor Claar, state senators and other high government officials participate in Eid program and are part of Pakistan Independence Day celebrations. In the past I have, several times, mentioned those Muslim and Pakistani personalities who work for our good impression. They include Tariq Malhance, Ahmed Kareem Jangda, and Sadruddin Noorani etc.
Let me tell you something about Brother Talat Rasheed today. He received his MBA degree from Keller Graduate School of Management and BS in Computer Science from North Illinois University. After teaching for a few years in Pakistan Navy, Rasheed taught Management at Robert Morris University, Chicago. Presently he works as the Planning Commissioner of the Village of Boling Brook, where he also served as the Trustee in the past. I have a special regard for him because he strives to bring the Muslims in general and the Pakistanis in particular in the American mainstream. The Boling Brook Chamber of Commerce awarded Life time Achievement Award to Talat Rasheed, the first Asian to receive such an award in the US. He is the member of several American institutions and is one of the founders of Pakistan Day Parade in Chicago. Interestingly he is popular in all Pakistani groups and everyone likes him. Always smiling, soft hearted, and cordial, Talat Rasheed relates to almost all the big Pakistani cities. He hails from Jhelum, the city where my childhood friend Khwaja Amjad Basheer belonged. Basheer and I used to study in the same school in Dhaka and I have never seen him since.
Talat Rasheed has spent most part of his life in Karachi and I came to know only today that, at age 9, he has lived in Dhaka, too, where his father was posted in the army. That way he is very close to my heart. I, too, spent my childhood and youth in Dhaka.
I wish every Pakistani lives a life as Talat Rasheed has lived. If so not only Pakistan’s name, but whole Pakistan will light up.