Sarfraz Ahmed Bhatti

Coming from a lower middle class family living in a place called Qila Didar Singh on the outskirts of the then Gujranwala, Sarfraz overtook all of us. We were enrolled at the Department of Physics, Quaid-i-Azam University during 1973-1975, and Sarfraz stunned us with his unique approach to understanding and mastering new subject matter. He did not dedicate long hours to study, invariably challenging us to go to watch a movie on the eve of the all important examination the next morning. While the rest of us were struggling with assignments due the next day, or the all important test, Sarfraz would pull up the quilt over his head and go to sleep.

He rose to be the Director of National Institute of Lasers and Optronics at the Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology. He remained simple and unpretentious throughout. He was credited with undertaking pioneering research while at PINSTECH and was the recipient of a Presidential Pride of Performance award in 2003. Sarfraz went on with that smile of his, quietly going on where others hesitated to tread.

I distinctly remember the tests and examinations that we sat in together during our Master's classes. Unsaid, there was always a competitiveness that crept in. The one who completed the test or exam would invariably let the others know of the completion when handing in the answer sheets and walking out of the room. Barring one or two occasions, Sarfraz was the first to leave and we watched him waving back from the door.

Sarfraz was an avid fan of the Pakistan movie scene. He went to watch a new release, and then came back and told us, in his colorful language how the male and female leads exchanged love vows, imitating the dialogs and all. And who could forget that moment when, on a spring morning at the open air café, he knelt on one of his knees and looked directly at a girl in our class and asked "who do you see in my eyes". Why did he do so? Because he said he could when another friend dared him to. Perhaps they were talking of a new movie at the time.

There are many more incidents etched in our memories, and there they will remain. Sarfraz is no more --- gone where each one of us have to follow.

There were four brothers and one sister and he was the eldest. Thus in 1975, after completing the Masters he joined PINSTECH in the first batch of officers to be trained in the emerging area of Laser Physics. That provided a steady stream of income and a guaranteed position at the end of two years of training. I do not remember when he lost his father, but I certainly know that he supported all his siblings through school, college and into careers or marriage in case of his sister. With his brave wife, Ismat he looked after his mother in exemplary fashion.

Recognizing his mettle, the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission sponsored his Ph.D. studies at the University of Southern California that he completed with distinction. We met on US soil and I recall how he was always thinking about his family back in Qila Deedar Singh. When I returned in the fall of 1981, for I was in the USA for a limited period, on his wish I traveled to his home to deliver a brand new Phillips 20 inch television set - the first for their home.

Sarfraz returned to Islamabad probably somewhere between the summers of 1983 and 1984, taking up his position at PINSTECH. He shared a house with other colleagues. Sometime later, during the winters we nearly lost him to natural gas poisoning. He was rescued and came out of a coma at the Central Government Polyclinic. The last I talked to him about that mishap leads me to believe that he had no recollection of the happenings around that incident.

I did not know that his father had just passed away, in October or November 1984, just prior to the gas poisoning incident. Sarfraz was the eldest of a sister and four brothers and their provider for all the years to come.

In 2007, when I visited Islamabad, Sarfraz was the first to catch up and drive me around. He pressed us, I and all my sisters, their husbands and all the kids to have lunch with him. From our encounter in the USA, Sarfraz remembered that I was partial to fish - and there it was, fish after fried fish that he brought to us.

After a few months of my return I called him up. He recalled how I had pressed him to get a regular physical check up and periodic blood tests. Then came the bomb shell - he had contracted Liver Cirrhosis. On repeat calls I got the sense that he was not well, and during our last chat late in December he mentioned traveling to Beijing for a liver transplant.

On January 15, 2008 I saw Sarfraz again, at the door of the exam room, waving to let us know - "I am the first to go".

*Studied and served at the Quaid-i-Azam University, 1973-97.