On May 23, 2002, a memorial lecture was held in honor of Dr. Khan in Islamabad, Pakistan. Below are a few glimpses from this lecture.
Shaukat Aziz (middle), Finance Minister of Pakistan, and Ghalib Nishtar (right), President of Khushhali Bank arriving for the memorial lecture:
Ozair A. Hanafi, Executive Director-HDI of Khushhali Bank, delivers welcome address:
Mr. Hanafi stated, "On behalf of Human Development Institute, Khushhali Bank, I have the honor and privilege to extend a very warm welcome to all of you. I see some faces...familiar and friendly faces...who have come all the way from Karachi and Lahore to be here with us to pay tribute to this giant of an individual, Dr. Akhter Hameed Khan."
Ghalib Nishtar appreciating Dr. Khan:
Ghalib Nishter praised Dr. Khan and began his speech, saying, "It is indeed a privilege for me to be here at the Dr. Akhter Hameed Khan Memorial Lecture...Dr. sahib was very kind and in fact instrumental in introducing me to the world of Micro-finance...Dr.Akhter Hameed Khan definitely said that we must do away with institutions like the World Bank and we must strengthen our own institutions but our institutions must also try and improve their quality...He was indeed a great man and we certainly miss him."
Shoaib Sultan Khan, Chairman National Rural Support Programme, praises Dr. Khan:
Shoaib Sultan Khan praised Dr. Akhter Hameed Khan tremendously in his speech, saying, "...I started wondering how am I going to do justice to a person of the stature of Akhter Hameed Khan. I had always looked upon him as my mentor and teacher. My relationship with him was truly of a sage and a disciple. His presence was overpowering and commanding a respect not out of fear but intellectual superiority of a level which belies any description. I feel like a pygmy trying to describe a giant...I can at best be a biographer or a historian recounting my association with the great man but to capture his innate qualities, his intellect, his vision...and above all his mission to help the suffering humanity and his passion to benefit his countrymen by his experience is beyond my capabilities...In conclusion I will repeat...'In all my travels throughout the world, I have never come across a person of the stature of Akhter Hameed Khan.'"
Shaukat Aziz talking about Dr. Khan:
Shaukat Aziz appreciated the works of Dr. Khan, stating, "Dr. Akhter Hameed Khan, as we all know, Ladies and Gentlemen, was a great individual...So, from Dr. Akhter Hameed Khan, we can learn a lot...participation-ownership and self reliance. When people take destiny in their own hands they can produce real results...our focus should be on self-help and any program we conduct should be driven by ourselves and not by others. This links very nicely with Dr. Akhter Hameed Khan's concept of ownership and participation."
Some of the audience:
Booklet of the Memorial Lecture:
