21/04/2024
REMEMBERING JAVED IQBAL
Last year, we lost Javed Iqbal, and his younger brother Parvez Iqbal penned a heartfelt tribute in his memory. I somehow missed reading it. I just read it and couldn’t resist reposting it on my page so that my friends and family know a lot more about him.
Little did I know the depth of what I would discover from Parvez's words.
The bond between the Scopy brothers and me, along with my own brothers Asif and Anjum, traces back to our childhood, just as it did for our fathers, who were both PIFFERS.
I invite my friends and family to read Parvez's beautiful tribute to Javed Iqbal and join me in reciting Sura e Fatiha for him.
Parvez Iqbal - 4 March 2023
As you walked away into your sunset, dear elder brother “ Scopy “ ( so called with affection by all your college class mates because a teacher said in fun you were “scopeless “ ) , you did not look back over your shoulder because you never were interested in your past. Major (Retd ) Javed Iqbal , 22 FF , Pakistan Army , a thoroughbred Gallian and a true soldier the wicked smile in your picture says it all : as you would say , even if you were scopeless , you could still breathe carbon dioxide for plants.
I’m taking breaks in typing because the tears haven’t dried up and keep coming back . Javed “ Scopy” was initially four years ahead of me in college . After appearing in FA Exams much before the results were out he took a certificate ( as allowed ) from the Principal and applied for the Army. He cleared ISSB only to come back and learn he had failed in two FA subjects. A year later he sat again for the exams , passed the two subjects in which he had failed earlier but failed in another two which he had cleared previously. Our Principal , Mr M L Charlesworth , went out of the way to help him , even to the extent of writing to GHQ that the boy merits consideration for selection because at least he had cleared all subjects even though it took him two attempts to do that. Bad luck for “ Scopy “ that recommendation wasn’t accepted and he had to appear again in FA . The third time , he made history . He cleared all subjects and since age still permitted he joined the Army. He later confided to me his biggest fear was I might catch up with him and both of us would end up in the same class.
When I later joined the Navy and went to Kakul for six months’ boot camp time , he landed there as a demo company commander . He told some of my seniors there to make a man out of me. They obliged and then on it was hell on earth for me and I wished he would leave the area. One day as I was running solo , out of breath , towards my barrack in Salahuddin Company we crossed paths and for a split second he stopped me and asked me , softly , “ You OK ?” . “ YES SIR “ I shouted back and went on.
“ Scopy” was a fearless man and deceptively intelligent too. As a POW in an Indian camp after the 1971 war , he saw doves landing on the prison ground and feeding themselves on crumbs . He wanted to catch one for dinner . As he sat down to make a trap with kitchen utensils and rubber bands from underwears , other prison mates made fun of him. But he had the last word and managed to trap a bird one afternoon. It fluttered and went over a line in the ground which prisoners were not allowed to cross but he crossed it to pick it up. A prison guard pointed a rifle at him and abused him. Scopy stood his ground and abused back in kind. Later prison authorities punished him by making him stand in the sun the whole afternoon. When he went back in the evening , a Naval POW , later Admiral Wali Khan , gave him a roasted leg from the dove which he had saved for him.
After the war he came back and resigned . He took all the money his wife had saved , went to the UK , bought an old car and drove to Pakistan loading the car with camping and hunting equipment. At the Torkham border , when he found the customs duty he had to pay on the car was more than its price , he left it there and took a bus home.
If I sit down seriously I can write a book about this man , filtering thoughts about him as his brother and only focusing on that side of him as a man the world did not know.
Scopy , you never were “scopeless” and you proved that to your family and your teachers in college. You have gone for eternal rest but your legacy lives.
Your junior Scopy , Parvez.
