Back to Tribune. HomeT-Magazine. The witness who chose not to look awayT-Magazine. Next Story. The witness

Next Story. The witness who chose not to look away. After a lifetime inside the machinery of power, Saeed Mehdi shares memories of the history made during his time.

By. Our Correspondent|facebooktwitterwhatsuplinkdedemailPUBLISHED August 23, 2026“Whatever the world has given me, in the form of experiences and events/I am now returning it to where it belongs”This couplet translated from Urdu is wonderfully apt about Saeed Mehdi’s timely memoir.

At the request of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, then Minister of Education, Mr Jafri stayed on as Director of Education in Delhi, believing that he could best serve the Muslims who had chosen to remain in India. Lahore became the permanent home of the Mehdi family through an improbable accident.

These passages do more than fill important gaps in the historical record; they bring into painful focus the events surrounding a trial that, in the judgment of the overwhelming majority of historians and observers, was a sham culminating in the judicial murder of Pakistan’s most popular and beloved leader since the Quaid. Mehdi writes with extraordinary restraint.

And precisely because of that plainspokenness, these passages acquire an almost unbearable power. He was instructed to go to the prison and inform Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto that this was his final day to submit a mercy petition before the death sentence was carried out.

The extraordinary courage of the moment lies precisely there: Bhutto knew he was about to die, yet he refused to surrender the meaning of his death. Reading Mehdi’s deeply personal stories, one encounters moments in which the heart seems to have been in the right place, yet duty, obedience, or circumstance demanded a different action.

Looking back, Mehdi is “disgusted and depressed” by the manipulations of the system and by his own inability to have been an agent of change. To me, these are some of the bravest words I have encountered in the memoir of a Pakistani of Mehdi’s stature—someone who stood extraordinarily close to the highest levels of both military and political power.

I congratulate the author for that honesty, for the depth of his self-awareness, and above all, for having the courage to say it so candidly. The book is filled with remarkable stories, and at times reads like a mystery novel — except that the mysteries are the real events that shaped a nation.

We owe him a vote of thanks for his tireless devotion to Pakistan and for undertaking the difficult and invaluable task of putting these memories on record.

His memoir has both clarity and eloquence as explained in a couplet by Akbar Allahabadi translated from Urdu to English below:“When the meaning comes across clearly, that is eloquence/When it leaves an impact on those who hear it, that is resonance.”May he have a long life and may he live to see some of his deepest hopes and wishes for Pakistan finally come true.

The writer is a Pakistani-American oncologist, researcher and author. All facts and information are the sole responsibility of the writer. Pages.

Pakistan. Business. World.

Opinion. Life & Style. Sports.

Blogs. Videos. Our Sites.

Express News. Urdu E-Paper. English E-Paper.

Sindhi E-Paper. Cricket Pakistan. Express Live.

Campus Guru. Express Entertainment. Food Tribune.

About Us. Contact Us. Online Advertising.

Privacy Policy. Copyright. Fuel Prices Pakistan.

Gold Prices Pakistan. Prayer Timing Pakistan. Weather Forecast Pakistanfollow us