Unchartered Water

A Journey Through Living History

By Haroon lbin Ali — Avon Books

Columnist Col (Retd) EAS BOKHARI reviews an important maritime book.

The book under review has earned some glowing reviews - and a spate of these has appeared very recently. This effort, therefore, may appear to be infructuous to some extent but I suppose the book needs a special commendation as it has been written by a service officer during a time when the service officers have become shy of using their pen, and are rather miserly on this count.      

This is even felt in the other services and there are no such writers like Generals — A.l Akram,  Shaukat  Riza, Gul Hasan  who had been so prolific  and penetrating in their writings. Gen Fazal Muqeem and Attiq-Ur-Rahman had also written brilliantly. So in this respect Captain Ali’s book is a welcome addition to the service officer’s efforts to record their experiences and expertise. Captain Ali seems to have had a lot of such experience both as a naval officer and as a civil servant in the United Nations. His expertise had been communications which is something very basic to all human activity.

It appears that he has set a pace in the Navy, and I have recently come across two other volumes by two naval officers - and of course these cover  two totally different topics. Commodore (r) Fasahat  H Syed has edited a book on regional  cooperation  among Indian Ocean countries which has been published by the  famous Pakistani NGO — FRIENDS.

And then Admiral Mian Zahir Shah has produced the delightful and highly readable  ‘Bubbles of Water’. I am told he is busy with another volume relating to the same topic of naval humour.

Captain Ali’s book covers a wide range of maritime and other issues, its puny size notwithstanding, and  naturally  he has not been able to cover the topics as exhaustively as he would have wished. All the same his narrative is gripping, scintillating and most informative. I should say that the book, besides an account  of  maritime involvement of the officer, is also a sort of autobiography - and a very vivid travelogue - all these in one.

He has covered the evolution of the Pakistan Navy from its humble days to its present formidable posture. His book was recently launched at Lahore in the Naval  War  College  by  Admiral  Abdul  Aziz  Mirza CNS - Pakistan Navy. Admiral Yastoor Ul Haq Malik — an Ex CNS was also there and he introduced the gathering to the book. He apparently was one of the officers who had served with Captain Ali.

Captain Ali had worked for the Pakistan Movement and his account of the earlier days of the movement is most interesting and revealing. The book is rightly divided into two parts i.e. the author’s activities  in his homeland, and then his global involvement. In the second  part — he relates some most stirring accounts of his visit  to Iraq and  Syria and  especially  his feelings when he went to Karbala, Kufa  and Najaf are thought-provoking.

Here is a piece out of his narrative. “I was emotionally overwhelmed with the thought  of the supreme sacrifice made by the grandson of Prophet Muhammad ... The sacrifice was made in the cause of righteousness, and remains a guiding  principle for humankind. Hazrat Imam Hussian  and his family sacrificed their lives  rather than compromise with the evil dictates of an unelected leader. In the early days of Muharram  the tragedy of Karbala is  commemorated in nearly all parts of Muslim world. It  keeps alive the sacrificial spirit for the right cause. The great freedom fighter Maulana Muhammad Ali has  described the impact of Karbala in his famous verse, “Islam Zinda   Hota Hai Har  Karbala  Ke Baad.”.

The author had also visited the mausoleum  of  Bibi Zainab - the sister of Hazrat  Imam Hussain. His comments about the visit are, “ The mausoleum is beautifully decorated. I was told that the renovation was financed by the Habib Group  from Pakistan.”

 The book reveals that the officer got the opportunity to put in pioneering work both in  the Navy, then in the Pakistan Shipping Corporation  and later as a member of UN, where he operated at the international level. His contribution both in planning and execution of projects had been most confidence giving at all these places.       

Surprisingly he seems to have dabbled even with the Hajj problem which he describes in some details in the book. His recommendations to streamline the Hajj operation were most judicious and operable.

Finally, this is an amazing little book - in which the author has tried and succeeded in covering a very large number of topics especially  those relating to his employment as a naval officer and later as a clog in the UN  organization.

And “at the international level the book records an account of the United Nations’ activities in the field of economic and social development in the Middle East, Asia and Pacific. It gives an insight into the challenges faced by UN and the effectiveness of its organization....”       

Besides a spate of  glowing reviews both in Urdu and English at home the book has earned some equally compelling tributes outside the country. Here is one:     

“ ‘Unchartered Waters’ is an indispensable history of Pakistan and Asia. It is also a book about cooperation, communication and hope for the future based on the innumerable lessons which history has taught us... Haroon Ibin Ali’s firmly grounded and eloquently expressed message of hope is as relevant to the rest of the world as it is to Pakistan and to Asia at large...Readers young and old will welcome this important, wide reaching and highly readable account. Haroon Ibin Ali has been included in the latest edition of  International Who’s Who on recognition of his many  achievements.”                 

Ali’s main theme is perhaps the spirit of communication and human understanding which he wants to propagate in the widest sense, and the reader must get it right from the outset what the author’s main purpose is for writing this book. At the cost of some repetition  he says “... It is my hope that some day, there will not only be seaports and roads  and airfields and railways connecting points East to points West, but that common understanding and humanitarian spirit will link the global community ...  We  can retain our own cultural and  religious  identities, show tolerance for people who are different from us and still travel the same road. The road can be a cobblestone path of a dirt road or a super highway, all leading to a common destination....”

The book has a useful index for researchers.