Adil Najam
We write here often about corruption games and misappropriation deals by politicians and others. But we also want to honestly depict the actions of those many — many, many, many, in fact — who live by the principles of hard work and honesty that we all cherish. I am convinced that despite the cynicism that we all exude, the good amongst us are far more than the bad amongst us.
I was reading Gulf News in the plane last week and saw this story about a great ambassador for Pakistan. After reading everything else in the paper about Pakistan this made me immensely proud and hopeful.
Abu Dhabi: It is not the first time Rahim Khan Khilgi, a limousine driver, had found valuables left behind by passengers. “I have returned more than 18 mobile phones left behind by passengers. Besides, I also got Dh14,000 on one instance and $2000 on another. At all times, I have ensured that the passenger got back his/her belongings,” said Khilgi. Recently, Khilgi, a Pakistani driver working for Fast Limousine, was surprised when he realised that a passenger left behind his wallet containing Dh40,000 besides credit cards, cheques and other important documents. “On April 19, at midnight, a passenger from the business lounge of Etihad Airways boarded the limo. After I dropped him off at Dubai Marina I stopped at a fuel station to fill up. I got out of the car and as I was about to take my bag from behind I noticed a purse on the back seat,” said Khilgi.
He immediately handed over the valuables to Captain Ahmad Al Merri, the police duty officer at the airport. He has been working with Fast Limousine for the past three years. Earning Dh2,600 on an average every month, Khilgi said he wouldn’t say that money is not important to him. “Money is the most important thing these days. But can it give happiness? No. whereas the gratitude and happiness of a person who gets back his belongings are immeasurable.
“Most people ask me why I chose to return the money, but only my wife and a friend said that I did the right thing by returning the money,” he said.
Moved by the driver’s honesty, Captain Ahmad Al Merri wrote a letter to Fast Limousine’s management who in turn brought the incident to the notice of the Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC). Two weeks ago, ADAC honoured Khilgi ‘for demonstrating a high sense of honesty and personal integrity while serving customers at Abu Dhabi International Airport’. Recently, Khilgi was the guest of honour at a special ceremony hosted by ADAC Operations Department to present him a cheque of Dh4,000 in recognition of his exemplary attitude.
Some people seem to be missing the point. As I see it the post is saying most Pakistanis are good but we need to talk about the good actions too rather than only the bad
Incidently, i came across another such person today(or so he claimed) Ironically, I lost my mobile phone yesterday after college! I think i lleft in in the cab by mistake. Tried calling the phone, someone chose to reject by many calls. I then called the cellular company to get the SIM card blocked, which was done. In another cab, i vented my frustrations at that taxi driver with all sorts of things like ‘hum be-imaan hain sab’ , ‘naam ke musalman hain’, ‘ sab janvaron se bhi gire hue hain’ and the sort. I told him the whole story, and he was like ‘sir ji, hum to humaisha mobile wapis kar daite hain, aaj tak 6 moblie wapis kar chuka hun Allah ke karam se… aik ki qeemat 90,000 thi… hum ne aaj tak aisa ghalat kaam naheen kya…’
Thing is, maybe you’re right that the pious and honest are there amongst us, but dear all, quite frankly i’ve yet to experience first hand such claims of piety being realised.
If Mr. Khilji really did all this, he will get his reward in one form or the other definately. We all salute him!
About the dishonest lot, well, what goes around comes around… *sigh*
Adil, you get impressed too easily. The basic premise of your story seems to me assuming that all Pakistani’s are CHOR’s and only a few among us exist who are the beacons of honesty? I beg to differ sir. Though a good story but indeed most Pakistani’s are honest and do their jobs with the same spirit as this limo driver from Abu Dhabi.
Honesty is the best policy . Thanks for sharing the story.
“Seems most of the commenters here do not have a good image of Pakistan themselves. I agree that there are far more good Pakistanis than bad ones”.
saadullah: You have touched upon an important subject. An explanation to your query lies in analysis of the group of commenters (including you and I) on this post and in fact on Internet the medium. Internet allows us to be anonymous, so hiding behind a pseudonym we could say any thing we want to say without taking a personal responsibility of our words. This could be more true about those who do not have any vested interest in the safety and stability of Pakistan. Thanks to the ineptness of Pakistani rulers and repeated involvement of military in governance both civilian politicians and military are discredited. But look at the commenters here. We, if we are Pakistanis at the first place, have no direct connection with the military or the government of Pakistan. Meaning our career paths are different from those who carry the noble cause of serving our country in or out of uniform. We are neither involved in building a good image of Pakistan nor it affects our daily lives. We for the most part are bystanders and spectators. Just commenters.