مذكرة عن السيرة المهنية للسير توماس إدوارد روجرز [و‎‎٥‎٦] (١١٨/١١١)

Apart from work on establishment matters I was Secretary of a small
Selection Board headed by Mohammad Ikramullah (ex-ICS and Secretary of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Commonwealth Relations) and Shahid Suhrawardy,
brother of H.S.Suhrawardy whom I first met when he was Minister in the Bengal
Government and whom I would meet again in Madrid when he was Prime Minister
of Pakistan and Shahid Pakistan's Ambassador to Spain. I also became
Secretary of a new Pakistan Public Service Commission. My diary of those
days is full of appointments with the Selection Board or Public Service
Commission or with individuals seeking employment or promotion or of
notes about matters on which enlightenment was needed for myself or my masters.
One query reads: "For whom does the British Treasury claim to act
in staff matters - the Prime Minister, the Cabinet or the Chancellor of the
Exchequer?" I mention this as illustration of how many basic points had to be
worked out for the new state. Other notes remind me to plan for intake
of personnel over five years, to list all civil servants by age group
and qualifications and to arrange for some security printing in Britain
( a task I was later asked to carry out).
Among my notes are an occasional summons to attend meetings of the Cabinet
over which the very impressive Prime Minister, Liaquat Ali Khan presided with qu
authority as he and his colleagues faced the welter of problems
thrown up by the sudden birth of a country. I had only superficial
contacts with a few Ministers, notably Ghulam Mohammad, the Finance
Minister of needle-sharp intelligence who later became Governor-
General: the exuberant, outspoken Sir Zafrullah Khan, Foreign Minister
and brilliant conversationalist as well as fine orator: and the
handsome moustachioed tribal patriarch, Abdur Rab Nishtar whom I had first met
in his native Baluchistan?)