At a dinner in Dhaka in 1986, I first met Ebrahim Dahodwala. He was the then the President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan. In fact, he was the first President of the Institute from the profession, a position always held previously by the Secretaries to the Federal Government of Pakistan. He was also the first President of South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA) from Pakistan.
The occasion for the dinner was a SAFA conference in Dhaka where I had presented a paper. One of the Indian delegates informed Mr. Dahodwala that I had been chosen to represent India as the sole paper-write at the XIII World Congress of Accountants to be held in Tokyo in October 1987. He asked me after dinner, “Well, if I invite you, will you come to Pakistan young man? We will take care of your travel and stay and you will speak at the Silver Jubilee Celebration of our Institute.” It was a great honour for a young professional like me and I readily agreed.
The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) tickets for Karachi arrived on time. When I landed at the airport, I was greeted by a partner of KPMG’s affiliate Taseer Hadi & Co. I was a partner of Price Waterhouse at the time and it felt somewhat odd that one of our competitors would look after me during my stay in Pakistan.
It soon became clear why this was done. I received a call from Khalid Rafi, the senior partner of A.F. Ferguson, the affiliate of Price Waterhouse. He explained to me that the Pakistani hosts had determined that KPMG must look after the PW guest while Khalid must look after a “mehman” from some other firm.
In those days the Reserve Bank of India allotted a princely sum of $16 a day and there were no credit cards. I was put up at the Holiday Inn in Karachi. My KPMG host took me around Karachi which looked like a smaller version of Bombay. Clifton was the suburb where the rich and powerful lived. He did not forget to show me the port area and said in a very matter-of-fact way without any malice, “This is where you guys dropped bombs.” What could I say?
The dinner was at the Sheraton and I was told in a whisper that the Prime Minister Muhammad Khan Junejo would be our host. Strangely, my host felt that taking a car to the venue of the dinner would require all kinds of security clearances so he decided that we will take a short walk. In 1986, you could hardly see policemen or army personnel with rifles and arms in streets in India. In Karachi on that day, there were heavily armed personnel with sub-machine guns thronging the streets. I do not remember how long I walked. It seemed like ages.
When we reached the ball room, my host told me that there were four set of doors and no one knew through which door the Prime Minister will enter. “Security reasons” he explained. At the scheduled time, one of the doors flung open and with a flourish entered the Prime Minister Shri Junejo. He made a speech and I remember only the two operative lines: “I am the son of a farmer. I know the importance of land. On the occasion of the Silver Jubilee of the Institute I have allotted a prime piece land to you to build your new Institute head-quarters”. Every other noise was drowned in a thunder of applause that went on for minutes.
The food was served on a very large brass plate but folks were eating communally from the same plate. A new experience for me. Well I was not very hungry and we walked back to Holiday Inn when we were joined by at least half a dozen people-one of them was introduced to me as the founder of KPMG in Pakistan.
This guy instantly stood apart from the rest. He was strikingly handsome, was very well informed and articulate and oozed charm. My host confided to me that he had studied in London and his mother was English. Although this gentleman, who introduced himself as Salmaan, had just met me, he addressed me by my first name and said, “Roopen, go ahead and order some Scotch in room service.”
I knew I had only $16 a day and the prospect of going to a Pakistani jail for not paying hotel bills did cross my mind. As if he read my mind, he said, “Don’t worry yaar, we will take care of the bill.” So I followed his instructions and answered the questions to room service truthfully and with confidence. No I was not a Pakistani nor was I a muslim and seven pegs of Scotch and some ice and soda please.”
The Scotch arrived and I must have ordered 3 or 4 rounds thereafter. I signed the bills, my host generously tipped the room service bearer and left me. I did speak at the seminar next morning without a slur although “officially” I had consumed, give or take a few, 25 pegs of Scotch!!!
Many years elapsed thereafter. On January 4th 2011, the Governor of Punjab was assassinated by his own bodyguard in cold blood because of his liberal views on blasphemy laws in Pakistan. He was none other than Salmaan Taseer a chartered accountant from London who had founded KPMG Taseer Hadi & Co in Pakistani. He is the tall man of the profession who made a huge impact in his country. He is the man I met and spent a delightful evening with, in Karachi.