Education is a passion for Muhammad Zahur – and a lot of that is thanks to his father, who served in Burma as a captain during the Second World War and went on to hold a senior position in the civil service in Pakistan.
“He was my inspiration, to a great extent,” says Mr Zahur. “He learnt, as an officer, that you couldn’t progress unless you were educated, so he insisted that everyone in the family had an education.”
He sees the education of girls as a big issue for Pakistan and, with some like-minded people, set up a charity which is backing the construction, improvement and operation of schools for girls in Kashmir.
“People have been very generous,” he says.
The charity has already helped half a dozen schools and aims to increase the number to 10 or more. It is also involved in an exchange programme that brings Pakistani teachers to Britain to learn about education here and sends British teachers to Kashmir to see what advice they can give to schools there.
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