Since 1947, people from across the globe have chosen to make Pakistan their home, drawn by its rich culture, stunning landscapes, and the warmth of its people. Through resilience, contribution, and adaptation, they have become integral to the nation’s fabric, leaving indelible marks on its communities and industries.

In the first article of this series, the lives of some outstanding foreigners who lived here for most of their lives were explored. But there are many others and this month we look at a few more who came for what was intended to be a few years and stayed to the end of their lives, and who made remarkable contributions to the progress of the nation. 
Although familiar to military history buffs, few Pakistanis will have heard of Władysław Józef Marian Turowicz (often referred to as W. J. M Turowicz) nor of his wife Zofia Turowicz, and the remarkable story of the group of Polish aviators who played an important role in the early days of the (Royal) Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan’s space program. 
Władysław Turowicz was born on April 23, 1908 in a village in the harsh environment of Siberia in Russia where his father worked on the Trans-Siberian railways for the Tsarist Russian Empire. The family fled from Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 and settled in Poland. Fascinated by aviation from a young age, he studied Aeronautical Engineering at Politechnika Warszawska (Warsaw University of Technology) where he had the opportunity to study and work under the direction of notable Polish engineers in aerospace engineering and technology.  In 1927, he gained his Masters and then a PhD with Honors. He also attained a Master’s degree in Astrophysics/Dynamics from “Aeroklub Polski” (Polish Aero Club). It was here that he met his future wife, Zofia, a renowned glider pilot.
He joined the Polish Air Force (PAF) as an aeronautical engineer and test pilot. When World War II broke out in September 1939, his unit was given orders to disable their aircraft to prevent their use by the enemy and to cross over to Romania, which was at the time a neutral country. They were interned by the Allied forces but eventually released to Allied countries in Europe. Turowicz and others made their way to France, where they regrouped under the command of General Sikorski. At that time, Władysław Turowicz and Zofia were posted in separate units. When France fell to the Germans, they made their way separately to Great Britain. Turowicz chose the long route through North Africa, and the redoubtable Zofia, disguised as a sailor, sailed on a fishing boat across the English Channel. In England, the Poles served in the Polish Arm of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and contributed substantially to the air defense of Britain.

When Turowicz joined the RPAF in 1948, the substantial skills and knowledge he brought with him were quickly put to good use. He set up technical institutes in Karachi and taught at and revitalised the Pakistan Air Force Academy where he also worked as chief scientist. 

The RAF did not accept Turowicz as a fighter pilot due to his weak eyesight but passed him to fly transport planes and occasionally as a test pilot. Mostly he worked in the maintenance and technical departments of the RAF. The skills he learned there would eventually be of great value after the war when he moved to Pakistan.
At the end of the war in 1945, Turowicz and the majority of the Poles who fought with the Allied Forces decided not to return to Poland which was now firmly in the grip of the communist regime as they feared imprisonment. To make ends meet, he took up a job at the British aircraft manufacturing plant at Farnborough. However, he wanted to leave Britain owing to its depressing weather and post-war misery.
This was a distressing time for Turowicz and Zofia and the Polish pilots. It was unsafe to return to Poland and nobody wanted them in the land they courageously fought to save. And then an extraordinary opportunity arose. The Pakistan High Commission in London announced a need for trained pilots for its nascent Royal Pakistan Air Force (RPAF).
After Partition, Pakistan had found itself in a more precarious position than India as, owing to its smaller size and population, it had received a lesser share of the distribution of British India’s military assets. Pakistan’s Air Force was in a particularly fragile state, having received a mere 2,332 personnel, which included just 220 officers and 24 pilots.
Aircraft, airfields, and infrastructure inherited by the country were also severely underdeveloped and needed extensive repair and maintenance.
Seeing an opportunity to restart post-war their lives in a profession they loved, Turowicz, Zofia and more than 30 pilots, plus aircraft technicians, and aeronautical engineers opted to join and were given 3-year contracts. They could not have known then that their contribution would help create one of the world’s most admired air forces which today has 70,000 active personnel and 8,000 reserves.

Wladysław Turowicz was identified as showing the most promise among the new arrivals as he was technically sound. He was initially posted in the Technical Training Section (TTS) at Drigh Road and later commanded the No 102 Maintenance Unit. From there, he rose through the ranks and in different postings, proving that initial assessment to be correct. 
Zofia Turowicz also played an important role, serving as a glider instructor for the Shaheen Air Cadets and the flying training of new flight cadets for several years between 1950 and 1954. When the contracts of the Polish personnel in RPAF expired, most left for other countries. However, Turowicz and Zofia decided to stay as they felt at home in Pakistan. Turowicz’s career was doing well and Zofia, being a Master in Mathematics and Physics, began teaching mathematics and other science subjects at the Karachi American School and they were enjoying life. In 1961, the Turowiczs applied for citizenship of Pakistan and decided to raise their four children in their new homeland. All their children were educated in Karachi, the city they loved the most.

When Turowicz joined the RPAF in 1948, the substantial skills and knowledge he brought with him were quickly put to good use. He set up technical institutes in Karachi and taught at and revitalised the Pakistan Air Force Academy where he also worked as chief scientist. In 1952, Turowicz was promoted to the rank of Wing Commander, and in 1959, to the rank of Group Captain, then in 1960 he became an Air Commodore and an Assistant Chief of Air Staff in charge of PAF’s Maintenance Branch.

 During the 1965 Indo-Pak War, Pakistan suffered a setback when the U.S. halted the supply of combat aircraft spare parts to Pakistan. Turowicz supervised the production of spare parts in Pakistan that paralleled the ones made in America. He ensured that aircraft readiness and turn-around time did not suffer by organizing locally produced substitutes keeping the PAF fleet up and running against the enemy. In recognition of his meritorious services during the war, he was awarded the Sitara-e-Pakistan by the President of Pakistan. He received many other awards during his lifetime.

 In 1966, the Government of Pakistan transferred Turowicz to the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), Pakistan’s national space agency, as its Chief Scientist. After the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik, he and Nobel laureate Dr. Abdus Salam successfully convinced the then-President, Ayub Khan, of the importance of a space programme for a developing country like Pakistan. The duo also persuaded the U.S. Government to invest and train Pakistan’s scientists in the field of rocket technology.

In 1967, after formal retirement from PAF, Turowicz was appointed head of SUPARCO by President Ayub Khan. At SUPARCO he oversaw the rapid development of Pakistan’s weather satellite, Rehbar-2, conceiving and developing the design himself. 

Turowicz was appointed head of SUPARCO in 1967 where he initiated the space programme, upgraded the Sonmiani Satellite Launch Centre, and installed the Flight-Test Control Command, the Launch Pad Control System and System Engineering Division. He embarked on a project for the fabrication and launch of a Pakistani satellite which enabled Pakistan to master the field of rocket technology. 
In 1967, after formal retirement from PAF, Turowicz was appointed head of SUPARCO by President Ayub Khan. At SUPARCO he oversaw the rapid development of Pakistan’s weather satellite, Rehbar-2, conceiving and developing the design himself. The satellite was launched from Sonmiani Satellite Launch Centre, which Turowicz had recently upgraded, and carried a payload of 80 pounds. He also oversaw the development of a Launchpad Control System, a Flight-Test Control Command and an entire division for System Engineering in SUPARCO. 
The Doppler Radar (Islamabad Mission Control Center) and Islamabad Ionosphere Station in Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) were also his endeavours. In the late 1970s, Air Commodore Turowicz dedicated his time to advancing the academic development of space and aeronautical studies. He orchestrated the construction of an engineering institution in SUPARCO. Turowicz and his students conducted research and published papers and articles on topics such as space exploration, and ballistic missiles. Without his contributions, Pakistan would not have achieved what it has achieved today in the field of space and missile technology. 
In recognition of his exceptional contributions to the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and SUPARCO, he was awarded the Sitara-e-Pakistan (1965), Tamgha-i-Pakistan (1967), Sitara-i-Khidmat (1967), Sitara-e-Quaid-e-Azam (1971), Sitara-e-Imtiaz (1972), Abdus Salam Award in Aeronautical Engineering (1978), and the International Centre for Theoretical Physics Prize (ICTP Award) in Space Physics (1979).
Władysław Turowicz died in a car accident in Karachi on January 8, 1980. He was buried with full military honours in the Christian cemetery in Karachi. His name is engraved on a memorial at the PAF Museum in Karachi, along with other Polish scientists who served the country. The Space Complex (SUPARCO) in Lahore has also erected a monument in his honor.
Zofia Turowicz passed away in Karachi in 2012. For her service to her adopted country, she was awarded the Presidential Pride of Performance and the Sitara-i-Imtiaz by the Government of Pakistan.  
Other foreigners also served in the PAF from the beginning. Air Vice Marshal (ACM) Allan Perry-Keene, from the RAF served as the first Commander-in-Chief of the PAF, serving from 1947 to 1949.  Air Vice Marshal Michael John O'Brian, another ex-RAF officer, served in the Royal PAF from 1947 to 1978, living out his life in Pakistan. Born in Lahore to an old Christian family, O'Brian enlisted in the Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF) on April 29, 1946 after graduating the 39 Course of the Initial Training Wing, Pune. He was promoted to Pilot Officer on October 29, 1946. After Partition, he chose to return to Pakistan and enlist in the (Royal) Pakistan Air Force) and served as the Commandant of the National Defense College, Islamabad, and Deputy Air Chief of Staff. 

Foreigners have always played a role in improving education standards in Pakistan and while some stayed a few years and were devoted to the work of educating young Pakistanis – both male and female students—others stayed until the end of their lives. Mr. Hugh Catchpole was one of those remarkable people who gave much of their lives to ensuring young Pakistanis had the best possible education to take their place amongst the country's future leaders, and found a forever home in a foreign. He was born in 1907 in the United Kingdom (UK) and studied history at Oxford University, earning his final Honours in Modern History in June 1928. He had a keen interest in sports and represented his county in cricket, hockey, and squash.

On March 23, 1979, Mr. Catchpole was awarded the Sitara-e-Imtiaz by the President of Pakistan for his services in the field of education in Pakistan. 

At Oxford, he studied Indian history inspired him to take up a teaching assignment at the Prince of Wales Rashtria Indian Military College Dehra Dun, (RIMC) India as a teacher in 1928 where he served until World War II broke out. He then joined the Royal Army in 1941 and left for training at the Officers’ Training School at Mhow in central India. He achieved the rank of Captain and began teaching Urdu to British cadets until 1944. He proceeded to the UK and spent the rest of the war years interrogating escaped Indian soldiers, who were captured by the Germans. 
Eventually, he returned from Military duty on December 10, 1946 and rejoined the RIMC and on October 1, 1948, he was reappointed Principal RIMC. That marked the beginning of an association of heading Public Schools in the Subcontinent that lasted for nearly nineteen years, five in India and at least fourteen in Pakistan.
After the end of his tenure of five years as Principal at RIMC, he moved to Lahore in Pakistan to take up a teaching post at Aitchison College. However, on the initiative of the army, the Education Adviser to the Punjab Government approached him and offered him the job as the Founder Principal of the Cadet College at Hasanabdal. The army contributed its camping ground and the funds for the entire project were provided by the Government of the Punjab. Encouraged by the support of senior Rimcollians now serving in Pakistan, he took it on in earnest to set up a residential school at Hasanabdal.
The new school was named by Mr. Catchpole as the Punjab Cadet College which began with its first batch in 1954. He served in Hasanabdal as the founder Principal till 1958 and then joined the PAF School in Sargodha as its founder Principal. He remained Principal at the PAF School until he reached retirement age of 60 in 1967. 

But his passion for teaching did not diminish and a retirement life was not appealing. He packed up and moved to the pleasant climate of Abbottabad for health reasons and took up a position as Head of the English Department at Abbottabad Public School (APS). His other passion in life was cricket and he served as a cricket coach for the school until he was 71. He remained in APS until his latter years.
Mr. Catchpole was an educationist, humanist and philanthropist. He was known to be a strict disciplinarian but had a rich sense of humour which made him an extremely successful teacher. He led a simple life and donated his entire life’s savings to further the cause of education and sports in the institutions he served in England, India, and Pakistan. He commanded the respect and love of the thousands of students whose lives he touched and to this day is remembered with great fondness as a patriot who made this country his forever home.
In recognition of his services in education, Mr. Catchpole was honoured both by the British and Pakistani governments. On January 1, 1971 Queen Elizabeth conferred the Order of the British Empire (OBE) upon him and on December 31, 1980, he was decorated with Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE). Similarly, on March 23, 1979, Mr. Catchpole was awarded the Sitara-e-Imtiaz by the President of Pakistan for his services in the field of education in Pakistan. Mr. Catchpole passed away on February 1, 1997, and in accordance with his will, he was buried in the grounds of Cadet College Hasanabdal with full honours. 

Another educator who devoted many years of her life to education in Pakistan was Professor Margaret Shiell Harbottle OBE, an English woman who came to Pakistan in the 1950s and was Head Mistress at the Frontier College for Women, Home Economics College and Edwardes College Peshawar. Later she became the Chairperson of the English Department at the University of Peshawar. A lively and warm woman, she was passionate about teaching and introducing Shakespearian theatre to her students. Professor Harbottle is still remembered fondly by her students as speaking Pashto with a strong Scottish accent and as a kind and caring woman who did much to help her students prepare for their life’s journey. She died in April 1977 and is buried in the Old Christian Cemetery (Tehkal Gora Qabristan) in Peshawar.

From neither science nor education, an outlier more known for her social work, and efforts in the negotiations to acquire Gwadar for Pakistan, was Lady Viqar-un-Nisa Noon. Lady ‘Vicky’ Noon, as she was known to her friends, was born in July 1920, in Austria. She was brought up and educated in England, and considered herself a young ‘English woman. ’While in London, she met Firoz Khan Noon, then High Commissioner for the Government of India, who was from a distinguished Punjabi landowning family. After five years in London, he was recalled to India in 1941 to become a member of Viceroy Archibald Wavell’s Council. Towards the end of the war, he also served as a member of Churchill’s Commonwealth War Cabinet. Vicky followed him to India, becoming his second wife at a marriage in Bombay in 1945. She converted to Islam and was renamed Viqar-un-Nisa. By then Firoz had been appointed Knight Commander of the Order of India, and of the State of India, so Vicky became Lady Noon—two years before the creation of Pakistan. She was a lively, vivacious woman who used her position for the future of Pakistan. 

Lady Noon engaged in Pakistani politics, joining the Punjab Provincial Women's Subcommittee and organizing rallies for the Muslim League. During the Civil Disobedience Movement in Punjab, she organized protests against Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana's cabinet and was arrested three times.
Viqar-un-Nisar was a determined woman, committed to her adopted land. Lady Viqar-un-Nisa Noon played a large role in negotiating the accession of Gwadar to Pakistan. She visited London in 1956 to see the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and lobby the British Parliament for their Protectorate of Oman and Muscat to give custody of Gwadar in Balochistan to Pakistan, and gain approval from the House of Lords. This was an outstanding contribution to the growth of Pakistan and the land as we know it today. Gwadar is pivotal to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and access to the sea and the vital deepwater port. Gwadar eventually became part of Pakistan in 1958.
After her husband’s death, she continued to be involved in social work activities and was a senior and executive member of such organisations as the Family Planning Association of Pakistan, Pakistan Red Crescent Society, the National Crafts Council of Pakistan and others. For a brief time, she was the Federal Minister for Tourism and Culture during the era of Zia-ul-Haq. In her later life, she spent a great deal of her time at her cottage in the hills near Abbottabad, Pakistan, and in Islamabad. She passed away in 2000.
One name that is so well known in the field of education and his long-term love of Pakistan is Major Geoffrey Langlands. He and his twin brother were born in Yorkshire in England in 1917 during the latter years of World War I. In 1918, his father was amongst the millions who died during the flu pandemic leaving his mother a widow with two tiny boys. Mrs. Langlands moved to her parents' home in Bristol, but when the Langlands twins were just 12 years old, she passed away, leaving the boys orphaned and reliant on the charity of relatives and friends. Their generosity helped the boys be educated at Kings College, a private school in Taunton. After completing his education, he found his first teaching job at a school in Croydon in London. When World War II broke out, he volunteered for the British Army joined the commandos and fought at Dieppe.
In 1944, he was posted to India. He stayed on after the war ended and was witness to the violence that broke out during Partition in 1947.  He was assigned to the newly formed Pakistan Army in the division of resources and served until the 1950’s. But then fate intervened. A chance conversation with President Ayub Khan revealed the need for teachers in Pakistan. Major Langlands agreed to stay on in Pakistan to teach and joined Aitchison College in Lahore—fondly known by some as ‘the Eton of Pakistan’ where he taught for 25 years.
In 1979, he accepted a new post, a world away in the tribal areas of the North West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) in Razmak, a pretty hill town in North Waziristan, often known fondly as Little London due to it having been a British garrison pre-Partion. Then a rather lawless part of the country, known for violence and kidnapping, it proved to be a challenge—but one he took on with energy and enthusiasm. In 1988, he was kidnapped but was released after a few days when it became clear to the abductors that he would not provide the value they had hoped to gain.
Eventually, Major Langlands moved on from Razmak to become the Principal of a new private school in Chitral, Sayurj, which primarily had Chitrali teachers. Local parents wanted a school that would provide quality education in the English language. Major Langlands played a key role in raising funds for the school's establishment and expansion, serving as its Principal for 24 years. He was deeply involved in the community, always offering a helping hand to those in need. According to an Al Jazeera obituary, former students interviewed for the story remembered him as a great friend, a humanitarian, and a passionate storyteller with a remarkable memory.
The school was renamed The Langlands School and College, Chitral in his honor in 2006. It was in Chitral that he continued his teaching career until his retirement at the age of 94 in 2012. When he first joined the school, it had just 80 students; by the time he retired, enrollment had grown to 800.
Major Langlands passed away in 2019 at the age of 101 in Lahore, where he spent his final years in accommodation arranged for him by grateful students at Aitchison College. His contribution to education in Pakistan was profound. He taught thousands of students from diverse economic and social backgrounds and is fondly remembered for his passion for education, dedication to community service, love of trekking in the mountains, and deep affection for the people.
According to the school's website, nearly 4,000 students have passed through its portals since 1988. Former students have excelled in their academic and professional careers, gaining admission to institutions such as Forman Christian (FC) College, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), and the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), as well as universities in the UK, including the London School of Economics (LSE), up to the PhD level.
The school has produced over seventy teachers, sixty doctors, thirty-five army officers, and numerous civil servants, professionals, and business leaders. Throughout its history, English teachers and principals have been part of the institution, a tradition that continues today. Major Langlands' successor, British educator Carey Schofield, has taken the school to new heights in the years since she assumed leadership.

Major Geoffrey Langlands was awarded many honours in his lifetime including Sitara-e-Pakistan, Hilal-i-Imtiaz, Order of St. Michael and St. George and Order of the British Empire. 
There is a newer generation of foreigners who have chosen to settle in Pakistan in recent years who are contributing to the socioeconomic development of the nation, introducing new ideas, expertise, skills, investment and technical knowledge. They too have gradually integrated into the nation's fabric. More about them will be discussed in Part III.

(To be continued…)

The writer is an Australian Disaster Management and Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Advisor currently residing in Islamabad. She consults for the Government and United Nations agencies and has previously worked with both the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). 
E-mail: [email protected]