Jamsheed Marker

Jamsheed Marker (24 November 1922 – 21 June 2018) was a Pakistani diplomat and a cricket commentator. The recipient of Hilal-e-Imtiaz, he was associated with diplomatic career for over 42 years.<ref name="nytimes.com">Jamsheed Marker Leading Pakistani Diplomat dies at 95 (New York Times).</ref> He was notable for his tenure as Ambassador to the United States, serving from 17 September 1986 to 30 June 1989 during the administrations of Prime Ministers Muhammad Khan Junejo and Benazir Bhutto. He claimed to have helped negotiate the Soviet military withdrawal from Afghanistan.<ref name="Faculty_directory_entry"/>

From 1995 through 2005, Marker taught a course in "Diplomacy in International Relations" at Eckerd College, a Private liberal arts college in St. Petersburg, Florida.<ref name=Dawn3/>

Awards and recognition

• Hilal-i-Imtiaz Award (Crescent of Excellence) by President Pervez Musharraf in 2003.<ref name=Dawn/><ref name=Dawn.com/>
• Sitara-i-Quaid-e-Azam Award<ref name=Dawn.com/>

Early life

Jamsheed Kekobad Ardeshir<ref name="FullName">Template:Cite web</ref> Marker was born in Hyderabad, India, on 24 November 1922, into a distinguished Parsee (Parsi),<ref>Robert Pear, WASHINGTON TALK/Working Profile: Jamsheed K. A. Marker; Linchpin of U.S.-Pakistan Alliance, The New York Times, September 1, 1988. Retrieved 29 December 2019</ref> or Zoroastrian, family that had been in shipping business. His father was Kekobad Ardeshir Marker, who ran the family pharmaceutical business, and his mother was Meherbano Marker nee Pestonji, a homemaker.<ref name="nytimes.com"/><ref name=Dawn.com/><ref name=Dawn3/>

He attended the elite Doon boarding school (The Doon School) in Dehradun, India,<ref>The International Who's Who 1992–93, Taylor & Francis, 1992, p. 1065. Retrieved 30 December 2019</ref> and Forman Christian College University in Lahore, Pakistan.<ref name="nytimes.com"/><ref name=Dawn>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=Dawn3/>

In early days at school level, in Dehradun located in India, Marker played cricket there and later at F.C. College Lahore.<ref name=Dawn/><ref name=Dawn.com/>

Career

During World War II, Marker was an officer in the Royal Indian Naval Volunteer Reserve, commanding a minesweeper.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> He was awarded the 1939/45 Star, Burma Star, War Service Medal for his military service.<ref name=Dawn3>Template:Cite news</ref>

He worked in his family business, shipping and pharmaceuticals, after the Second World War ended, and during the 1950s became famous for his radio commentary on cricket, one of Pakistan’s most popular sports.<ref name="nytimes.com"/><ref name=Dawn.com/><ref name=Tribune/>

Cricket commentator

Marker was a radio cricket match commentator.<ref name=Dawn/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His first broadcast was from the Bagh-e-Jinnah, also known as Lawrence Garden, in Lahore when India visited Pakistan on their first cricket tour in 1954.<ref name=Tribune>Template:Cite news</ref> He teamed up with cricket commentator Omar Kureishi for the first time as a Radio Pakistan cricket commentator.<ref name=Dawn.com>Profile: Jamsheed Marker – eminent Parsi, the first amongst the equals Dawn (newspaper), Published 27 April 2014, Retrieved 29 December 2019</ref><ref name=Dawn3/>

Diplomat

Marker worked in his family's shipping business until April 1965, when he was appointed Pakistan's High Commissioner to Ghana during the height of popularity for its independence leader Kwame Nkrumah, with concurrent accreditation to Guinea and Mali.<ref name=Dawn3/><ref name=news/><ref name=Dawn.com/> He afterward represented Pakistan in Romania, the Soviet Union (1969 – 1972), Canada, East Germany, Japan, the United Nations Office at Geneva, West Germany, France, the United States (1986 – 1989) and finally the United Nations in New York City (1990 – 1994).<ref name=Dawn/><ref name=news/><ref name=Dawn.com/> Marker served as Ambassador of Pakistan continually for thirty years, in ten different capitals, and nine further concurrent accreditations.<ref name=Tribune/><ref>Jamsheed Marker. "East Timor: A Memoir of the Negotiations for Independence" McFarland, 2003, 220pp</ref><ref name=Dawn3/>

Jamsheed Marker was able to communicate in English, French, German, Russian, Urdu and his native language Gujarati.<ref name=Dawn3/> He was appointed Ambassador to the United States in 1986 and helped negotiate the Soviet military withdrawal from Afghanistan.<ref name="Faculty_directory_entry">Template:Citation</ref> Marker, in his 2010 memoir "Quiet Diplomacy," described contacts with official and unofficial representatives from both the United States and the Soviet Union, where he had also been ambassador. Pakistan was playing a key role in the negotiations.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> He also worked closely with the Pakistani military dictator General Zia Ul-Haq as the general developed the country’s clandestine nuclear weapons program.<ref name="nytimes.com"/><ref name=Dawn.com/>

In 1999, he served as United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative to East Timor.<ref name="PNW_20041030">Template:Citation.</ref> Annan is reported to have hailed Marker's "empathy for both sides in the talks".<ref name=Dawn3/><ref name="Martin_19990922_1A">Template:Citation, p. 1A.</ref> The Portuguese foreign minister praised Marker's "sophisticated and calm approach" while the Indonesian foreign minister said Marker's "diplomatic skills smoothed the way whenever there was a 'snag in the negotiations'".<ref name="Martin_19990922_1A"/> Marker chronicled his experiences in his 2003 book "East Timor: A Memoir of the Negotiations for Independence."<ref name="nytimes.com"/><ref name=Tribune/>

The British journalist Richard Lloyd Parry, in his book In the Time of Madness,<ref name="Lloyd Parry 2005, p.254">Lloyd Parry, Richard, In the Time of Madness, Cape, 2005, p. 254.</ref> recalls Marker's words of praise for the Indonesian police and the "superb leadership" of their commander Timbul Silaien after the referendum on independence for East Timor and its bloody preamble. Within days, these same Indonesian security forces were engaged in the deportation and, in some cases, the killing of East Timorese.<ref name="Lloyd Parry 2005, p.254"/>

Marker also served as ambassador in France, the Soviet Union, Canada, Japan, West Germany and East Germany — where he opened the Pakistani Embassy. Despite being a non-Muslim in conservative Muslim Pakistan, he was broadly respected at home and had close relationships with several leaders of the country.<ref name="nytimes.com"/>

Some critics say Marker was more at ease with the military rulers of the country than its civilian leaders.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> In his book "Cover Point" (2016), Marker remembered General Ayub Khan, Pakistan’s first military ruler, as a leader who "did give us security, law and order, good governance and economic prosperity."<ref name="nytimes.com"/>

Marker had little praise for civilian prime ministers like Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, whom he regarded as financially corrupt, and he was critical of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's iron-fisted management style while praising many of his qualities, the former prime minister and father of Ms. Bhutto, blaming him for most of his country’s ailments.<ref name="nytimes.com"/>

Teaching

From 1995 through 2005, Marker taught a course in "Diplomacy in International Relations" at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S.<ref name="Martin_19990922_1A"/><ref name=Dawn3/>

In September 2004, Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz named Marker as ambassador-at-large for his years of service.<ref name="Park_20070318_22">Template:Citation, p. 22.</ref>

In June 2011, Marker was awarded an honorary doctorate by Forman Christian College University, Lahore, at the 2011–12 Commencement.<ref name=Tribune/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Marker received the Hilal-i-Imtiaz Award (Crescent of Excellence) from President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf in 2003.<ref name=Dawn/>

Death and legacy

Marker was married to Arnaz Minwalla. He was previously married to Diana Faridoon Dinshaw who died in 1979 of cancer. He had two daughters with Dinshaw: Niloufer Reifler<ref name="nytimes.com"/> and Feroza, who died in a car crash in the US in 2001.<ref name="Marker, Kekobad Ardeshir 1985, p. 240">Marker, Kekobad Ardeshir, A Petal from the Rose Karachi, 1985, vol. II, p. 240.</ref><ref name=Tribune/>

Jamsheed Marker died on 21 June 2018 in Karachi at the age of 95.<ref name=Tribune/><ref name=Dawn/><ref name=news>Template:Cite news</ref> Besides his daughter, Niloufer, from his first marriage, he is survived by his wife, Arnaz (Minwalla) Marker; and his brother, Minocher Marker (Minoo Marker).<ref name="Marker, Kekobad Ardeshir 1985, p. 240"/>

Jamsheed Marker served as a Pakistani diplomat continually for 30 years. He "helped negotiate the withdrawal of the former Soviet military from Afghanistan" in 1988-1989. As of June 2018, this service earned him the title of 'ambassador to more countries than any other person'.Template:Cn

Published works

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References

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