Abdul Rashid Qureshi (Founder of Rahbar International Lahore)

Abdul Rashid Qureshi was born in Jammu shortly before the end of World War I. His father and grandfather were in the British Army. At the age of one, he became an orphan. He spent his childhood with his mother who took care of him with utmost care and love. The mother sacrificed her youth and did not allow her elder sister and A. Rashid Qureshi to feel like an orphan.

The mother longed for her son to pursue higher education. After passing primary school from Jammu, he went to Poonch to his uncle's place. From there, he passed 10th standard from JV Government High School in 1931. After passing the FA from Prince of Wells College, Jammu, he got married. He continued his studies after marriage and after completing his B.Ed from Shri Pratab Singh College, Srinagar, he started his academic career as a class X teacher at Sri Ranbir Singh High School, Jammu.

After teaching for a few years, he worked as Inspector of Schools in the Jammu Region. In 1946, he was appointed as Lecturer at Teachers Training College, Jammu. He had gone to Mirpur with his sister in 1947 for summer vacation. During the holidays, the country was divided. He temporarily stayed in Jhelum with his family and later settled in Sialkot, Pakistan, with the hope that he would return to his native Jammu and Kashmir.

Initially he worked as a Lecturer in Army Convent School in Sialkot but later took up journalism. In 1949, he published his first educational journal "Nizam-e-Taleem" which was published in all schools of Azad Kashmir and Punjab. He later launched the weekly newspaper "Rahbar Kisan" in 1956 which continued till his retirement in 1982.

He remained associated with the field of knowledge and teaching. Before Pakistan was born, he was the author of a few books which were published by a renowned publisher in Amritsar. Rasheed Qureshi believed that he came here because of his mother's vision. In later life, he made several trips to the United States and various European countries. He later visited Saudi Arabia and Qatar also. He passed away on November 19, 2001 after a short illness. Coincidentally, his wife also passed away on November 19, 1983.