Today we’d like to introduce you to Fazlul Haq
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
MY STORY
I was born in a remote village in the Hindukush Mountains, Northern Pakistan, literally in the jungle. Our village lacked any kind of road connections to the outside world, and donkeys were the only means of transporting goods from a small market about five miles away in the foothills. We had no electricity while growing up, and the only educational institution was a primary school with no proper building. We had no health, sports, or entertainment facilities—no TV, no communication sources—and the only way to get informed about anything in the village was through the sound of drumming. We had no idea what was happening in the world outside our village. Now that I see life here in the US, it sometimes makes me feel sad to think about how much we have missed.
The culture was so conservative that from childhood, we were taught that even talking to or looking at women outside our family was the gravest sin and would condemn us to hell. Growing up in that society, I witnessed many friends and acquaintances killed in the name of honor for accusations as minor as looking at or talking to a woman. This instilled a deep-seated fear in our minds from an early age. I still feel intimidated by women and awkward around them. Therefore, navigating the cultural transition in the US has been a nightmare for me, and I still find it hard to connect and make friends.
Few children received an education, and those who did sat under trees in the dirt for a few hours each day, unaware of the quality of education provided in developed areas. My father, a junior high school graduate, was a teacher in that school, and he inspired me to pursue an education. Long story short, after completing primary school, I enrolled in high school in the nearest town. This marked the beginning of my trials, as I walked five miles down the mountain each morning to attend school and climbed back up in the afternoon to return home. This routine continued for years. The most challenging part was carrying a 5kg can of milk daily in one hand while my book bag hung on my shoulders. My mother, who is completely illiterate, milked her cow and made me sell the extra milk in the market to support our family, as there weren’t a lot of economic activities available in the area.
This high school served children from dozens of villages in the surrounding mountains. With the development of transportation, it became the hub for thousands of people, and I am proud that my name is listed on the school’s board of “most successful graduates”.
The education system there was different. College starts at senior high and goes up to a bachelor’s degree (16 years of education). There was no concept of mixed-gender education until the university level, which offered master’s degrees. After junior high (10th standard), boys sought admission to the only men’s degree college in the entire district (3,699 km²), while girls enrolled in the women’s degree college. I gained admission to the boys’ college, completed my senior high, and earned my bachelor’s degree. As I said, getting education was a job next to impossible for most of the remote villages and that is why I became the first science graduate from my village.
Since the college was far from my village, education was expensive, and unlike in the Western world, we had no access to jobs to support our education. I learned tailoring and started a tailoring business with a friend in the local market. Balancing my college education and running the tailoring shop was difficult, but it was my only option.
After earning my bachelor’s degree, I attended the University of Peshawar, five hours from my village. This was my first experience with co-education. I became a boarding student, tailoring at night in the university town while studying during the day. I earned my master’s degree, then another master’s, and eventually enrolled as a doctoral student. Halfway through my PhD, I secured a junior faculty position, was promoted to Assistant Professor, and later appointed Head of the Department. In the meantime, I received the Byrd Postdoctoral Award at the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, OSU.
I have omitted many details in the latter part of my story, which I can share later. However, my journey is ongoing, and there is still much to achieve.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
oh, no! it has been torturous.
1. Getting out of the jungle with no physical facilities.
2. Supporting my younger sibling’s education.
3. Going against the extremely religious and conservative norms to study at a university.
4. Herding and grazing my mom’s cows and goats and collecting wood from the jungle when i was only a primary school kid.
5. Surviving and ditching the elder boys who would prey on the younger kids for their sexual fantasies. This was probably one of the most difficult challenges of the childhood, because the elders of the family/village wouldn’t know about it and the concept of shame and honor was so big that it wasn’t possible for the kids to bring it into their parent’s attention.
6. Climbing up and down the mountains for miles daily in the cold and hot weathers without even the basic facilities.
i can go on, but you got my point.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a Ph.D. in Geography with specialization in Global Environmental Change and the World Mountains.
Currently, on a sabbatical from my original position as Assistant Professor in Pakistan and working as a scientist at the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center.
1. I am not a famous person to say what I am known for. However, as a University Professor and researcher, I have earned a good name and reputation with a lot of students and a good fan following mainly because of my teaching methods and my dedication to my job.
2. When I was a Master student, I won the opportunity to author High School Geography Textbooks, which have been a mandatory part of the high school curriculum in one of the four provinces of Pakistan for the last more than 10 years.
3. My achievements are small, but there are several things that I feel really proud of:
(a). My name on the High School most successful alumni board.
(b). I am the first college graduate in my town.
(c). I was the first person who encouraged and supported his sisters to go to high school. This was something never happened before that and was a rebellion against the norms and taboos.
(d). The fact that my authored textbooks are being taught at all the public and private schools including the schools that I studied at.
(e). When I got my Ph.D., I became one of the youngest, if not the youngest, doctors in my field in the entire country.
(f). The Byrd Postdoctoral Award has been the international recognition of my research and I feel really proud of it.
4. One of my projects was funded recently by the Mershon Center of Internation Security Studies. The project is the first attempt to study the India-Pakistan Water Conflict on scientific lines.
What are your plans for the future?
I am dedicated to conduct field-based genuine research on the Hindukush-Karakoram-Himalayan glaciers to understand the real dynamics going on and how is it going to impact the environment and human communities in the Indus Basin.
My research has always been obstructed by the lack of resources as this is difficult terrain and needs a lot of financial support. Therefore, I have been submitting projects to the NSF and NASA with some American fellows to get funding and explore these mountains.
Besides my professional work:
(1) I want to do some work in human welfare in the area that I was born and raised in. I want to contribute the best I can to the development of those villages to make sure the kids don’t miss what we have missed in our childhood.
(2). Throughout my life, I have witnessed human rights abuses and women suppression in the rural areas of Pakistan, especially in the mountains. My next life motive is to work on women empowerment in my area and beyond. I have always been a rebel against some inhuman norms and taboos, and as soon I have the resources, I will start my public campaign against those.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fazlul_haq17/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fazlul.haq.102977
