Remembering Mian Tariq Mahmud

Mian Tariq Mahmud, who passed away recently, was an outstanding member of the freight forwarding industry of Pakistan. Starting from scratch he built one of the most prominent organizations of the industry in Pakistan i.e. ‘The TAQ Organization’, consisting of over a score of companies.

There are businessmen who have built larger business houses, but there are very few who have shown such commitment to law of the land, ethics, innovation and pioneering spirit. With his constant pursuit of excellence, he created a wholesome organization and can be considered the leading freight forwarder of his time in Pakistan.

People who worked under him and learned the trade are today spread all over the industry, not only in national companies but also in multinational enterprises like DHL, DSV, Hellmann, etc.

I came to know him in 1989 when I was in the team of consultants who organized in Karachi a trade facilitation workshop sponsored by the World Bank in collaboration with Karachi Port Trust.

I was asked to invite a leading member of the freight forwarding industry from northern part of the country to participate in the workshop. I, therefore, consulted late Mr. Qayyum Bhatti (former President of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry), who had been to my place for dinner In New Delhi when he came there with a business delegation and had been on good terms with me since then.

He suggested the name of Mian Tariq Mahmud, describing his recognition in the business and trade circles. With this reference I talked to Mian Tariq and he kindly agreed to participate in the workshop.

This was the beginning of my friendship with Mian Tariq Mahmud that later turned into a working relationship on my retirement from the Foreign Office as the Legal Advisor and Head of the Legal and Treatise Wing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

I retired in November 2003 and joined his organization as Executive Director Law and Securityin December 2003. In fact, he had earlier also asked me to quit the government job when I helped him in preparing the Standard Trading Conditions manual of his organization. It was, however, not easy to quit the government service and I had to wait for my retirement in order to move ahead.

After joining ‘The TAQ Organization’ and having worked for it for fifteen years as Executive Director Law and Security, I think very few businessmen have such an enlightened and dynamic approach to business as he had.

He was among very few Pakistani businessmen who had established a legal department in their company with three whole-time legal experts, apart from a practising Legal Advisor and a panel of lawyers.

This is, in fact, as per the practice of American business houses. While preparing a report for the UN Office of Legal Affairs New York, I visited some multinational corporations and was surprised when head of the legal department of General Motors informed me that he had 38 full-time attorneys working for him.

Mian Tariq Mahmud was innovative and dynamic in his approach to introducing new products and services in the local market. He was probably the first freight forwarder in Pakistan to use House Bill of Lading, House Air Waybill and started Consolidation and De-Consolidation.

In the principles of policy document of TAQ he had not only included the conduct of business in conformity with law but also had it practiced. He did not care if being on the right side of law resulted in losing some business volume.

I recall, he asked me and the head of the TAQ Training Institute, which was one of the two institutions in Pakistan authorised to conduct FIATA Diploma Courses in Freight Forwarding, to develop a Business Ethics Code of the company. When the code was ready it was sent to all business entities of the TAQ Group in different cities for implementation.

I remember, as IMMTA appointed auditor, he had the honour of being the sole representative of this world trade body at the WTO Conference held in Cancun, Mexico, from September 10 to 14, 2003.

During his professional career that spanned over five decades he travelled extensively, attending workshops, seminars and conferences on freight forwarding, organized by world bodies such as Federation of International Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA) Zurich, International Cargo Handling Coordination Association (ICHCA), International Multimodal Transport Association (IMMTA) Geneva, etc. A true pioneer in his field Mian Tariq always looked at developments in the market from a national and international perspective.

Having known him for about three and a half decades and being invited to his place on different occasions, as well as to his annual gatherings of friends of school and college, I can say that he not only had strong commitment to his business but also to his family, friends and society in general.

He was a widely read person and discussions with him on different topics were enjoyable and enlightening. As a responsible citizen he was concerned that people who were not aware of their true history could not learn from the past and his discussions with me and others finally led to the establishment of the History Reading Society that has regularly been holding monthly meetings for the past over twelve years. He was one of the founding members of History Reading Society, a non-political, non-profit and non-emotional body, which aims at purely better understanding of the subject of history.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024