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He was a good student at Petaro, and would be in
the top 4-5 in academics. In 12th class, he was
appointed Section Leader of Qasim House.
He was a good hockey player, and he played against
Pakistan Military Academy during a visit to Kakul.
After leaving Petaro, he opted to join the
Pakistan Navy with encouragement from
Cdr. Firoz Shah.
He was outstanding at the Naval Academy and was
made Cadet Captain in the final term. He fondly
recalls how he became a member of the Naval
Academy hockey team and played against Petaro with
2 goals to his credit. He had stood second in the first
term and was hence sent to Turkey.
In service with the Navy, he obtained his B.Sc. in Mechanical
Engineering from PNEC/Karachi University in 1976. He was
then selected by the Navy and sent to the UK in 1977 to
do his M.Sc. in Naval Architecture from University College
London (a highly reputable engineering university). He
graduated in 1980. In later years, he also obtained a B.Sc.(Hons) in
War Studies from Karachi University in 1994.
During his career with the Navy, he built many
ships and submarines. He is the only naval officer
who was involved in the construction of every type
of ship and submarine built in Pakistan.
He has served on board many naval ships including
PN Frigate PNS Alamgir as Senior Engineer (1977)
and PN Submarine Hurmat (1981). He was Officer In
Charge of PN Dockyard during 1981-1985 when they
built a number of tug boats, ferry boats, floating
dock, water barges and demagnetizer ship. This was
in addition to maintenance work on various
frigates, destroyers, mine hunters and patrol
boats.
In 1988, he established the Midget Submarine
construction facility at PN Dockyard and was in
charge of the construction of submarines under
supervision by Italians.
In 1992-1994, he was Manager Construction at PN
Dockyard when he successfully completed two
shipbuilding projects - two Midget submarines
(first indigenously built underwater vessels) and
Patrol Craft PNS Larkana (first indigenously built
PN ship).
As a result, in 1994, being in charge of the first ever war
ship built in Pakistan, he was awarded the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz(M).
While he was still in service, he was sent to the
UAE as an Adviser (1988-91), and he also served in the UK,
Italy and France on different projects and
courses.
From 1996 onwards, he was involved with the
prestigious Agosta-90 submarine program for
indigenous construction. At first, he was the
Quality Assurance Authority appointed by the
Ministry of Defense and was sent to France as in
charge of the Technology Transfer and Quality
Control. On return to Pakistan in 1998, he was the
Deputy General Manager for the Agosta submarine
construction at PN Dockyard and in charge of all
production work.
After his promotion to the rank of a Local
Commodore in 2005, he took an early retirement
upon demand by the UAE Navy to join them. He is
now based in France on behalf of the UAE Navy on
their projects as a Senior Company Representative for
ADSB (UAE), to oversee construction works and ensure
smooth transfer of technology.
Cdre.(R) Iqbal Memon was elected a Fellow of RINA
(Royal Institute of Naval Architects), UK in Feb 2005.
He obtained the first position at the Pakistan Navy
Staff College and also did a 3-year Constructor Officers
Course in ship building at RCNC (UK). He has to his
credit many other courses related to ship building and
Mechanical Engineering, ISO9000, Project Management, etc
Iqbal has been a keen member of the Petarian
Association. He has served on the Managing
Committee several times, including one tenure as
the Vice President.
Iqbal is a very humble and thoroughly gentle Petarian and it
is a pleasure to have known him all these years.
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