WING COMMANDER (R) MATIULLAH SATTI

Wing Commander (R) Matiullah Satti was born in the village Ghanuyain in Kotli Sattian, Rawalpindi. He completed his primary education from the village school and his matriculation from the Govt High School Lehtrar. He Joined PAF college Sargodha as a flight cadet, after completing his graduation from this prestigious institution with distinction he joined PAF Academy Risalpur for his flying training.

Matiullah Satti was commissioned as a Pilot officer in GD(p) branch of the PAF in 1980. He became the first fighter pilot from Satti Tribe after creation of Pakistan and perhaps the second in the history of Satti Tribe.

He flew various fighter jets of the PAF like F-6, A-5 and Mirage to name a few. He also flew as a flying instructor in the academy and had the honour of leading the elite PAF Academy aerobatics team "The SHERDILS".

After serving PAF as a fighter pilot for about 16 years he decided to take premature retirement in 1996. He served only a year in his last rank as a wing commander. Matiullah Satti says "PAF is a great institution and I am who I am because of this elite organisation. I have great respect and love for PAF which is led and run by men of special breed."

A while after leaving PAF he joined UAE Air Force as a Civilian Flying Instructor in one of their fighter conversion unit. This unit was an integral part of Khalifa Bin Zayed Air College Al Ain.

Matiullah Satti  had the opportunity to fly with at least 10 nationalities from the world, who formed a part of instructional staff. He said "It was great learning and I enjoyed flying the Hawk-63, (the jet flown by Red Arrows) one of the best fighter trainer in the world."

He added that "after almost 15 years in Al Ain, i chose to come back to Pakistan in 2010. It was time to try my hand on the jetliners before hanging my flying boots. I flew A-320 and A-340 with Air Blue for 5 years. I left Air Blue and joined Shaheen Air International in April 2016  and am flying A-320  to date." 

"Flying is my passion, a unique profession, and I am in love with it. It’s unique in a way that its yesterday is never connected with today, for every  flight, you have a new jet, new copilot, new cabin crew, new passengers, new weather, new destination and a new Runway to land....it’s a challenge all the way."  (Matiullah Satti) 

CAPTAIN ABDUL RAUF SATTI - CHIEF FLYING INSTRUCTOR

Captain Raja Abdul Rauf Satti was a pilot by profession, who hailed from Lehtrar (Pallan), Kotli Sattian. He was the longest serving Chief Flying Instructor of Rawalpindi Flying club which is one of the internationally recognized prestigious flying training institute in Pakistan. He became the third commercial pilot from Satti tribe after Squadron Leader Saeed Satti and Flight Lieutenant Latif Satti.

He stands with pride to have trained hundreds of commercial pilots, most of the senior pilots presently working for PIA are trained by him. In addition to this he trained commercial pilots of other Muslim countries such as Syria, Jordan and UAE. Moreover, he was the first pilot to land at Muzaffarabad and Rawalakot airports. He had more than 16000 flying hours to his credit and holds a distinction of flying more than 12000 hours as a flying instructor. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi (Ex PM of Pakistan), Captain Muneeb Mufti (Pilot in PIA) and Captain Aziz ud Din (Pilot in Saudi Airline) are among his notable students. Prior to becoming a pilot he was a successful banker. The honour of opening
first bank [MCB] in Kotli Sattian in 70s also goes to him.



Contributed by : Nelofar Rauf Satti

DR LIAQAT AMIN SATTI

Dr. Liaqat Amin Satti is a highly qualified and experienced Executive, Consultant and Educator, who has worked for 30 years in the fields of Risk, Resilience, Safety, Security, Environment, Health, Crisis Management and Business Continuity. He has a PhD in Entrepreneurship. Currently he is working as an Executive Director Operations, Strategic Centre for Consultancy and Technology of Qatar.

He has designed, developed and implemented State Level Resilience Program and imported training to Senior Executives, Middle Management & Operational Teams. His work experience encompasses more than 15 countries. He is a specialist in designing and conducting “Crisis Management Exercises” to authenticate various industrial worst case scenarios such as Oil Spill, Hazardous Material Spill, large Toxic Gas Leaks, Fire, Explosion, Natural Disasters and Security Threats.

Liaqat Amin Satti is a keynote presenter and speaker in international conferences and seminars on the topics of Safety, Crisis Management, Business Continuity and Excellence of Leadership. He is also a member of advisory board for several educational institutions.

His core competencies are to develop, implement and maintain Resilience System that includes: Risk Management, Prevention/Mitigation, Emergency Response, Crisis Management, Business Continuity & Recovery for oil and gas industries, as well as to government and non-governmental organizations.

Dr Liaqut Amin Satti hails from Biaga, Kotli Sattian in Rawalpindi District.

Contributed by: Sadia Rizwan

DR IMRAN ALI SATTI

Dr. Imran Ali Satti is a lecturer, researcher and consultant at Australian Institute of Business and University of South Australia. He holds a PhD in business management (logistics and supply chain management) from School of Management at the University of South Australia (UniSA), which was simultaneously funded by the Australia Postgraduate Award (APA), UniSA School of Management Scholarship and Top Up scholarship. Imran brings around 13 years’ experience in operations, logistics, supply chain, and project management from academic, industrial and research institutions in Australia and overseas.

With a strong practical experience and theoretical knowledge, Imran teaches and coordinates the operations, supply chain and logistics management subjects and actively supervises MBA research projects.

Imran’s current research focuses on the risk and resilience in supply chains. His research has been published in well-ranked journals and conference proceedings as well as being presented in Australia and overseas.

In collaboration with UNDP and the Government of Pakistan, Imran has successfully supervised and completed four major research projects (three to five years for each), resulting in 'Honorarium Awards'. As a Business Consultant, he applied a wide variety of operations/supply chain management and strategic management tools, along with providing strategy and performance evaluation training to managers, resulting in a 'Best Performance Award'.

Being an active research degree supervisor, Imran currently supervises a PhD student in the area of operations and supply chain management.

Dr Imran Ali Satti originally belongs to the village Kalyal Sattian, Hothla, in Tehsil Kahuta, Rawalpindi. 

Publications and Presentations

Ali, I., Nagalingam, S., & Gurd, B. (2017). A resilience model for cold chain logistics of perishable products. The International Journal of Logistics Management–In-press. 

Ali, I., Nagalingam, S., & Gurd, B. (2017). Building resilience in SMEs of perishable product supply chains: Enablers, barriers and risks. Production Planning & Control, vol.28, no.15, pp: 1236-1250.

Ali, I., Nagalingam, S., & Gurd, B. (2017). ‘Supply chain resilience research: reviews, trends and opportunities for the future research. Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management. 

Ali, I. & Shukran, K. (2016)., 'Managing supply chain risks and vulnerabilities through collaboration: Present and future scope', The Journal of Developing Areas, vol. 50, no. 5, pp. 335 – 342. 

Ali, I. & Soosay, C. (2015). Understanding risks in the Australian citrus supply chain. Refereed Proceedings of the 2015 ANZAM Operations, Supply Chain and Services Management Symposium, Australia.

SATTI SISTERS | RAHILA KASHIF, NAILA ANJUM | PAKISTAN TABLE TENNIS PLAYERS

Raheela Anjum (now Raheela Kashif) and Naila Anjum are daughters of proud Satti tribe from Kotli Sattian in Rawalpindi district, who donned the Pakistan colour. They ruled at National table tennis horizon for a decade during the 1990s. They went to play in the Tokyo championship, Japan. Both sisters also represented Pakistan in Asian games. That was the golden era of table tennis in Pakistan.

Raheela went to the Barcelona Summer Olympics (1992) in Spain to represent Pakistan. She won the bronze medal for Pakistan at 8th SAF games, Nepal (1999) in women's single and silver medal in women's double. She is gold and silver medalist in Asian Games, National Games, Pakistan Master Cup and many other tournaments. Raheela started playing professionally at the age of 12, and became national championship, a year after in 1990. She is 3 Times National Champion, Silver Medalist SAF Games 2004, Bronze in SAF Games Sri Lanka, Silver Medalist SAF Games 2016, 4 Gold Medals in National Championship 2000, 3 Gold Medals in National Championship 2016.

Naila moved to United States after getting married and settled there, but Raheela is still playing for last 27 years as there are no fresh players to replace her. Raheela Anjum of the 90s is now known as Raheela Kashif, after getting married to Kashif Shahzad.

Raheela Kashif, Shabnam Bilal and Maliha Khursheed participated in World Championship in March 2016 and qualified for semi finals. Later on, Raheela Kashif qualified for the quarter-finals of the women’s singles table tennis competitions of the Fourth Islamic Games in Baku, Azerbaijan in March 2017. The duo of Shabnam Bilal and Raheela Khalif - members of the Pakistan women's team who bagged silver Medal in 2016, are both over 45. They were also part of the Pakistan team that clinched silver at the 2004 edition in Islamabad.

International Table Tennis player Raheela Kashif introduced an indoor table tennis facility as Islamabad Table Tennis Training Club in Islamabad to enable the beginners with learning the sport and develop ultimate skills of game enabling them to perform at National Level.

MAJOR MUDASSAR SAGHEER SATTI SHAHEED - SITARA-E-BASALAT

Major Mudassar Sagheer Satti Shaheed of 27 Punjab Regiment embraced martyrdom on 22 March 2017 in an operation against terrorists in Orakzai Agency. He was appointed as quarter master at Orakzai scouts and used to monitor all the intelligence based operations. Major Mudassar has been awarded Sitara-e-Basalat for his valour. 

BRIGADIER (R) GUL ZAMAN SATTI (LATE) - SITARA-I-IMTIAZ (MILITARY)

Brigadier (R) Gul Zaman Satti (late) was born on 7 October 1941 in Kotli Sattian, who moved to Rawalpindi after completing his primary education from Kotli Sattian. He was actively involved in sports during his high school and college education. He was very tough and rugged as he belong to hilly area where roads and allied facilities were non-existent in those times. In addition to this he was an orator who was always leading the debate competitions. 

He joined Pakistan Military Academy in April 1962 and assigned to 15 Punjab Regiment in 1964. He was defending the frontier of Run of Kuch during 1965 Indo-Pak war, and was recommended for Sitara-i-Jurat after Pakistani victory. He also served at Dhaka just before 1971 war. 

Gul Zaman Satti (late) served as a Brigade Major in Kel Sector, Azad Kashmir, and commanded 21 Punjab Regiment in Gujranwala in 1977, then he went to attend War course at National Defence College, Rawalpindi.

He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier in 1984. He commanded 107 Brigade in Gujranwala (1984), 61 Brigade Quetta (1987) and 105 Brigade Okara (1989).

Later he was appointed as a Director Army Sports in GHQ Rawalpindi and attended 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He was also the head of Pakistan delegation for Common Wealth Games in Canada where he was presented Queen Baton by Queen Elizabeth. He was awarded the Sitara-e-Imtiaz (Military) for his 33 years of outstanding service and unwavering dedication.

After his retirement from Pakistan Army he joined Army Welfare Trust in 1998 and served there for four years as a Director of Farms and Sugar Division. In 2002, he left his job to become Tehsil Nazim (Administrator) of his native town Kotli Sattian. He served his native town as a Tehsil Nazim, and in return for his services for the area a road has been named after him by the people of the area. He had a stroke and left us on 8th of November 2016 May Allah bless him with highest rank in Jannah Ameen.

Contributed by: Shahnaz Satti

AIR MARSHAL (R) NAJEEB AKHTAR RAJA - HI (M), SI (M), TI (M), SITARA-E-BASALAT

                                               Photo Credit: Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority


Air Marshal (Retd) Najeeb Akhtar Raja has been appointed as Member Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority Board on 1st January, 2014. he was also appointed as the Ambassador of Pakistan to Brazil.

He belongs to Dhanyal Tribe, hailing from Karore Valley (Kiyah), in tehsil Kotli Sattian.

He joined Pakistan Air Force in the flying branch in 1964 and was commissioned in 1966 as a pilot. He flew all major combat aircrafts (F-86, F-6, Mirage and F-16) over a flying career of over 34 years.

He participated in the 1971 Indo-Pak war as a Mirage Pilot from Sargodha. During his flying career he held the appointments of a fighter Squadron Commander, Command of a Fighter Base, Assistant Chief of Air Staff Operation, Air officer Commanding of Central air command and Air officer Commanding of Air Defence Command during Kargil operation. He was retired in the rank of Air Marshal in 2000 after 34 years of service. He conceived and oversaw the setting up of a major defence production facility at the Air Weapon Complex. 

He was decorated with Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Military), Sitara-e-Imtiaz (Military), Sitara-e-Basalat and Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (Military) for meritorious contribution to the Pakistan Air Force. He was deputed abroad as a flying instructor to Libya for 2 years. He participated in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war from a forward air base in Egypt as a operation advisor and coordinator. He was deputed a second time to Saudi Air force as an operations and plans advisor for 3 years from 1985-88. He was appointed as the ambassador to Brazil, after his retirement from the service.

HISTORY OF THE DHANYAL TRIBE

Dhanyal / Dhanial is one of the largest tribe living in Potohar plateau and Lower
Himalayas for the last eight centuries. 

This tribe traces their lineage to Hazrat Ali Ibn Abi Talib. Dhanyal tribe consists of Hazrat Ali's descendants. Moaazam Shah renowned as Dhanni Peer is forefather of Dhanyal Tribe. Dhanyals are  not Fatmi descendants of Hazrat Ali (RazilAllah Anha). They belong to Hazrat Ali's 9th wife Hazrat Khola bint-e-Ayas bin Jaffar Bannu Hanifa. Hazrat Khola gave birth to Hazrat Ali's famous son Muhammad bin Ali known as Muhammad bin Hanfia.

Most of the Dhanyals are settled in the cities of Rawalpindi, Islamabad and in Kotli Sattian and Murree Hills. Some other branches of the tribe live in kashmir, Abbottabad, Sialkot and Hazara.

Dhanyals are famous for their bravery. Members of this tribe were recruited into the
armies of the Mughal Empire, British Empire and after Independence, into the Pakistan Army.

After independence however the Dhanyals in urban areas have turned to other fields such as education, medicine, engineering, business and social sciences.

The name ‘Dhanyal/Dhanial’ is derived from Mohazzam Shah which was the name of chief and famous Sufi saint of Lower Himalayas who shifted from Dhanni (old name of Chakwal) in late 12th century. Forefathers of Mohazzam Shah who were Arab Muslims, migrated from Iraq into Multan during the era of Muhammad Bin Qasim. Desandants of Mohazzam Shah ruled Multan state for about 190 years. Mohazzam Shah supported Muhammad Ghori to curb the activities of Hindu Rajputs who aggressively attack Muslim army of Muhammad Ghori. Due to influence of Mohazzam Shah alias Hazrat Baba Dhanni Pir, many non-Muslims of this area converted to Islam. 

The forefather of Dhanyal tribe was inspired by Syed Ali Hamdan Ali Shah-i-Hamdan of Srinagar, Kashmir. Mohazzam Shah sacrifices his life with the battle of Hindu Dogra Rajputs in Kashmir in 13th century. Mohazzam Shah was the spiritual leader of Dhanyal, Satti and Abbasi tribes in the area of Kotli Sattian and Murree Hills, plain area of Potohar and Kashmir. 

Hazrat Baba Dhanni Pir’s shrine is situated in Mouri Sayyaedan, a valley on Lehtrar Road in tehsil Kotli Sattian, District Rawalpindi, Pakistan. An Urs (annual death anniversary) is held every year in April at his shrine.

Some members of Dhanyal tribe use the title "Raja" with their names,  which does not mean that the tribe is any offshot of Rajput – they are Alvi and Arab Muslims like Awan and Shaikh or Qureshi, Abbasi and Sayed. Some member of the tribe called themselves as Shah, it does mean that they are Sayed, it is proved that Dhanyals are non-fatimi descendants of Hazrat Ali Al-Murtaza (RA). Most of the historians do not recognized them and even in the era of british rule, they were counted as Rajput tribe in 1891, 1901, 1911 and 1931 census.

Origin of Dhanni Peer is as follows

1. Imam Ali al Murtaza
2. Muhammad ibn Hanfiyya
3. Ibrhaim
4. Hasan
5. Zayd
6. Ismail
7. Hasan al At'rush
8. Qasim
9. Hassan
10. Ibrahim
11. Ali
12. Muhammad
13. Abdullah
14. Muawiya
15. Jafar
16. Amir Malik
17. Khusro Shah
18. Muazam Shah / Dhani Pir

PUNICA GRANATUM (WILD POMEGRANATE)

Punica Granatum, also known as Pomegranate, has long been touted for its high levels of Vitamin C and antioxidants, which can help prevent cell damage. Several studies have shown its ability to speed wound healing, as well as play a positive role in the repair of sun damaged and aging skin. Pomegranate extracts exert their positive effects by extending the life of fibroblasts, the cells responsible for producing collagen and elastin, the components that give strength and support to the skin.

 Punica granatum. Wild pomegranate is very common on low hills of Kotli Sattian. It is locally known as "Dani" and "Anardana".