Daoud Bokhary

Daoud Bokhary (Template:Lang-ur, Chinese: 包大衛, also spelled Daud Bokhary; born c. 1919) is a Hong Kong stock broker.

Early life

Bokhary was born near Peshawar in the North-West Frontier Province of British India (today part of Pakistan). He served in the British Indian Army for four years as a logistics expert, and came to Hong Kong with the army on the first British ship after the surrender of Japan ended the occupation of Hong Kong. He briefly returned home to run a coal mine, but, fearing for his wife's safety during the partition of India, returned to Hong Kong with her soon after.

Career in Hong Kong

Bokhary began his career in Hong Kong managing a dockside godown, a position he found thanks to his army logistics experience. He received accolades and promotions for his ability to keep his workers happy, and his skilled handling of the growth in ship traffic resulting from the Communist Party of China's takeover of Shanghai. He eventually came to manage an entire wharf, and with his increased responsibilities, began taking night classes in accountancy at the University of Hong Kong. He retired from his wharf position in the 1970s.

For his second career, Bokhary went into day trading, and founded his own company, Bokhary Securities; he wanted to be his own boss, and believed that his religion and ethnicity would keep him out of managerial positions at the big financial corporations which then dominated securities trading in Hong Kong.

Outside of his work, Bokhary is engaged in various philanthropic activities. He pays for the upkeep of a mosque in his hometown in Pakistan, and is also one of the longest-serving members of the council of the Diocesan Girls' School, an Anglican school, to which he gave a large sum of money to help it out of financial dificulties. However, he is a humble and religious man, and prefers not to have any buildings named after him in return for his donations.

Identity

I did very well in my jobs and was very well treated. Hong Kong was a British city and a Chinese city. You cannot concern yourself too much with that sort of thing ... I have always said this to fellow Indians and Pakistanis who complain: 'Nobody invited you here. If you don't like it you can always go straight back home'.

Daoud Bokhary

Bokhary holds Pakistani nationality, but describes himself as a Muslim Indian, and believes that Pakistan and India would have been better off without Partition. He is critical of the Pakistani government's corruption and poor governance, noting that overseas Pakistanis such as himself achieve successes which they could never match at home due to the lack of an environment which rewards hard work. When asked by a journalist whether he invested in Pakistan, he reportedly responded, "Having conversed with me for an hour, do you really take me to be such a damned fool?"

Though his career development has been limited by his ethnic background, Bokhary takes a philosophical attitude towards the discrimination faced by him and other South Asians in Hong Kong, and feels gratitude for being allowed to settle in Hong Kong. He also admonishes younger South Asian immigrants for their anti-discrimination activism, and suggests that they would feel less affected by racism if they focused more on learning about religion.

Family

Bokhary's wife died in the 1970s. He formerly owned land in Peshawar near his hometown, but sold it when he realised that neither he nor his sons wanted to settle in Pakistan.

Syed Bagh Ali Shah Bokhary (Template:Lang-ur, Chinese: 包志雄, or S. B. A. S. Bokhary for short; born c. 1946) is Daoud Bokhary's eldest son. He followed his father into the finance industry at age 24. Aside from running the brokerage which his father founded, he also spends his time as an activist shareholder, helping to champion the rights of small investors. In 1998, he ran for a seat representing the financial services functional constituency in the Legislative Council, but was not elected. In 1999, he replaced Kenny Lee Yiu Sun on the council of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (now Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing). He is married to the elder sister of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing chairman Ronald Arculli.

Amina Mariam Bokhary (Template:Lang-ur; born c. 1976) is the daughter of S. B. A. S. Bokhary and granddaughter of Daoud Bokhary. She suffers from attention deficit disorder, bipolar disorder, depression, and alcohol abuse, and has had various troubles with the law. In June 2001, she assaulted a police officer who intervened in a dispute she had outside a Peel Street bar; after her arrest, small amounts of cocaine were found on her person. She was fined HK$9,000 for the assault, but the drugs charges were dropped due to doubt over the evidence. In July 2008, she struck a taxi driver and a police officer while arguing over a HK$17.80 taxi fare; she was charged with assault, and sentenced to 240 hours of community service and ordered to pay the driver HK$1,000 compensation. She was again arrested after a January 2010 head-on collision with a bus on Stubbs Road on charges of reckless driving, refusing a breathalyser test, and two counts of assault on a police officer, and released on HK$5,000 bail. She appeared in Eastern Magistrates' Court on 7 April, but Acting Principal Magistrate Bina Chainrai recused herself due to her familiarity with the defendant, and postponed the case until 20 May. On 20 May, the defence requested another delay to permit time for the preparation of an important medical report. She pled guilty on 7 July, and on 2 August was sentenced to 12 months probation and a fine of 8000 dollars, suspended for 12 months.

Bokhary's youngest son Syed Kemal Shah Bokhary is one of the three permanent judges of the Court of Final Appeal; he is married to High Court judge Verina Bokhary, with whom he has three daughters. In 1994, one of his daughters was arrested for shoplifting at a department store in Pacific Place, but got off with a warning from police; no charges were filed.