Obituary - Dr. Imran Ali Siddiqui (2nd April 1972 - 7th August 2006)
ANJUM PERVEEN AND MUHAMMAD QAISER
Dr. Abdul Ghaffar, Ms. Maria Hamid & Dr. Fatima S. Mehdi
Dr. Muhammad Imran Ali Siddiqui, a faculty member of the Department
of Botany, Government Degree College, Buffer Zone, North Karachi, Karachi,
Pakistan died on 7th August 2006 at Liaquat National Hospital, Karachi.
He was suffering from viral infection. The day Imran died was the day
fixed for his wedding. May God Almighty shower his choicest blessings
upon the departed soul and may his soul rest in peace in heaven. Amen.
May God Almighty also give enough strength to his friends and members
of his family to bear the loss.
Dr. Muhammad Imran Ali Siddiqui s/o Mr, Muhammad Ali Siddiqui was born
on 2nd April, 1972 in Karachi, Pakistan. He obtained his M.Sc. degree
in Botany in 1996 from the University of Karachi in the First Division.
Imran worked under the guidance of Dr. Ehteshamul Haque and was awarded
the degree of Ph.D. in Botany in 2002 from the University of Karachi
for his work on the "Use of growth promoting bacteria in the control
of root knot nematode and root infecting fungi of crop plants".
Dr. Imran Siddiqui was awarded Post Doctorate Fellowship by the British
Council and worked at the Rothamsted Research Experimental Station at
Harpenden UK from March 2004 - February 2005 with Dr, Brian Kerry on
the "Biological control of plant parasitic nematodes using selected
isolates of Pseudomonas chlamydosporium".
Dr. Imran Siddiqui has made significant contributions on the biological
control of root rot fungi and root knot nematodes of crop plants like
chickpea, mungbean, sunflower, chilli, mashbean etc. His scholarly aptitude
as a researcher can be gauged by the fact that he had started using
detritus of mangrove (Rhizophora mucronata) vegetation collected from
Karachi coast as organic substrate in the control of soil borne root
infecting fungi and nematodes. Dr. Imran Ali Siddiqui was twice awarded
research productivity allowance and stood 7th in position among the
Pakistani scientists by the Pakistan Council for Science and Technology.
Dr. Imran Siddiqui has been a prolific writer. He has published 111
scientific research papers in journals of international repute besides
editing a book "Essentials of Mathematical Ecology" with Dr.
S.S. Shaukat, 2005 and in the preparation of computer programming in
BASIC, FORTRAN and C++.