Published on, Aug. 27 -- August 27, 2025 6:41 AM

G.M. Sikandar's death on August 6 marks more than the loss of a distinguished civil servant. It signals the closure of an era when public service carried moral conviction in Pakistan.

Jean Giono wrote that a truly exceptional character reveals itself over the years-through quiet generosity, without egoism, and by leaving a lasting mark on the earth. He spoke of a fictional shepherd who transformed a barren valley by planting trees. Sikandar was shepherded, sowing seeds of integrity in Pakistan's civil service. Born in the Shigar district of Gilgit-Baltistan, where the Karakoram and Himalayas converge in a cathedral of stone and sky, he was shaped upright, unyielding, and rooted in service...