Journalist Zafar Iqbal remembered

Pakistan News & Features Services

Seasoned journalist Zafar Iqbal, who covered the beats of sports and health in a professional career spanning three decades, was remembered fondly by his former colleagues and well-wishers during a condolence meeting held at the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on October 31. 

Olympians Shahnaz Shaikh and Iftikhar Syed, alongwith Prof Ejaz Ahmed Farooqui, President, Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA), recalled their long relationships with the deceased journalist. 

The well-attended condolence meeting was organized by the Sports Journalists Association Sindh (SJAS) with the collaboration of the Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ) and the KPC. 

Maqsood Ahmed Yousufi, Syed Sajid Aziz, Nazir Khan, Aamir Latif, Syed Khalid Mahmood, Zubair Nazir, Rashid Ali Siddiqui, Bachal Leghari, Ishaq Baloch and Rafiq Baloch, among the journalists, commended his untiring services to the profession. The meeting was conducted by Ubaid-ur-Rahman Awan, General Secretary, SJAS. 

Zafar Iqbal, who had worked with mass circulation Urdu newspapers in Pakistan before starting his 18-year-old association with the Jeddah-based Urdu News, died after a prolonged illness in his ancestral village near Rawalpindi , on Sunday. He is survived by three two daughters and a son. 

Olympian Shahnaz Shaikh, currently Head Coach of the Pakistan hockey team, shared his particularly close relationship with the sports journalist when he was posted as the Station Manager of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 

“It was almost for four years when we used to interact on a daily basis and we spent hours together. He was a highly-gifted journalist who took pride in highlighting brighter aspects rather than dwelling into the dark sides,” Shahnaz Shaikh remarked. 

Olympian Iftikhar Syed, while expressing his grief at the death of the veteran sports journalist offered the support of his academy if any sporting event was planned to be staged in his honour. 

Prof Ejaz Farooqui, President, KCCA, reckoned that Zafar Iqbal has left behind a legacy and the working journalists should follow in his footsteps by adopting positive approach which he displayed professionally and personally. 

“I knew him very closely for the last many decades as our wives were real cousins. He was gem of a person who was always looking to help others with whatever means he had at his disposal. He avoided controversies and believed in let his work do the talking,” the KCCA President observed. 

At the end of the condolence meeting, Prof Ejaz Farooqui spoke to the children of Zafar Iqbal and informed them about the proceedings in which their late father was showered with praise.