Azeem Sarwar’s tribute to Qazi Wajid

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Azeem Sarwar, having become a legend in his own lifetime for his exceptional all-round broadcasting skills, paid glowing tributes to Qazi Wajid, one of the finest exponents of acting, who passed away recently. 

“Acting came naturally to him. He was a very intelligent person besides being a born artist. He had started his journey with a children’s programme at Radio Pakistan Karachi in 1956 and remained associated with it all along. His radio programmes like Qazi Jee Ka Qaida and Hamid Mian Kay Haan to name a few became household names,” Azeem Sarwar, who himself had started his career as a teenager at Radio Pakistan in 1958, recalled.

“Qazi Wajid was a versatile artist with acting being his forte. He was a willing listener who absorbed advice gracefully and improved in leaps and bounds as the years went by. He worked at Radio Pakistan as staff artist as did the likes of Ahmed Abdul Qayyum, Abdul Majid, Ameer Khan, S M Saleem, Mahmood Ali, Mughal Bashar, Arshe Munir and Akhtari Begum,” the former deputy controller of Radio Pakistan added. 

Azeem Sarwar, who made Radio Pakistan proud with his accomplishments as script writer, presenter, producer and commentator, has had fond memories of having worked alongside the great Qazi Wajid.

“It was always a pleasure to work with him. We were proud to be a part of the institution (Radio Pakistan) which groomed talent and provided solid platform to budding artists. All the biggest and celebrated artists of Pakistan performed for Radio Pakistan, be it poets, musicians or literati,” Azeem Sarwar, who worked at Radio Pakistan for 44 years, remarked. He’s credited to have launched the blockbuster programmes like Aalami Sports Round-up and Subha-e-Pakistan whose popularity rewrote radio history.