KARACHI, April 3: Veteran journalist Safdar Barlas died of prostrate cancer on Sunday evening. He was 78. Mr Barlas, who worked in Dawn on many senior positions for over four decades, graduated from Lucknow University in May 1947. He subsequently obtained a Master’s degree from Karachi University. Earlier, he had worked at Dawn for some time in Delhi.

He joined the Habib Bank shortly after the partition of the subcontinent. While he worked with Agha Hasan Abidi at the bank, the lure of journalism brought him back to Dawn in the early 1950s.

Mr Barlas, who joined Dawn as sub-editor, rose to become city editor and assistant editor. He wrote editorials for some time and supervised the weekly magazine of the newspaper.

Mr Barlas is survived by three sons, a daughter and a wife.

He was buried at Wadi Hussain on Superhighway after the Isha prayers on Sunday.