HOW does one sum up a person who was larger-than-life? This couplet of the great poet Mirza Ghalib reminds me of the late Hakim Saeed on his 21st death anniversary (Oct 17). “If I ever get a chance I would ask earth, ‘Oh miser, what did you do with all the priceless treasures that were entrusted to you...”

Saeed was a great scholar, philanthropist and governor of Sindh (1993-1996). He set up the Hamdard Foundation in 1948 and also wrote more than 200 books on medicine, philosophy and science.

He met his untimely death in 1998 when he was attacked by a group of assailants on his way to oversee and experiment at Hamdard labs in Karachi.

Naveed Abbas

Islamabad

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2019