HYDERABAD: Speakers at a condolence reference held at the Hyderabad Press Club on Sunday paid homage to Shaikh Aziz, pioneer of modern Sindhi journalism who retired as veteran journalist at Dawn.

Pir Mazharul Haq, former Sindh minister for education who chaired the reference organised by the Sahafi Dost group, called Shaikh Aziz an institution with a multidimensional personality. “He was a great person although simultaneously a difficult one,” he said.

He said that Shaikh Aziz believed that one must practice humility regardless of one’s social stature. It was he who had first introduced the trend of different title for specialised pages like ‘zara’at’, ‘khawateen’, ‘shagird’ in a Sindhi newspaper, he said, adding that as the education minister he had to make entreaties to him several times to accept the post of vice chairman of the Sindh Adabi Board.

Eminent journalist Mujahid Barevli said that Shaikh Aziz was at his best in writing obituaries “but I used to wonder as to who would write Shaikh Aziz’s obituary after his death”.

Senior journalists G.N. Mughal, Zaheer Ahmed, Rafiq Shaikh and Abdul Hafeez Abid said that journalism without ethics was no journalism and Shaikh Aziz never deviated from ethics.

Agha Rafiq, a pupil of late Aziz and teacher at Sindh University’s mass communication department, said that he learnt from his great teacher that journalism was not a business.

Comrade Imdad Chandio urged young journalists to emulate Shaikh Aziz who had the credit of establishing mass communication department at the Sindh University. Shaikh Aziz introduced new trends in Sindhi journalism, he said.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2019