KARACHI: Veteran journalist and broadcaster Idrees Bakhtiar passed away on Wednesday evening in Karachi after a brief spell of hospitalisation.

He had suffered a heart attack on Saturday evening soon after attending an Iftar at Karachi Press Club and had been admitted to the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases.

Idrees Sahib, as he was popularly known among his many colleagues and admirers, was born in 1945 in Rajasthan, India. He moved to Hyderabad in Pakistan soon after Partition and, coming from a very humble background, his was a tremendous story of a lifetime of struggle and unflinching integrity.

He began his career in journalism as a proof-reader at Hyderabad’s daily Indus Times while still studying. After completing his Masters from Sindh University, he joined the wire agency Pakistan Press International (PPI), later moving on to the dailies Jasarat and The Leader. He then moved to Saudi Arabia for a few years to help launch Arab News. He returned to Karachi in the mid-1970s and joined the Dawn Group’s eveninger The Star around 1980 as its chief reporter, mainly focusing on city reporting. At the same time he also had a stint as the correspondent for Kolkatta’s The Telegraph and Voice of America. In 1988, Idrees Sahib moved to the Dawn Group’s monthly The Herald, an association that would last over two and a half decades, going on to become its chief reporter. He also joined the BBC’s Urdu Service in 1992 as its Karachi bureau chief covering the violence in Karachi. In both capacities, he made a name for himself as one of the finest and most knowledgeable field reporters. His most recent stint was as head of the editorial committee at Geo News, a stint that had ended only a couple of months ago.

Some of his cover stories for The Herald in the 1990s, such as one exposing the criminal activities of Irfanullah Marwat, the son-in-law of then President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, and the Mehran Bank scandal — in which money was funnelled by the military to politicians opposed to Benazir Bhutto to form the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad — remain shining examples of courageous and unflinching investigative journalism. The first stop for most foreign journalists covering Karachi during the violent 1990s would also be a briefing from Idrees Sahib, who knew anyone and everyone who mattered.

Given his access to the corridors of power and influence, it is a testament to Idrees Sahib’s journalistic integrity and ethics that he never sought out any favours and, in fact, often turned down lucrative offers from the high and mighty. He continued to live for a long time in a two-room flat in al-Azam Square in Liaquatabad with his large family and continued to expose the misdeeds of those with power. In addition, while Idrees Sahib had a strong sympathy towards the political ideology of the Jamaat-i-Islami, he would never allow his own politics to colour his journalism or affect his friendships with his many colleagues with diverse political opinions.

Tributes continued to pour in as news spread of Mr Bakhtiyar’s death. President Arif Alvi tweeted about him that “my very dear friend who I knew for many years, was a very renowned journalist with impeccable manners”.

Former leader of the opposition in the Senate Sherry Rehman recalled her association with Idrees Sahib at The Herald, saying “he was a part of our lives in so many different ways well after we had all moved on to other things”.

Idrees Sahib leaves behind a widow, three sons and five daughters. The family announced that his funeral would take place on Thursday after Zuhr at 13-D/2 near Waseem Bagh and he would be laid to rest in Yasinabad graveyard.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2019