KARACHI: Friends and colleagues gathered at the Centre for Excellence in Journalism at the Institute of Business Administration (CEJ-IBA) here on Friday to celebrate the life and works of veteran journalist Abul Hasanat, who passed away recently.

Talking about Hasanat Sahib’s honesty, sincerity, dedication and integrity at work, a former colleague, Shahzad Sharjeel, recalled that once somebody called the office of Dawn while he was the city editor there and asked for an article to be stopped from getting published. But Hasanat Sahib stayed back for the night, making sure the article was published, he added.

Former CEJ-IBA programme manager Hira Siddiqui, who also worked with the late journalist when he was at The Express Tribune, said he taught her not just about journalism, but also how to run a newspaper desk. She said: “I would not use Google to find information about Karachi’s issues or some piece of legislation, I would just ask Hasanat Sahib and he would know it.”

Former Karachi Press Club secretary Alauddin Khanzada said: “There are very few people who, without asking for votes, work for the rights of the people and society. And Hasanat was one of them who always worked for his people.”

Addressing the condolence reference, former Karachi commissioner Shafiq ur Rehman Paracha said: “We all get choices and chances in life. Hasanat had one too, he left the corporate world and joined journalism and pursued it with all the dedication and conviction required of him.”

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2019