TARIQ Aziz has left for his heavenly abode and is mourned by his countless fans all over the world. The legendary artiste was born in 1936 in Jalandhar, a city famous for the great Muslim scholar Maulana Fateh Muhammed and for the poet who wrote Pakistan’s national anthem, Hafiz Jalandhari. Tariq Aziz migrated to Pakistan with his family in 1947, received his early education in Sahiwal, and started his professional career with Radio Pakistan, which was once a nursery of artistic talent.

In TV he rose to enviable heights by sheer dint of his unmatched talent and hard work. He enjoyed the honour of being PTV’s first male broadcaster. He was a many-sided genius. Besides being a broadcaster par excellence, he was an all-round performer. An ardent lover of poetry he was a poet himself.

He was also a popular film actor, who also joined politics and became a lawmaker. This way he was a unique mix of many qualities. He earned unparalleled popularity for his path-breaking quiz show, Neelam Ghar, subsequently named Tariq Aziz Show and finally Bazm-e-Tariq Aziz, which ran for decades.

May he rest in peace!

Shakeel Farooqi

Karachi

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2020