KARACHI: The Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi on Thursday evening held an event to pay tribute to scholar Dr Shakeel-ur-Rehman Farooqui, who died of coronavirus on March 15.

Dr Farooqui was associate professor at the department of genetics, University of Karachi.

Shakil Khan was the moderator of the programme. He said Dr Farooqui loved the University of Karachi (KU). He was there until he breathed his last and is buried in the KU graveyard. In the latter part of his life, his fondness for literature, which may have been subdued because of teaching genetics for a long time, came to the fore.

Kashif Grami, the nephew of the late scholar, first thanked KU Vice Chancellor Dr Khalid Iraqi and his team for taking care of Dr Farooqui when he was hospitalised. He then said his uncle’s life could be divided into three phases. The first was 1970 when Dr Farooqui was 10 years of age, his father Abdul Rehman Jami passed away. The second period began in 1980 when he became a student leader. And the third started in 1988 when he became lecturer at KU.

Zubair Tahir said when Dr Farooqui and Dr Pirzada Qasim met Syedna Burhanuddin, the spiritual leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community to seek his help in setting up the genetics department the leader said to them that no un-Islamic activity should take place in the department. Dr Farooqui completely complied with his directive.

Dr Riaz Ahmed said that he had known Dr Farooqui for the last 20 years. He was a man of values. He knew how to disagree with decency (ikhtilaf ka saleeqa aata tha). “I’ve learned a lot from him. I learned how to love the university.”

Prof Anis Zaidi said he knew Dr Farooqui for a long time but got to know him better when he became a teacher at KU. There he discovered a number of qualities in him. Although both belonged to different ideological schools, the scholar accepted all his friends with an open mind.

Ahmed Shah said he and Dr Farooqui were fellow students. Once they passed out of the university they joined their respective professions. After a long time when he met him at a reunion gathering at Saifur Rehman Grami’s house, he got to know that Dr Farooqui was Grami sahib’s younger brother. The family has a number of worthy individuals.

Khalilullah Farooqui said the late scholar was his friend and companion. The thing that they had in common was that both of their families belonged to Hyderabad Deccan.

Ambreen Haseeb Amber first recalled the time when she interviewed Dr Farooqui for a PTV show. She said he used to present his point of view with certitude (baat atal andaze mein kertey thay) and during his conversations would never beat about the bush. His most prominent trait was his positivity.

Rizwan Siddiqui said it was his friendship with Saifur Rehman Grami that kept him at a distance from Dr Farooqui. [But] there was a relationship of respect.

Dr Fayyaz Vaid said in the last four or five years he had developed a deep association with the late scholar. He was a man who used to think about everyone; he was a man of the people. Of late he had begun writing poetry. He was also the one who redeveloped Staff Club at the university.

Dr Khalid Iraqi said the late scholar was his ‘Shakil bhai’. He had known him since 1983 when both were students and he heard him deliver a speech as a student leader on the lawns of the Department of Political Science. People talk about left and right-wing ideas, but Dr Farooqui only belonged to one bloc: Karachi University. “He was full of life,” he added.

Alauddin Khanzada, Dr Maqsood Ansari, Tariq Moin, Qazi Sadruddin, Dr Aliul Qadr, Amin Memon and Zafar Alam Talat also spoke.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2021